By looking at women’s rights and mental illness knowledge in the 1890’s a reader can gain a better understanding of the historical events, practices, and elements that shaped the short story The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. The author experienced struggles with mental illness and gender discrimination during the time period the short story was written helping relate the two texts. The reader can see the relationship between the historical events, practices, and elements when analyzing the way that the narrator underwent treatment for mental health and the way she acts when talking about her husband. 

The text is written from the mentally ill narrator’s point of view, in the style of a secret journal. Allowing the reader to understand what the narrator was thinking and see how the narrator’s illness progresses throughout the short story. Using this point of view also gave the reader a personal way to see how she sees.  An example of how a historical practice connects the texts is the treatment methods used. “Until the 19th century, people with mental illness were cared for by family members, who quietly attended to their needs in rural areas” this was the same way the narrator was treated, her sister in-law, Janie, and her husband who was also her doctor took care of her (Hotlyman). 

The narrator believes that she is at the summer home for vacation. The reader is able to quickly pick up on the contexts clues that something is not right about the narrator.  She says that her room must have been a nursey before she moved in because the windows had barres on them for children. When she talks about the room she wanted on the ground floor but says her husband would not allow it.  When she describes the wallpaper as “pronounced enough to constantly irritate and provoke study” this foreshowed her obsession with the wallpaper (301Gilman). 

An important element in the text is when the narrator states that she is “absolutely forbidden to “work” until I am well again” the reader should understand this historical practice that was called the “rest cure” (300Gilman). The “rest cure” was the treatment commonly used in the 1890’s to treat women who suffered from mental illness. This treatment is the reason the narrator hides her journal because she is literally restricted from all physical and mental stimulation. With the only treatment offered for mental illness it was the only option. This is an example of the lack of knowledge of mental illness in the late 1800’s.   A mentally health person would go ill if they had the lay in bed all day every day. 

An historical element that The Yellow Wallpaper does not address was the differences in treatments for the wealthy and poor. The text shapes the way a reader understands the historical practices for the wealthy take which are the same way the narrator does. The poor were not able to go to summer homes so they were treated at public hospitals that were dirty and overcrowded.  The reader may have start having doubts about the relationship between herself and her husband, thinking it could be her mental illness talking. But using the historical element now knowing that only the wealthy undergo her treatment 

During the 1890’s the historical practice for was for woman to be a homemaker and a mother while her husband worked. The narrator is careful about the way she talks about her husband who is also her doctor treating her. She states “perhaps (I would not say it to a living sole, of course, but this is dead paper and a great relief to my mind) perhaps that is one reason I do not get well fast” this shows the kind of submissive relationship that she has with her husband that was common during that time period (299 Gilman). A woman would not have talked back to her husband or disagreed with him out loud during this time.  John, her husband/doctor has a stronger hold on her than normal because he is the one treating her. Her reasoning on why he is never at the summer home is because of his work. John does not listen to her thoughts or how the wallpaper makes her feel he just brushes it off and because he knows she will listen to him. The reader could observe from the historical evets in the reading that women were starting to join to work force and the women’s suffrage movement started. These events are important to look have because of the narrators starts to disobey John gaining a bit of mental freedom.  

Throughout the story the narrator talks about a “baby”. While it is never confirmed that she did in fact ever have a baby. The reader can use the historical information in make an infer that she may have had a child at one time. With the information about how some mental breaks can be brought on by postpartum illnesses. Her husband even tells her “for my sake and for our child’s sake” when she questions his job as a physician. 

As the story progresses becomes clear to the reader that the narrator is not getting better she is getting worst. she has a complete mental break yet she has become so fixated with what she sees in the wallpaper she believes that she is getting better. With the lack of a real treatment and the “rest cure” clearly failing to help her, it could also be the reason why she is getting worst.  Whenever john makes her lay down she cannot sleep because of “that cultivates deceit, for I don’t tell them I’m awake” (307 Gilman).  The narrator begins to become paranoid that Janie and John have also discovered the wallpaper’s appeal. The story ends with the narrator pulling off all the wallpaper and going insane. 

The reader should have understood the ways the historical elements, events, and practices shaped by The Yellow Wallpaper. Without the important historical information, the reader would have missed important ways the text was shaped. By also looking at how the text can shape the historical values used throughout, a reader is able to fully understand the meaning and background of the text. 
