In the short story “The Yellow Wallpaper”, Charlotte Perkins Gilman shows how inadequate women were treated in the early nineteenth century. The narrator's husband’s actions and the conversation exchanged between the two show such mistreatment and the abuse that the narrator suffered at the hand of her spouse. In the early nineteenth century, women were seen primarily as domesticated housewives who were completely dependent on their husbands for income. This domestic role made women entirely submissive to men and led to a patriarchal society in which men controlled everything; thus allowing for women to be manipulated, disregarded, and overall mistreated by their spouses.

Gilman begins her short story by stating, “If a physician of high standing, and one’s own husband, assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing the matter with one but temporary nervous depression—a light hysterical tendency—what is one to do?” (300). Based off the reading one can determine that the narrator is suffering severely from what is now known as “Postpartum Depression” however, the narrator’s husband claims she is suffering from “temporary nervous depression” which based off research, does not truly exist as a such diagnosis. Research suggest that, “women who experience domestic violence are more likely to report depressive symptoms after five years of follow-up, whereas a pregnancy cohort study reported that antenatal violence was associated with postnatal depression” (Oram, Trevillion, Howard 22). In terms of domestic violence, it is not necessarily physical abuse that the narrator experiences as much as is it mental and/or emotional abuse. The narrator then goes on to say, “So I take phosphates or phosphites—whichever it is, and tonics, and journeys, and air, and exercise, and am absolutely forbidden to ‘work’ until I am well again. Personally, I disagree with their ideas. Personally, I believe that congenial work, with excitement and change, would do me good. But what is one to do?” (Gilman 300). The narrator entirely disagrees with her directed treatment but due to the fact that her doctor is a male and also her husband, she has no say. The idea that one is completely stuck and must obey orders by someone against their will is the definition of mental abuse. And thus shows the subversive environment that women were placed in at this time, they had no true power but were at the will of their husband.

 During the early nineteenth century, women had little to no rights which contributed to the idea that they belonged “in the kitchen”. This degrading phrase was what hung above all women’s heads while their husbands made all the money for the family. Statistically speaking, “In 1950, only 9 percent of families were headed by women: in 1989, 17 percent were” (Elfin, Headlee 5). Not only were women confined to housework but even if they attempted to work, they had to go through extensive obstacles to often just to be turned away. The Cost of Being Female states, “Employers may not like women and will refuse to hire them unless they can them less. Employers can save money by ‘underemploying’ women, that is, by not promoting them” (Elfin, Headlee 5). This civil rights violation led to women being sexually assaulted, talked down to, and pushed aside. In addition to gender discrimination, there also existed a gender pay gap. Research states that, “women, on average, make [only] 71 percent of what men make” (Elfin, Headlee 6). This being due to the fact that “The majority of women were still doing ‘women’s work.’  Women were nurses, not doctors. Women were school teachers, not college professors. Even today, occupations and jobs are divided into ‘women’s work’ and ‘men’s work,’ due to sex stereotyping, defined as ‘attributing behaviors, abilities, interests, values and roles to a person or a group of persons on the basis of their sex (Elfin, Headlee 10). The fact that the work field was (almost) completely dominated by men, made it incredibly difficult for women to be independent indivduals. Gilam states on page 302, “It is so discouraging not to have any advice and companionship about my work. When I get really well, John says we will ask Cousin Henry and Julia down for a long visit; but he says he would as soon put fireworks in my pillow-case as to let me have those stimulating people about now.” This interaction unravels multiple layers of John’s mistreatment towards the narrator. First, being that if she wants her cousins to visit then they should be allowed. Second, if she wants advice on her work then John should do her of the favor and listen to her. Third, John should not threaten to blow her up for asking for human interaction. This kind of behavior towards the narrator while in such a depressive state is only causing her more emotional pain and trauma. John’s emotional manipulative is only keeping her out of his own way while also keeping her from ever recovering from her postpartum depression. 

In addition to women being undermined by men in the workplace and in their own home, women also faced immense struggles in receiving proper mental health treatment. Research states that, “It is true, as Packard protested, that many state laws allowed husbands to commit their wives to insane asylums, ‘without the evidence of insanity required in other cases’” (Reiss 175). While John did not necessarily put the narrator into an insane asylum, some would argue that he did but with his own small twist to it. Gilman states, “He said we came here solely on my account, that I was to have perfect rest and all the air I could get” however, “I don’t like our room a bit. I wanted one downstairs that opened on the piazza and had roses all over the window, and such pretty old-fashioned chintz hangings! But John would not hear of it” (300). Based off this resentment towards her room, one can realize that the narrator does not want to be confined in this house yet has no choice due to her overpowering husband. John constantly tells the narrator how this move is good for her and that he did it in regards to her getting better. However, Gilman states that “John is away all day, and even some nights when his cases are serious” and “I am alone a good deal just now. John is kept in town very often by serious cases, and Jennie is good and lets me alone when I want her to” (304). After further reading, one can now conclude that John only moved them out to this house so he could live his normal daily life while also knowing his wife is confined to the house being watched over by his sister. The narrator even said, “I lie here on this great immovable bed—it is nailed down, I believe—and follow that pattern about the hour” (304). Elizabeth Parsons Ware Packard, a historical feminist, voiced that, “the asylum superintendent, Dr. Andrew McFarland, admitted her only on the word of her husband and two physicians who were in her husband’s Bible group” (Reiss 173). Elizabeth Packard was sent to an institution based solely off her husband’s word because he wanted to stop her from “spreading her own more feminized version of Protestantism (the belief that the Holy Ghost was the Mother of the heavenly Christ)” (Reiss 173). The fact that her own husband had the power to lock her away in a mental institution even though she was not ill in any way, shows how little authority women had in the early nineteenth century. 

Based off today’s historical knowledge of the early nineteenth century, one can understand the clear mistreatment that the narrator experienced from her husband. In “The Yellow Wallpaper”, the narrator suffers tremendously from postpartum depression. However, instead of receiving proper treatment, her husband moves them away to a house that he claims will be good for her despite the fact that she is confined to one room with little to no human interaction. Her husband consistently tells her that this is good for her and she is forced to accept his decisions despite the fact that she disagrees entirely. Based off research, one can conclude that because men dominated society in the early nineteenth century, the narrator had little chance of ever receiving proper treatment. Mental health institutions were entirely unfair and controlled by men who could place their wives in it for the sole reason of keeping them out of their way. The narrator also talks much about wanting to work again but again, research says that women experienced extreme discrimination. Women in today’s society are much more independent, well paid, and respected which is how one can immediately see the mistreatment going on in “The Yellow Wallpaper”.
