An unreliable narrator is a narrator who can’t be trusted. Either from ignorance or self-interest, this narrator speaks with a bias, makes mistakes, or even lies. Part of the pleasure and challenge of these first-person stories is working out the truth, and understanding why the narrator is not straightforward.

There is clearly an unreliable narrator in the story “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Here are some quotes in the story to show this.

1. “I get unreasonably angry with John sometimes. I’m sure I never used to be so sensitive. I think it is due to this nervous condition” This is evidence that she doesn’t even have a reason to be angry or mad at John! This shows that she is unreliable because she can’t be trusted or responsible for her own emotions when it comes to others.

2. “No wonder the children hated it! I should hate it myself if I had to live in this room long.” This shows that she’s always arguing and bickering about something in her head.

3. “It is fortunate Mary is so good with the baby. Such a dear baby! And yet I CANNOT be with him, it makes me so nervous.” This indicates that she may have some mental issues and is once again not trusted enough to be around or let alone hold a baby.

Another interesting side to the story “The Yellow Wallpaper” is the relationship between the protagonist and John, her husband. I believe that there is an interesting but weird, type of love in this relationship. Here are some quotes from the story that present the married couples relationship and what I understand about John.

1. “John laughs at me, of course, but one expects that in marriage.” I believe this meant that John doesn’t often take her too seriously at times because of the way she acts.

2. “John is a physician, and PERHAPS that is one reason I do not get well faster. You see he does not believe I am sick!” This shows that she doesn’t really believe John is a good physician because he doesn’t believe that she is sick.

3. “John is away all day, and even some nights when his cases are serious.” This proves that although they are married they’re still pretty distant with each other.

I feel that the narrator tries to show that John does actually care for his wife by trying his best to help her but can’t really pin point as to what is wrong with her. I do believe that he may be in a little bit of denial because it seems to me that his wife is sick but he wants to believe that she’s okay.

An unreliable narrator is a narrator whose credibility has been seriously compromised. She/he typically displays characteristics or tendencies that indicate a lack of credibility or understanding of the story.  I believe the narrator in “The Yellow Wallpaper” is not a reliable source for information. Following are some quotes that support her unreliability.

1.  “But these nervous troubles are dreadfully depressing.”   I don’t think the narrator is not a reliable source of information because she is not mentally stable and this can be the most significant reason for her unreliability. The narrator knows that she is unwell and this makes the readers question her reliability.
2. “I get unreasonably angry with John sometimes”.  This indicates that even though she doesn’t have a reason to be angry with John, she cannot control her emotions sometimes. This also makes her an unreliable person.
3. “Dear John! He loves me dearly and hates to have me sick.” “He asked me all sorts of questions, too, and pretended to be very loving and kind. As if I couldn’t see through him!”    At the beginning of the story, she sees John as this person who is trying to take care of her and her well being is in the best of his interest.  However, later on in the story, the narrator seems to despise her husband, John. This sudden change in opinion makes the reader question how reliable she is. The narrator can’t seem to make up her mind about how she feels about her husband.

 Following are three quotations from “The Yellow Wall-Paper” that present the married couple’s relationship.

1. “I’ve got out at last, in spite of you and Jane! And I’ve pulled off most of the paper, so you can’t put me back!”   In the end, when the narrator pulls off most of the wallpaper we can see the explosion of her emotions. When she said “you can’t put me back”, this showed how trapped she felt by both her husband and her surroundings.
2. “He hates to have me write a word.”  She reveals that despite her love for writing, her husband hates her to write. Here, the narrator is clearly feeling trapped in a marriage that does not allow her freedom. This inability to express herself in a meaningful way eventually leads her to associate herself with the woman in the wallpaper, who is trapped just like her.
3. “What is it little girl?” he said.  John assumes a fatherly role over his wife like many men of his time. He consistently patronizes her. He ignores her emotions and calls her names, such as “blessed little goose” and “little girl.” This shows me that John treats his wife like a child.  It may be that the narrator’s continued unhappiness seems to be linked to the fact that she is being treated like a child and is not allowed to leave her room.

 In “The Cottagette”, Malda can be seen as a reliable narrative. Some quotes that support this theory is.

1. “But there’s a condition!” said he all at once, sitting up straight and looking very fierce. “You mustn’t cook!”  By Ford asking Malda to marry him only if she gives up cooking and continue to do what she loves to do which is her art and that he would take on the role of cooking shows true love and equality in a marriage.
2. “It is not true, always, my dear,” “that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.”  Even though the narrator touches bases on the stereotypical concept that the role of women in marriage is to be a homemaker. She reveals that is not the only thing women are capable of but women also has intelligences. This quote shows that all guys don’t want to marry someone who is only skilled in domestic things but someone with smarts, and other skills.

Utopia is ideally perfect state, especially in its social and moral aspects.  Dystopia is an imaginary society in which social trends have culminated in a greatly diminished quality of life or degradation of values.

I would describe “The Cottagette” as the utopia and “The Yellow Wallpaper” as the dystopia. In the” Yellow Wallpaper” the protagonist often feels trapped and is struggling to escape. Her state of mind as well as the way she describes the room and her marriage, she helps readers recognize the negative aspects of the dystopian world through her perspective.

In the Cottagette I noticed a Utopian like community. The area of the cottage is called High Court where Malda describes eating with highly thoughtful musicians and high musical thinkers in the boarding house near the cottage.  They had moved there to join the community in which everyone that moves there is seeking the same type of community where people are able to grow in their interest.