I have read only like the first six pages of “The Yellow Wallpaper”. (Oh boy, it’s long.) I find that the narrator has trouble taking care of herself. She is hoping to rely on her husband, John, to take care of her. Unfortunately, John is extremely busy that he is unable to do so.

“John does not know how much I really suffer. He knows there is no reason to suffer, and that satisfies him.” (pg 2)

This seems to the narrator that John doesn’t care about her well-being. However, I believe the opposite. One such encouragement, such as that she “musn’t lose her strength” (pg 4) and taking “lots of tonics” (pg 4), supports that John cares for her. A tonic is some kind of medicine, and medicines generally make people feel better.

This wife-husband relationship is rather interesting because one side says the other doesn’t care about the former, and the latter says the opposite. The narrator also says that she loves John, and John wants to make her feel better. John’s intentions of caring for her contradicts her view of him, so I think this is one of the reasons why women feel very dependent on their loved ones.