"The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman brings up this interesting idea of the new woman. While reading the short story the color yellow really stuck out to me. The color can mean many different things depending on the shade. In the story, I took the yellow wallpaper as being a dull yellow. This dull yellow symbolizes caution, decay and jealously. I interpret the narrator of the story as being jealous of the new woman who is in the wallpaper. The woman in the wallpaper is locked up trying to break free from the strict norms that society has laid out. The narrator is jealous of this woman who is independent, intelligent, and in the workforce. The narrator is then driven crazy because of her jealously and ends up ripping the wallpaper down in order to set the new woman free so she can become the new woman.
Melissa, I found this really interesting and I am glad you brought it up to me when we were walking home. I did not even think about the significance of the actual color of the wallpaper and kudos to you for looking it up! I know at first we interpreted the story differently according to the wallpaper but I find this really interesting and can see how the color is considerable. I think the woman's actions really did convey her jealousy towards the woman in the wallpaper and wanted to be the "New Woman" we had talk about in class. Good job on looking at this from a different perspective!
ReplyDeleteWhen I read the book, "The Yellow Wallpaper," I also thought that the yellow wallpaper would be dull like amber. So everytime I read the word, yellow wallpaper, I kept imagining a room with amber colored walls. I would possibly become crazy like the narrator, as you said, if I were in the room for weeks. It was good idea to discuss the color of the wallpaper and its meaning.
ReplyDeleteI really like your interpretation of the woman in the wallpaper as being the "new woman" we discussed in class. The narrator was driven to madness partially because of her obsession with this wallpaper, or with the "new woman." She may have described the wallpaper as being ugly, but this could have been driven by her jealousy of a woman that she wished to be.
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