Comparison Essay
“The Yellow Wall-Paper” and “The Husband’s Side of Life”
First person narration is usually the most detailed and informativeform of writing. With this narration you get inside a characters mind and feel their emotions. âThe Yellow Wall-Paperâ was written in first person point of view narration everything Jane saw and felt, we saw and felt as if we were right next to her seeing the woman inside the yellow wall paper. The retelling âThe Husbands View on Lifeâ was written in the first person narration of John, Janeâs husband. We saw how John viewed the wallpaper. We became aware of Johnâs feelings towards his wife. He loved her and wanted to save her. Only in first person narration we can get most of our questions answered.
In âThe Yellow Wall-Paperâ Jane comes across a woman trapped inside, âby daylight she is subduedâ. Jane sees a world within the wallpaper, she knows itâs ugly but to her itâs full of life. During the day when the sun is exposed and everyone is awake the women in the wallpaper hides in between the patterns and at nightfall she creeps around learning the patterns. Jane is avoiding her family she sleeps during the day and uses all her energy analyzing the wallpaper at night. Jane becomes the wallpaper. On the last night itâs just Jane and the wall paper. She is aware that she is the only person that can set herself free, she destroyed the wallpaper and freed herself.
Then in âThe Husbandâs View of Lifeâ John sees an ugly old tarnished wallpaper that has uneven patterns, âthereâs no beauty in the roomâ. John thought he figured out why Jane has become so obsessed with the wallpaper. He wished he had listened to her and redecorated or relocated to another room. Maybe she wouldâve been the Jane he once knew and not the Jane who sleeps during the day and alive at night. John was finally relieved, it was their last night in the estate, maybe Jane will get better at home, he needed her to get well for their sonâs sake, but when he went to get her he saw something else  she was yellow. She was the yellow wallpaper. He saw her as the wallpaper he was afraid and had a heart attack, she was free and he became controlled.
The wallpaper for Jane symbolizes a life that only she can see and relate to. With first person point of view we secretly know that she wanted to keep what she found in the wallpaper to herself, âand I am determined that nobody shall find it out but myselfâ. Jane felt as if she is the only person that can rescue the woman and set her free. For John the wallpaper is just that a hideous wall dĂ©cor, that he wished he had changed. John wasnât home often because he wanted to give Jane her space, âat home I donât want to be in Janeâs wayâ. He let us know that he loved his wife and wasnât avoiding her, he only wanted her to progress at her own pace without any pressure with his presence. John couldnât wait to get his wife as far away from that room as possible, when he went to get her it was too late. He saw she was the wallpaper.
In conclusion with first person narration we are given access to details that are given only to the readers. Jane saw herself in the wallpaper and knew only she can free herself. John saw a yellow wallpaper that controlled his wife and he couldnât find a way to help her. Jane finally escaped the wallpaper and john became lost in it. John loved Jane and he tried to save her, but the only person that couldâve saved Jane was Jane.
