 "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and "Basket Case" by Green Day are two pieces that are separated by time, but have similar stories that are told throughout. Although these two pieces are very different in when and how they were made, they both are similar in themes. When one listens to or reads theses pieces, they cannot help but think that the actions that occur could also happen to them. There is the underlying theme of driving one's self-insane, that is found in both works. The message that the theme entails is constant throughout both stories. In both, the main character is one who has a certain characteristic that they or others feel is unacceptable for society. Although they feel normal, they do not think that they will be able to live a normal life on the outside. The message that is sent to the audience is that, if you worry about what is around you then you will never truly be able to live your life to the fullest without anxiety or paranoia. There are similarities in the "Basket Case" and "The Yellow Wallpaper" based on their plot lines, dialect and the audience's perception of what the social norm is.

In the song "Basket Case," by Green Day, the protagonist is in an insane asylum and is taking treatment for neuroticism. The protagonist thinks that he is going insane due to the fact that everyone around him thinks that he is extremely paranoid. He overreacts about everything that goes on in his life. Throughout the video of the song, one cannot help but notice that his eyes are constantly moving. This leads one to believe that he is always on his toes and or alert for any signs of danger that could be brought upon him. Throughout the song the singer repeats the line, "sometimes I give myself the creeps." This implies that he knows and sees what he is doing, but does not know how to stop. He realizes what he is doing is crazy and does not know how to control it. He sees how people react to how he acts and that creeps him out. He is concerned about what he is seeing. Then the singer goes on to say, "I went to see a shrink. To analyze 

my dreams." These lines imply that he wants to learn more about his condition and or how to fix it. When he explains what is wrong with him to the psychiatrist, the doctor says that it is a "lack of sex." The doctor obviously feels that this is not an important matter and said anything to get him to leave. Although the doctor gave him a fake diagnosis the protagonist takes it to heart. The singer goes on to say, "so I went to a whore, he said my life's a bore, so quit my whining cause it brining her down." This is rock bottom for the protagonist, because even the whore does not want to listen to him. They think that he is just complaining about nothing and that he is paranoid. Throughout the song, in the chorus the singer keeps repeating, "am I paranoid, or just stoned?" The singer cannot distinguish between his paranoia of when he is high or sober. This shows that he has a very unstable mental state. The audience cannot help but feel that he is the true source of his own paranoia. 

Toward the end of his song he sings about how he is "grasping to control, so I better hold on." This phrase makes one think that he is doing his best to just try and hold on to his life. The problem that he faces is that he cannot distinguish between reality and fantasy in his own life. The words, "sometimes my mind plays tricks on me," goes hand in hand with this. The song's protagonist sees what he thinks is reality, but in fact it is just a figment of his imagination. This then makes him paranoid and causes him to believe that he is neurotic. When he gets down, he has moments where he feels insecure and he result to drugs. This addiction does not help his mental state, which then causes him to have to enter an insane asylum. The song overall has this feeling of insecurity. The ability for the lead singer of Green Day, to become the character in the insane asylum helps with the interpretation of the song tremendously. Although the audience is left on their toes, as to what ends up happening to the poor soul of a man in the song, one can not help but feel that the message of the song is well pointed out. When everyone is telling you that you are okay, but you feel differently on the inside, one can drive him or her self-crazy.

"The Yellow Wallpaper," is an excellent example of someone who is driven insane from the inside out. The story itself is about a woman who is confined to one room, in a large estate, and forced to stay there alone until her husband feels that her insanity is relived from her body. Her husband is a physician and does not believe that she has mental instability. He thinks that she has "temporary nervous depression"(Gilman, 209) and that she just needs time alone to relax. 

For him, as the all-knowing husband, she is just tired and does not need the aid of any professionals. He is a local doctor in their town, but he is just a common doctor, not a psychiatric physician. The main character says, "John says the very worst thing I can do is to think about my condition, and I confess it always makes me feel bad."(Gilman, 209) This is very similar to "Basket Case" in that, the main character in the song brings up the ideas of how he always feels paranoid when he thinks of his condition. The woman in "The Yellow Wallpaper" knows that her condition always gets worse when she thinks about it, so she does her best to try and ignore it. Although she started to feel a little bit better when they moved out to their new estate, things began to move south very quickly.  Her husband put her in the very top floor of the estate, where she would not hear the rest of the world around her.  She goes on to say, "It was a nursery first, then playroom and gymnasium, I should judge; for the windows are barred for little children, and there are rings and things in the walls."(Gilman, 210)  This in a way makes one think that the husband was treating her like an infant, who he wants to have absolute control over with no revolt. 

While she was beginning to get settled in, she starts to get a paranoid feeling. She says, "there is something strange about the house- I can feel it."(Gilman, 209) This is similar to "Basket Case" in that while he is at the insane asylum, he sees all the people who are there and he then begins to feel even more paranoid about his situation. 

Although she doesn't absolutely love the room, she feels like it is adequate for her needs. There is only one thing that she feels is absolutely unacceptable and that is the yellow wallpaper in the room. She goes on to say, "I never saw a worse paper in my life [ ... ] No wonder the children hated it! I should hate it myself if I had to live in this room long." (Gilman, 210)  After noticing such a terrible quality of the room, she then requests that her husband have the room re-papered. He refused because he believed that she was letting it bother her too much and that nothing was worse for someone with her condition to give into such fancies. Although she agrees, she says that, "John does not know how much I really suffer. He knows there is no reason to suffer, and that satisfies him."(Gilman, 210)  Her husband thinks that everything is under control and that he can fix every problem that she has, because in his eyes, he knows her mind better than she does.  This is similar to "Basket Case" when the main character goes to see the shrink, to tell him about his problems. The shrink not only did not want to help the main character, but he gave him an explanation that was a lie. In "The Yellow Wallpaper" the husband not only does not care about the needs of his wife, but he is more concerned about his professional life, than her life. 

As she is pushed to stay in the room alone more and more she becomes paranoid, because she had to stare at the wallpaper all day she became obsessed with it. She begins to see people in it and there is a pattern on the wall that she cannot help but stare at. She says, "I get positively 

angry with the impertinence of it and the everlastingness. Up and down and sideways they crawl, and those absurd, unblinking eyes are everywhere." (Gilman, 212)  This is also similar to "Basket Case" when the singer says, "Sometimes my mind plays tricks on me." The main character of The Yellow Wallpaper" feels as though there are people or creatures living in the wall constantly mocking and looking at her. So she decides to try and get rid of the people in the walls by, tearing the wallpaper off the wall. This however proves to make things worse. She then becomes obsessed with the woman she sees behind the wallpaper. She goes on to say, "The front pattern does move-and no wonder! The woman behind shakes it." (Gilman, 218) 

As the weeks go on she comes up with a plan to try and get the paper off. She starts to act a lot more paranoid. As she does this, her husband begins to become more worried about her condition.  Although he is concerned about her well being, he will not confront her about the issues he is seeing. Thus, she goes completely mad and begins to do abnormal things, such as, locking herself in her room and pace around it, while staring at the wall.  Like "Basket Case" she is grasping for control of her life and does not know how to take it by the reins. Thus, destroying her from the inside out.

The two pieces discussed show what can happen when a condition that should be taken seriously, is not handled correctly.  In "Basket Case" by Green Day, the main character is unsure whether his paranoia is real or if he is just imagining everything in his mind. This causes him to question his sanity and he ends up being put into an insane asylum. In "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the main character is driven to insanity by the insubordination of her own husband. His lack of compassion and the fact that she is required to spend her days locked in a room causes her to go insane. Thus, she ends up becoming a brain dead person with no since of sanity. The two stories have similar plot lines, themes and audiences that allow for them to be compared side by side.

