The Wallpaper Yellow

Immediately after I had finished the short story I was a bit taken aback, because, in a general sense, the story is quite peculiar. Of course the strong oddness of the work is possibly a combination of its occurring in a different time period, and the fact that the central character's mental stability is questionable. Undoubtedly, a large factor in the overall odd nature of the story, was the relationship between the main character and her husband. As the story progresses two separate accounts of the husband and wife's relationship emerge, and eventually even the one account diverges. Of course course the first version of the relationship's nature is provided by the main character, in her early calm, and conciliatory state. She remarks that her husband loves her very much, and in his prognosis of her condition has only sought the best situation for her. Contrarily, the second account is that of the reader, who develops a more lucid interpretation from the facts. The husband has locked the main character in a room by herself, with the command to do nothing all day, for a lengthy stretch of time. He will not let her talk to him about it, or even right about how she feels. What's more is that she can see no one, for her husband asserts that contact with "stimulating" people would be bad for her in her current state. Whether this whole set of occurrences appears as add to the reader due to a new more modern general sense of medical knowledge that has clearly grown since the story's time or otherwise, there is a definitive connotation that in actuality the main character and her husband don't have a great relationship. The intentions of the husband in the marriage can be debated, but I feel that he is certainly leaving his wife to her own devices instead of aiding her. The third account of the relationship is given again by the main character, except in this account she has sort of "lost it." A previously hidden animosity towards her husband emerges, and in the instance with hiding the key and that collection of events, she's quite nearly making an attempt at a sort of retaliation in my mind. As a result of this and other circumstances, the relationship isn't a positive one. The husband is overbearing and overprotective as with a dim-witted child, however, he doesn't offer any aid directly. The yellow wallpaper is a very interesting example of a dynamic literary symbol. Initially, I feel that the yellow wallpaper is a physical representation of the main character's mental state. Consider, for instance, she notices only a few blemishes on the stuff until she gradually finds even more flaws, and ultimately ends by ripping it up entirely. The destruction of the wallpaper directly coordinates to the gradual deterioration of the woman's grip on reality. However, with the appearance of the woman behind the yellow paper the symbol takes on a new form. At the time of the woman's appearance behind the wallpaper, the wallpaper becomes a link to general oppressiveness and entrapment, suggested by the fact that it ultimately appears to the main character as bars. Additionally, the imagined woman is basically a projection of the main character's conceptualization of herself, in her current predicament. This can be inferred because there is concise instant in the story where she stops referring to the person formerly behind the paper in the third person, and instead refers to herself as the escaped woman. From the diminutive and unassuming connotation I received from the title, "The Yellow Wallpaper," I could never have assumed that the story would turn out like it did. In the end Gilman has left readers with a stark representation of the effect of confinement and a husband's effect on his wife, all in the scaffolding of an allegory for the oppression endured by women, and the inevitable escape from their bonds despite circumstance.

Critical Essay Response

The essay that I chose was the one in which the author debates the appropriateness of categorizing Ethan Frome as a work of modern tragedy. He presents several interesting arguments to support his point of view, and through reading it I have certainly developed my own position on the issue.
The author contends that Ethan Frome is indeed a modern tragedy, especially when one considers the definitive aspects of tragedy and what Wharton has put in her novel. A tragedy is generally a work in which characters suffer as a direct consequence of the main character's tragic flaw or hamartia. Typically, when thinking about works of tragedy, several works of William Shakespeare are brought up, generally including Macbeth. The author asserts that Macbeth is obviously a tragedy because Macbeth is a potential, but as he is overtaken by his hamartia of lusting for power, he kills Duncan and several others before he meets his end at the hands of MacDuff. The author then asserts that Ethan Frome is similar in a couple of ways. He is a potentially benevolent infallible example of heroism, a characterization provided by Wharton's early description's of Frome, including: "Ethan Frome drove in silence, the reins loosely held in his left hand, his brown seamed profile, under the helmet-like peak of the cap, relieved against the banks of snow like the bronze image of a hero." However, he has a tragic flaw, albeit one that isn't quite so obviously terrible as Macbeth's. In providing an example of Ethan Frome's hamartia the author cites the scene in the novella where Ethan is sitting with Mattie outdoors. "He looked at her hair and longed to touch it again, and to tell her that it smelt of the woods; but he had never learned to say such things." This line, according to the author, articulates Frome's inability in the articulation of himself, a manifestation of his tragic flaw. The consequences of this are evident because, as in any other work that is considered a tragedy, other characters are harmed, namely Frome himself, arguably Zeena, and ultimately Mattie.
After reading the critical essay, I feel that the author was very effective in conveying his position, and his argument was well presented. I say this because the author's goal was to prove that Ethan Frome was a modern tragedy and, taking the simplest route, he provided components and examples of classic tragedy and displayed how Ethan Frome possesses many of the same critical characteristics. As a result I feel the argument that provided the basis for the essay shouldn't even exist. Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome is as much a tragedy as Macbeth or the stereotypical scenario of Romeo and Juliet. Ethan Frome is a character with a capacity for heroism, but contrarily overwhelmed by his hamartia; one that results in the suffering of multiple characters besides himself. In my mind, a more debatable question would be whether Ethan Frome is the protagonist or antagonist because it has been said that, "All that is necessary for evil to triumph, is for good men to do nothing." What did Ethan Frome really do to combat his situation, and in the end; despite intentionality, isn't he as much to blame for the final circumstance as anyone else? These would be my "other thoughts."

Ethan Frome

My favorite example of imagery presented by Wharton in the novel occurs when she writes: "About a mile farther, on a road I had never traveled, we came to an orchard of starved apple trees writhing over a hillside among outcroppings of slate that nuzzled up through the snow like animals pushing their noses out to breathe." I chose this section because I not only really like the imagery presented, but I also enjoy the manner in which it effectively elicits emotion in order to provide a better understanding of one of the novella's underlying themes. The theme represented is certainly one of how the town of Starkfield has an inherent  tendency of stifling life, suffocating it in its literal winters and in its emotional oppressiveness. The cold environment leads to isolation in the winters and an intelligent individual would seek to escape the area at the earliest opportunity, as asserted by Harmon's statement, "Most of the smart ones get away." This concept of imagery eliciting emotion connects directly to, and aids in, understanding the real purpose of imagery. On its face, of course, imagery is simply the description of something observable in a manner that appeals to a reader's senses. Observation of masterful authors, and I'm assuming that Wharton is one of these, will reveal quickly that imagery is a tool capable of doing much more. As I mentioned before, imagery can also appeal to the emotions of the reader, and in so doing, make a connection to themes beyond observable phenomena. Edith Wharton uses the imagery of Starfield's winter as a larger allegory for general stunted potential, loneliness, and sadness. More significantly the winter is a metaphor for the modern state of the novella's namesake, Frome, who has been left as cold and desolate as the Starkfield winter's by yet untold circumstances in his emotional past. Clearly Wharton understand's the true might of imagery and, undoubtedly, more examples of this literary technique shall appear as the class delves deeper into the wintry past of Ethan Frome.