As I read the short story “The Yellow Wallpaper”, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman I can clearly consider the narrator to be unreliable. An unreliable narrator is when their credibility has been seriously compromised and we can see that happening
in this story. The following are some quotes that support the narrator unreliability are:
1) “ I use to lie awake as a child and get more entertainment and terror out of
blank walls and plain furniture than most children could find in a toy store” –
This clearly shows that the problems that the narrator is going through has
been going on since she was a child. Her obsession about the wallpaper and
objects comes from a young age which probably has gotten worse as she got
older. This shows she is unreliable because she is putting importance and
meaning into insignificant things.
2) “And what can I do?”- The narrator asked this question multiple times
throughout the story. I believe she is just so used of people telling that what
she is feeling is due to her condition and other people telling her what to do
that she is not her own person anymore. The narrator has becomes what others
want her to be and this prove that she is unreliable. She is not capable of
making her own decisions and having her own thoughts.
3) “I get unreasonably angry with John sometimes. I sure I never used to be so
sensitive. I think it’s due to this nervous condition”- So, this quote shows
that the narrator is unreliable for two reasons. One reason it being that she
is not able to control that way that she feels, she lets her mind take control
of her. Second reason is that throughout the story her husband tends to tell
her over and over again that whatever she does feels it’s due to her nervous condition,
so she is truly starting to believe it.
4) “I think sometimes that if I were only well enough to write a little it
would relieve the press of ideas and rest me….. But I find I get pretty tired
when I try”- In this quote we see that the narrator is contradicting herself
she says that she knows it will make her feels better if she was able to write more,
but when she tries it gets her tired. Shows her unreliably because she is not
even sure of what she feels is better for her or not.
Some quote that represent the married couple’s relationship are:
1)“ There comes John, and I must put this away- he hates to have me write a
word”- This clearly shows that she does everything her husband tells her to do. The narrator is no longer her own person, but the person that her husband want her to be. The narrator is not free in her own marriage to do something that she enjoys. This
also shows that he doesn’t support her in things she likes to do. That’s why
she compares herself the wallpaper because she feels trapped just like the
women she talks about.
“John laughs at me, of course , but one expects that in marriage” – I think that this quote has a slightly a sense of sarcasm telling the reader that he really doesn’t understand his wife.
3)“ John does not know how much I really suffer. He knows there is no REASON to
suffer, and that satisfies him” – This quote clearly shows the lack of communication this married couple encounter. It seems like she hides the way she truly feel to John because even though if she was to explain to him he won’t believe her. I feel that John
feels so secure and positive that their I nothing wrong with his wife that he doesn’t
allow a slight chance to actually look into what his wife is feeling and trying to understand her.
