Why does John faint in the wallpaper?
In the simplest of terms, John faints because he is overcome with what he sees. His wife has subsumed herself within the wallpaper and the designs she has perceived within it. As a result, John comes in the room and finds a very intense sight around him: "What is the matter?" he cried.
Is John the Yellow Wallpaper a bad guy?
Though John seems like the obvious villain of “The Yellow Wallpaper,” the story does not allow us to see him as wholly evil. John’s treatment of the narrator’s depression goes terribly wrong, but in all likelihood he was trying to help her, not make her worse.
Why does John faint when he opens the door?
When he opens the door, John is horrified by his wife's behavior, perplexed by the entire situation, and overcome with emotion. John faints because he cannot stomach seeing his wife in such a startling condition and is shocked by her actions and appearance.
Why does John faint in the Book of Revelation?
In the simplest of terms, John faints because he is overcome with what he sees. His wife has subsumed herself within the wallpaper and the designs she has perceived within it. As a result, John comes in the room and finds a very intense sight around him: "What is the matter?" he cried. "For God's sake, what are you doing!"
What happens to the husband at the end of The Yellow Wallpaper?
Through seeing the women in the wallpaper, the narrator realizes that she could not live her life locked up behind bars. At the end of the story, as her husband lies on the floor unconscious, she crawls over him, symbolically rising over him.
How is John described in The Yellow Wallpaper?
He is a physician of high standing, and becomes doctor to his wife. He is extremely practical, rejects superstition, and is interested only in physical facts.
What does John think is wrong with the narrator in The Yellow Wallpaper?
The narrator explains that John believes her illness to be self-created or “all in her head.” He even tells friends and family this diagnosis. His dismissiveness reveals a lack of respect for his wife as both a person and as his patient.
What is the main point of The Yellow Wallpaper?
The story highlights the plight of many women during the 19th century. All women were seen by physicians as susceptible to ill health and mental breakdown by reason of their biological weakness and reproductive cycles. And those who were creative and ambitious were deemed even more at risk.
Did John help the narrator or hurt her?
John's treatment of the narrator's depression goes terribly wrong, but in all likelihood he was trying to help her, not make her worse. The real problem with John is the all-encompassing authority he has in his combined role as the narrator's husband and doctor.
Who is to blame in The Yellow Wallpaper?
The Yellow Wallpaper Reaction In conclusion, John is the one to blame for the condition of the narrator. He first rents a house for both of them and then he isolates her and doesn 't let her do anything. Then John starts to treat her like a child making her think she 's a child.
What is the irony in The Yellow Wallpaper?
Dramatic irony is used extensively in “The Yellow Wallpaper.” For example, when the narrator first describes the bedroom John has chosen for them, she attributes the room's bizarre features—the “rings and things” in the walls, the nailed-down furniture, the bars on the windows, and the torn wallpaper—to the fact that ...
How is John controlling in The Yellow Wallpaper?
John is very limiting in what he allows the narrator to do and what he prohibits her from doing, such as writing or staying in a different room in the house. My own view is that John's controlling attitude towards the narrator causes the narrator to become possessive over the wallpaper.
Is John the antagonist in The Yellow Wallpaper?
We know the main antagonist is her husband, the physician, John. He creates the “obstacles that give the story momentum” and “creates an environment in which [her] transformation can take place” (Marks).
What mental illness does the narrator in The Yellow Wallpaper have?
In Charlotte Perkins Gilman's short story “The Yellow Wallpaper,” the female narrator goes through a temporary nervous depression due to childbirth; in an attempt to help, her husband prescribes for her a treatment where she is confined to an old nursery room with yellow wallpaper for three months.
What does her illness symbolize in The Yellow Wallpaper?
In “The Yellow Wallpaper,” Charlotte Perkins Stenson shows how Jane, an already ill woman, begins to become even more psychologically weakened due to solitary confinement. This story signifies how Charlotte Perkins Stenson, herself, was actually subjected to the slow departure of her own mental health.
Why does the narrator in The Yellow Wallpaper go insane?
Detailed answer: Charlotte Perkins Gilman wrote The Yellow Wallpaper to show the protagonist's path toward insanity. The narrator's physician is her husband John, who confines her to bed rest following postpartum psychosis. The protagonist is restricted from any physical or creative activity.
What kind of husband is John in The Yellow Wallpaper?
The character of the husband, John, in “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is introduced as a respected physician and a caring husband who strives to improve the mental health of his wife, the narrator, who is diagnosed with temporary nervous condition.
Which of the following best describes John's attitude toward his wife?
Which of the following best describes John's attitude toward his wife? He is condescending and treats her as though she were a child. The narrator in the short story, "Cathedral" by Raymond Carver changes his attitude about the blindman when they drink together.
Which description of John indicates that the narrator does not trust him?
In "The Yellow Wallpaper," which description of John indicates that the narrator does not trust him? He asked me all sorts of questions, too, and pretended to be very loving and kind.
Is John the antagonist in The Yellow Wallpaper?
We know the main antagonist is her husband, the physician, John. He creates the “obstacles that give the story momentum” and “creates an environment in which [her] transformation can take place” (Marks).
Why does John faint?
The nameless narrator creeps to avoid suspicion as she attempts to free the imaginary woman trapped inside the wallpaper. Her creeping is also a physical manifestation of her helplessness as a voiceless woman. The narrator has not committed suicide, and one could interpret her delusion and mental instability as a means of escaping John's psychological torment and experimentation.
Why does the narrator tear down the wallpaper?
The narrator is obsessed with freeing the imaginary woman trapped inside the wallpaper, which symbolically represents her own depressing situation. In order to "free" the woman, the narrator must tear the wallpaper down. She does not want to be stopped, which is why she silently creeps on the floor.
Why does the narrator creep?
The narrator "creeps" because of her perception that she has found a way out of the wallpaper. Her creative energies had been thwarted with the "rest therapy" prescribed to her. The narrator had wanted to write, and find some outlet to express her feelings. However, under "strict" orders she had to "rest.".
What does the woman experience at the end of the story?
At the end of the story, she experiences a sense of freedom and independence by thwarting her husband's plan.
Why does John faint in the end of The Yellow Wallpaper?
John faints at the end of “The Yellow Wallpaper” because he is utterly shocked by the sight of his wife creeping all over the bedroom after trying to free the imaginary woman trapped in the wallpaper. The narrator seems like a woman possessed, and John's emotions simply can't handle this sudden change in his wife's personality, so he passes out in terror.
What happens when John finally awakens from his fainting spell?
When John finally awakens from his fainting spell, he'll somehow have to deal with his wife's mental illness. He'll have to get used to seeing his wife in a terrible state for which he may not believe there to be a cure—and which he himself helped to cause. In short, he'll have to be strong, which means, among other things, not fainting at the sight of his wife's deranged behavior.
Expert Answers
By the time the narrator's husband, John, returns to the house where his wife is being "treated" with the rest cure for her "hysteria"—a sort of catch-all term to describe anxiety or depressive disorders in women at the time—she is no longer herself.
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By this point in the story, the narrator and main character has essentially lost her mind entirely. She has torn down most of the wallpaper and has, in her mind, "become" one of the women she believed she saw creeping around, trapped behind the pattern in the paper.
What happens to John after he breaks in on his wife?
After breaking in on his insane wife, John faints in shock and goes unrecognized by his wife, who calls him “that man” and complains about having to “creep over him” as she makes her way along the wall. Previous section The Narrator.
Does John know his wife?
John knows his wife only superficially. He sees the “outer pattern” but misses the trapped, struggling woman inside. This ignorance is why John is no mere cardboard villain. He cares for his wife, but the unequal relationship in which they find themselves prevents him from truly understanding her and her problems.
Is John the Yellow Wallpaper a villain?
Though John seems like the obvious villain of “The Yellow Wallpaper,” the story does not allow us to see him as wholly evil . John’s treatment of the narrator’s depression goes terribly wrong, but in all likelihood he was trying to help her, not make her worse. The real problem with John is the all-encompassing authority he has in his combined role as the narrator’s husband and doctor. John is so sure that he knows what’s best for his wife that he disregards her own opinion of the matter, forcing her to hide her true feelings. He consistently patronizes her. He calls her “a blessed little goose” and vetoes her smallest wishes, such as when he refuses to switch bedrooms so as not to overindulge her “fancies.” Further, his dry, clinical rationality renders him uniquely unsuited to understand his imaginative wife. He does not intend to harm her, but his ignorance about what she really needs ultimately proves dangerous.
