Reading Reaction -- 8.31.09

[Ryan Browne]

Please explode ONE of the following questions. 250 words.

1. Knowing what we now know about race from reading and studying
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (think back to Friday), discuss Mr.
Ryder's attitudes toward race and/or the "Blue Veins" society in "The
Wife of His Youth."


2. Does "The Yellow Wall-Paper" represent the tradition of Realism?
Why or why not? Cite specific examples from the text.

[Katie]

“The yellow wall paper” is a very strange short story. While reading
this story, you learn the writer is writing like a journal. She is
sick from nervous breakdowns and her husband, a physician makes her
stay in this room with horrid wall paper for three months. I believe
this story is written to represent Realism because the author is
forced to face reality. Her husband has placed her in this room and
will not let her leave or write. She attempts to talk about what her
life would ‘ought to be’ if she weren’t sick but she is simply not
allowed to show ANY romantic ideas of that sort. “I think if I were
only well enough to write a little it would relieve the press of ideas
and rest me.” (pg 811) This quote is one of the few were she talks
about if she were better. Another reason why I believe this story
represents Realism is because the author discusses the wall paper as
it actually is on the wall. She gives very specific negative details
instead of saying the way the wall paper “ought to be”. An example is
on page 815, “ the color is hideous enough, and unreliable enough, and
infuriating enough, but the pattern is torturing.” . She also gives
another vivid negative description, “ It slaps you in the face, knocks
you down and tramples upon you.” This story shows many ordinary
circumstances about this woman. It does not sugar coat anything but
tell you what it would be like to live this sick life.

[Kristofer Khoury]

"The Yellow Wall-Paper" tells a short story of a women's mental
breakdown. It takes place in a country house about three miles from
the nearest village. This is where the narrator, the protagonist of
the story, is kept in a decorated room of yellow wallpaper that used
to be a nursery. There she is instructed not to engage in any
intellectual activity while in this room. Now it is only a matter of
time until the end of the story she goes insane.
I consider this story an example of realism because it portrays
the mental deterioration of the narrator. I also consider it realistic
in that it depicts life as it was for women in the nineteenth century.
Especially when the narrator says "I lie here on this great immovable
bed--it is nailed down, i believe--and follow that pattern about by
the hour." It seems that the author purposely made the narrator
typical of the setting for that time period. The fact that she relies
on her husband, can't make decisons for herself, and is constantly
treated like a child. There is no doubt in my mind that this story was
written pertaining the psychological realism. Also the symbolism in
this story seems to represent the nineteenth century when women were
viewed as children in society. While the yellow wallpaper tends to
represent the narrator's state of mind, despite her description of the
wallpaper, it still remains mysterious.

[vsjackson]

The Yellow Wall-paper definitely represents the tradition of Realism.
The story is about a women suffering from depression and feeling
imprisoned with her marriage. Her husband is a doctor who insists on
treating her his way and not giving her a choice of her own in how she
wants to be treated. He has taken to a house for vacation in hopes of
treating her depression, but he actually drives her more insane. She
is kept in a room where the wallpaper eventually makes her become more
depressed and more insane.
The story represents realism because during the time it was written,
men did not treat women equally and many women did feel imprisoned by
marriage. The plot is very realistic and does not end with a happy
ending like most romantic stories do. The story ends with the narrator
being completely obsessed with the wall -paper. She is convinced there
are many women trapped in the paper who want to get out. Her husband
walks into find her creeping around the room and faints because the
sight is so miserable. The narrator writes, “Now why should that man
have fainted? But he did, and right across my path by the wall, so
that I have to creep over him every time!” The story ends with her
being insane and trapped within her insanity. The fact that the story
is somber and does not end happily makes it fall under the realism
category. Its readers will feel emotion and sadness for the woman and
hopefully question the way women were treated during this time.

[cjrogers]

"The Yellow Wall-Paper" is a story about a woman who is locked away
in an old nursery room and throughout the whole story she is having
mental breakdowns. It is very confusing at first, but then once the
reader understands what is going on it is very captivating and
descriptive. The doctor makes the woman quarantine herself in this old
yellow room for three months and she is writing a journal. It is most
definately a story of realism because the reader is able to see mental
breakdown on the verge of insanity. This is realistic because it
completely strays away from the romantic ideals of thinking. It is not
a humanitarian view on life. It shows the deterioration of ones mind
and the physical strain set on an individual. Throughout the story you
get a sense of monotany and almost feel like you are there because of
how graphically this woman depicts the room. She talks about how much
she hates the way the room looks and how she is slowly going insane.
It also represents realism because at this time, woman were not
considered equal to men. The fact that her husband, and a doctor (both
males) tell her where to go and what to dois an accurate portrail of
the relationship between men and woman at this time. It is very
realistic because nothing is sugar coated and it is what it is. An
example of this is when the woman refers to the pattern on the wall as
"torturous." This short story defines realism and is the polar
opposite of romanticism.

[Ali Smith]

“The Yellow Wallpaper” written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a
depiction of realism that explores the effects of mental health issues
during the 19th century. When the short story first starts out, it has
an almost romantic way of describing how wonderful and breathtaking
the estate appears. The narrator quickly changes the romantic
description into a realistic point of view when she starts to describe
the room her husband, John, has confined her to. Gilman seems to be
suffering from a mixture of postpartum depression and a mental
breakdown. Towards the beginning of the story the narrator mentions
the child she recently had but is unable to see. As the story
progresses, she starts to believe she has become one of the women
stuck in the wallpaper. Gilman describes the woman in the wallpaper
stuck behind a strangling yellow pattern that she is unable to escape
during the night. Much like the woman in the wallpaper, Gilman seems
to be trapped by her demanding husband and mental illness where she is
unable to escape. She compares herself to the woman by saying, “I
always lock the door when I creep by daylight. I can't do it at night,
for I know John would suspect something at once.” There is nothing
romanticized in this short story, it tells the harsh realities of a
woman battling against a mental disease. She shares her raw and
humanistic feelings by writing, which seems to be her only way to
honestly communicate.

[Tricia]

“The Yellow Wallpaper” by Gilman represents the tradition of realism
in the 19th century viewpoint of women. One can infer from the story
that the women is having postpartum depression or a slight nervous
breakdown from the recent birth of her child. During that time it was
widely known that the words “uterus” and “hysteria’ came from the same
Greek root word and many women were brushed off as having these
nervous diseases. The story is also real in the 19th century view of
the patriarchal society. The husband, John, is a physician, and is
determined that demanding his wife rest in a secluded home and room
will help her ease her nervous tendencies. Like the values in the 19th
century, the woman is subordinate and obeys her husband. The realism
gets ironic when it the husband’s advice actually becomes worse and
starts to go crazy about the wallpaper and eventually never leave the
room. The woman’s mental disorder is never romanticized in the story
and the first-person point of view really adds drama and sympathy to
the woman’s situation. This piece is a realistic look at the irony in
the male dominated medical field and the extremes of misunderstanding
nervousness and depression. If males had taken more time to view the
woman’s disease as important and not hysteria, then maybe they could
see her going insane in the room all by herself. “The Yellow
Wallpaper” is real because it is blunt in tracking the mental demise
of a poor woman lost in a male dominated society.

[Matt Rotenstreich]

Matt Rotenstreich
Reading Response
8/31/09

2. “The Yellow Wall-Paper” definitely represents realism. It is an
extremely weird, realistic story about a woman who is forced to live
in a yellow room. While in this room she describes the room in such
vivid and real words that it makes you want to hate the color yellow
as much as this woman. The story gives very detailed sentences
describing exactly how this woman’s mind is breaking down due to being
confined to this room. It is so real that it gets intense and scary.
On page 815, the narrator describes the color of the room as being
“hideous, and torturous.” Another way this story depicts realism is
because in the time the story was written woman were not considered
equal to men. The doctor and the husband send the woman to this room
and she has no say what is going to happen to her in her own life. The
words used to describe everything that is happening to this woman,
with the yellow room and her relationships with the doctor and husband
really make you feel like you are there with the woman as she
experiences these different events. Its very realistic because unlike
most stories this one has no happy ending and you have to sit there
and read the demise, and break down of this poor woman and the story
really makes you feel bad for her and makes you feel like you are with
her.

On Aug 30, 9:34 am, Ryan Browne <ryan.j.bro...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Please explode ONE of the following quesions. 250 words.

[John]

The "Blue Veins" society is by it's very nature racist. It is not
overtly bigoted or violently racist like the Ku Klux Klan. Instead
the "Blue Veins" have created a kind of haughtily ignorant form of
racism as is evidenced by this quote from Mr. Ryder,

"I have no race prejudice, but we people of mixed blood are ground
between the upper and the nether millstone. Our fate lies between
absorption by the white race and extinction in the black. The one
doesn't want us yet, but may take us in time. The other would welcome
us, but it would be for us a backward step."

In a way this is almost worse than overt bigotry because they are
turning their back on people that would accept them even when society
is telling them that there is no longer a difference between the
groups. Instead they are attempting to fight an uphill battle to
attempt to curry favor with people who are full white and build their
own social status instead of working with less fortunate and totally
uneducated blacks to help them become members of society. By the end
of the story though they are all brought to see the error of their
ways by witnessing the devotion and humanity in the story of 'Liza
Jane. Even Mr. Ryder is willing to give up his much younger and
prettier soon-to-be wife in order to be with the older more homely
and, most shockingly, fully black woman that has been devoted to
finding him for twenty five years.

[Luke]

Mr. Ryder was a very conservative person with a strong forms of
attitude. He made himself a very popular man in his society and turned
into a public figure. Mr. Ryder was a poetic, well-dressed man who has
rightfully earned his life working on the ladder and benefited. This
in turn led him to become wealthy and live in luxury. In his youth he
is a “quite a catch with the ladies” (p.697). Ryder was a ladies man
who often after the young chicks who were old enough to be his
daughter and showed off his love for her. To show his love, he
created a huge plush ball for her and their guests. He displayed the
ball with decorations and pretty much try to spoil her. Ryder known as
a mixed-colored fellow became to be very balanced and absorbed.
The “Blue Veins” society were true natured racists and their group is
not overly portrayed. It doesn’t familiarize with secret groups such
as the Ku Klux Klan and has a unique trait. The establish a trait that
is a very arrogant form of racism. Ryder blows off a black woman
needed help to find her man, Sam Taylor. A very compassionate man who
professed his love for Mrs. Molly Dixon. “He began by speaking of
woman as the gift of Heaven to man, and after some general
ovservations on the relations of the sexes he said: “But perhaps the
quality which most distinguishable woman is her fidelity and devotion
those she loves. History is full of examples, but has recorded none
more striking than one which only to-day came under my notice.” Aside
from the “ Blue Veins” society, he enjoyed life as very intimate
selfless guy who dedicated his life for many causes.

[Brittani Boice]

At the beginning of “The Wife of His Youth”, it is apparent that The
Blue Vein Society is a fairly prejudiced group but not necessarily
racist. The Blue Veins are a group of light-skinned African-Americans
of the middle and upper class; the group is only prejudiced in that if
an African-American is too dark-skinned, they cannot join the group.
It is interesting to see a group of African-Americans trying to create
a divide not only between themselves and white people but also between
themselves and other African-Americans with darker skin just after
they fought so hard for equality. The Blue Vein Society just further
proves that race is entirely socially constructed by the society we
live in; the Blue Vein Society tries to create a racial separation
between African-Americans with different shades of skin just so they
cannot be negatively referred to as “black”. While Mr. Ryder heads
this semi-racist organization, I would not consider him racist. As he
states in the story “ I have no race prejudice… (pg. 698)”. When Liza
Jane shows up at Mr. Ryder’s house looking for her long-lost husband,
Mr. Ryder politely dismisses her saying he does not know who her
husband could be and returns to thoughts of what he will say to
propose to Mrs. Dixon at the ball. However, this made-up racial
separation within a race causes Mr. Ryder to face a difficult
decision: should he look beyond “racial” differences and tell dark-
skinned Liza Jane that he is her long-lost husband or ignore her and
continue with his plan of marrying the light-skinned Mrs. Dixon? In
the end, Mr. Ryder makes the right choice to rekindle his marriage
with 25-year absent Liza.

[Michael Bodkin]

“The Yellow Wall-Paper” is a story written in the form of a diary by a
woman suffering some sort of depression or mental breakdown. The
story is a little peculiar in the way the woman’s thoughts flow rather
incoherently. I would definitely say that this story is a depiction
of realism. The woman, the narrator, is very descriptive of all she
sees around her. On page 809 she talks about the beautiful house she
is in and the beauty of all the surroundings. She speaks of the
yellow wallpaper in the room she is staying in and how horrible it is,
how much she hates the color. I think that the greatest example of
realism in this short story is how real this woman seems; how her
mental condition is conveyed through her diary. The way the story is
written is very real to what an actual diary of a mental patient would
be like. Another example of realism in this story is through the
relationship between this woman and her husband. Their relationship
is very realistic for the time period. The husband makes all of the
decisions and almost brushes off every request his wife makes. The
husband is in charge and what he says is how things go. I feel that
even though “The Yellow Wall-Paper” is just a story, it is filled with
realism and true-life scenarios.

[mikecb122]

The "Blue Veins" society reminds me more of racism today than that of
the late 1800's. Although racism is alive and well today, very few
people will come out and admit that they are. This ugly truth that
people are afraid to admit makes one wonder why they are racist at
all. The "Blue Veins" also take this under tone approach to bigotry by
looking down on those they pretend to serve, simply due to the fact
that they have darker skin than them. Mr.Ryder and the rest of the
blue veins wish so badly to be accepted by whites that they will cast
out anyone that they think is not socially acceptable. He goes a far
as to say "the one doesn't want us yet, but may take us in time. The
other would welcome us, but it would be for us a backward step." One
could argue that Mr.Ryder and the "Blue Veins" are simply trying to
better themselves and make head way for their race, but I could not
disagree more. Such willingness to leave their own kind behind makes
them all an "Uncle Tom" in the truest sense. Thankfully in the end
they all realize what fools they have been when they witness the
devotion of Liza Jane. Ms.Jane refused to give up the search for her
huband even when they were all willing to turn their backs on her or
any black person that didn't fit a white persons standards.

On Aug 30, 8:34 am, Ryan Browne <ryan.j.bro...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Kristen]

2. Does "The Yellow Wall-Paper" represent the tradition of Realism?
Why or why not? Cite specific examples from the text.

“The Yellow Wall-Paper” seems like the epitome of realism. The
story presents humorous “real” happenings throughout. To start off,
the story follows a family who is moving because renovations are being
done on heir actual home. Nothing about that can be pretend. Even
though the woman is wary of the home, her suspicions still are not
unrealistic. Most people, at some point in their life, have some sort
of superstitious feeling. As a matter of fact, her whole illness and
the fact that she is completely insane is about as real as the story
could get. The author describes the woman’s condition and
demonstrates it so well that it actually makes it easy to imagine.
The fact that her husband tries to make it go away with pills and
confinement and rest, her obvious postpartum depression, and her odd,
but curious, obsession with the wall-paper are all perfect examples of
how real her illness is.
Also, the fact that she is obsessed with “figuring out” the wall-
paper is an example of realism. She literally has mental issues. Her
problem is broken down by every journal entry; which also helps make
the realism more noticeable. At first, she just seems to be annoyed
with the wall-paper; its color, smell, pattern, and texture. However,
as the story progresses, we find that she becomes a part of the wall-
paper. The worry that you feel form those around also makes the
illness more believable.

[courtney]

After reading the story "The Yellow Wall-Paper I thought the story was
really interesting and different. I think in a way the story does
represent realism.  The whole story is about a woman who is depressed.
She believes that she is sick but her husband is a doctor and tells
her that it is basically in her head. For this reason she spends a
great amount of time in her room writing down her thoughts. She talks
a lot about the wall paper in her room. She mentions that she sees an
old woman creeping around behind bars at night. Then during the day
the women escapes and is outside. To me in the end it sounded like
this woman she was seeing was actually really herself. She had felt
trapped. Then at the end of the story she escapes. She tears some of
the wall paper off the wall. She makes the comment " I have got out at
last, in spite of you and Jane! And I've pulled off most of the paper,
so you can't put me back!"  What I have got out of it was that her
being in that room for so much time was like the lady behind the bars
which represented her. By telling the story about the woman behind the
bars she was explaining how she felt. Her husband did not let her do
much which probably just made things worse. She was not even allowed
to take care of her own baby.

[Michael]

Michael Patrick
Reading Reaction
8.31.2009

“The Yellow Wall-Paper” resembles realism; however, lacks the key
element of the genre of realism—actual reality. The mental breakdown
that the main character suffers could have been a real thing, but
Charlotte Gilman took the situation a little too far from the truth.
She may have been mentally ill, but Gilman said that the woman began
to see “creeping women” inside the paper (813).
The genre of realism relies on the events therein to have some sort
of representation of actual events or at least be true to the ones
that are actual events. In this tale, Charlotte Gilman fails to do
this. In the short explanation following this story in our anthology,
Charlotte Gilman says that she exaggerated this story from actual
events (820). She even says, “I never had hallucinations” (820). While
this tale may have altered the treatment of hysteria and saved many
people, the hyperbole of the main contribution to the plot removes
this from the genre of Realism.

On Aug 30, 8:34 am, Ryan Browne <ryan.j.bro...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Caleb Hall]

2. This story of “The Yellow Wall Paper” is definitely very
captivating. It is almost a twisted tale exploring the narrator’s
deepest and darkest thoughts. The story seems to be soaked in realism.
She is portrayed as a woman of her time and with weaknesses of
mankind. We watch as she goes mad in her room of solitude. We watch
the character develop through the entries in her journal. The realism
in the description on the room is at times almost overbearing. There
were times when I began to feel as though I hated the room as well.
This is a perfect example of realism because the author uses
descriptive methods that anyone could relate to. Also the realism is
portrayed in her growing insanity. The topic alone holds realist view
of the world. It is a subject of pain and agony. Inner self turmoil is
displayed all through the story, for specific example once she begins
to become a part of the wall paper. It is, of course, also reflective
of the times. It implies that this woman is not only trapped in a room
and in her own ill mind, but also she is oppressed in a male society.

On Aug 30, 8:34 am, Ryan Browne <ryan.j.bro...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Cori Powell]

"The Yellow Wall-paper", written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman,
represents the tradition of realism through many ways. The
journalistic style of writing helps the woman portray the reality of
how the wall paper looks and makes her feel. In a passage on page 810,
the woman describes the yellow-colored wallpaper as, "The color is
repellent, almost revolting; a smouldering unclean yellow, strangely
faded by the slow-turning sunlight. It is a dull yet lurid orange in
some places, and a sickly sulphur tint in others." The way the woman
describes the wallpaper is considered realism because it is the
representation of the wallpaper as it actually is, without
idealization or presentation.
The author also does a tremendous job of conveying realism through the
woman character's personality. Throughout the late 1800's and early
1900's, before the women's rights movements, women were taught to be
codependant and reliable on their husbands. There are many times that
this is shown in the the text. For example, on page 809, the woman
says, "He is very careful and loving, and hardly lets me stir without
special direction," and on page 810, "There comes John, and I must put
this away-- he hates to have me write a word." Also, the irony of how
the woman in this story is viewed like a child, and is kept in a
nursery and under careful watch is another form of realism in the
story, and shows how women are viewed by society in this time period.

On Aug 30, 8:34 am, Ryan Browne <ryan.j.bro...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Matt]

Matt Kirkpatrick

In “The Wife of His Youth” we are shown a very strange form of
racism. This racism comes not from the white community, but from the
black community. The only difference is these men are considered to
be “light-skinned” blacks as opposed to the usual darker complexion.
It is a group of men who are known as the “Blue Vein Society.” They
have this title because they are all light-skinned enough to where you
can see the blue in their veins. The Blue Veins claimed that the
merit of the society was completely based off of character and
culture, although the members all happened to be light-skinned. Many
of the members of the Blue Veins Society were born free, although
there were a handful who were born into slavery before eventually
gaining their freedom. Many members were also very educated,
especially their leader, Mr. Ryder. Mr. Ryder loved to read poetry
and could recite entire pages from great English poets. The group as
a whole looked down on all the dark skinned blacks as most white
people did. They treated them as a lesser race of people, like dirt.
Mr. Ryder would say,” I have no race prejudice, but we people of mixed

blood are ground between the upper and the nether millstone. Our fate
lies between absorption by the white race and extinction in the

black. The one doesn’t want us yet, but may take us in time. The
other would welcome us, but it would be for us a backward step.” They
consider themselves to be in between, as they have bought in to the
idea that the color of your skin determines your class in society.

On Aug 30, 8:34 am, Ryan Browne <ryan.j.bro...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Calan]

I believe “The Yellow Wall-paper” does indeed represent the tradition
of realism. It is about a woman who has a sickness and since her
husband is a physician he decides that the best treatment for her is a
lot of fresh air and relaxation. “Your exercise depends on your
strength my dear,” said he, “and your food somewhat on your appetite;
but air you can absorb all the time.” I believe that his methods for
helping her sickness are practical understandings of life. He takes
her to a country house that is a couple of miles from the nearest
town. He also decides that the upstairs room is the best one for his
bride. It has the most windows and offers the most relaxation for the
sickly woman. Considering she has two physicians in her family, she is
very cautious to speak out on how she feels because her husband and
brother will both tell her that nothing is actually wrong and the
sickness is in her head. In reality, the sickness is completely in her
head. As the reading continues it becomes obvious that the woman is a
mental patient. The woman continually describes the room and the wall-
paper as realistically as she views the paper. She continues to give
realistic descriptions that help the reader visualize the room with
her. In the beginning she told her husband how the awful paper bothers
her so badly and he considers taking it down but says that when he
fixes the paper something else will bother her the same way. By the
end of the story it become obvious that the physician was wrong about
the room because the awful paper is what made her officially lose her
mind.

[Laura Pope]

Race is addressed very differently in "The Wife of His Youth" than
it was in "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn." In Huckleberry Finn,
race was a big deal and the different races were on very different
social levels. Black people in Huckleberry Finn were degraded and were
called by some of the most derogatory of terms. Also, in Huckleberry
Finn, there was little or no talk of mixed races or of mixed
relationships. In fact, it was a big deal for Huck to be on a journey
with a black man and they faced many obstacles in doing so. In "The
Wife of His Youth," Mr. Ryder, who can be assumed to be a light
skinned black man, possibly even bi-racial, is seeing a woman who is
lighter skinned than he, and better educated. His approach to the race
issue is that he doesn't have anything against either race, however,
he, as well as the other members of the Blue Vein Society, strive to
be more like the white people and wish to be fully accepted by them in
time. His theory is that, "The one doesn't want us yet, but may take

us in time. The other would welcome us, but it would be for us a

backward step." This shows that Mr. Ryder doesn't think badly of
blacks, and is not embarrassed by them, but feels that it would he in
his, as well as the Blue Vein Society's best interest to work towards
being a part of the white community. The fact that he is not only
intrigued by the white culture but also that he is attracted to very
light skinned women, possibly even fully white women, also represents
his dedication and effort in becoming accepted by the white people.
The story becomes fascinating however, when Mr. Ryder one afternoon
has a woman show up at his house asking him if he knows of a man who
she had once been in a relationship with, hoping that he knew where he
was, and told him a whole story about how he had disappeared and she
was determined to find him one day. At the end of the story we learn,
when he tells the story of this woman's visit to his home, that he is
the man who she is looking for, and even though he is at a ball with
the people he has worked so hard to become accepted by, he leads the
black woman from that afternoon into the ballroom and admits that he
is the man from her story. This ends the story in an extremely
unexpected way, because he had tried for so long to be accepted by the
whites and even was dating a woman who was nearly white, and then in
the end is still true to his race and takes this woman as "the wife of
his youth."

[Tracey]

"The Yellow Wall-Paper" absolutely represents the tradition of
Realism. The manner in which the narrator is treated by her husband is
a true history of how women were treated during this time. The text
says that the narrator suffered from "hysteria," which was defined as
a word that treated almost anything women experienced that men felt
was strange. "Depression, anxiety, excitability, and vague somatic
complaints were among the conditions treated as hysteria." She feels
that there is nothing wrong with her, but since her husband is a
doctor, she'll rest like he tells her to. However much her husband
tries to help, resting and trying not to think is no cure for any form
of mental illness. From the time that the story starts, it's only a
matter of time before she goes insane. The narrator feels like a
prisoner in their home. She despises the room he chose for them to
sleep in, which she describes to the detail as having "rings and
things" in the walls. She said it must have been a playroom for
children. It had bars on the windows and such an awful color wall-
paper. What she fails to see is that the room could have just as
easily housed a person suffering from insanity. She so desperately
wants to get better, but is forbidden to excercise her mind in any
way. She's sick; she's going insane and she wants to tell you about
it. I don't think it can get any more real than that.

[Tanner Logan]

"The Yellow Wall-Paper" represents realism in more ways than any other
form of writing. It re3presents this through the narrator. The
narrator is a woman who is suffering from an illness. However she
feels as if she is not very ill at all and it does not help that her
physician husband and brother tell her nothing is wrong. The realism
starts to come out more when the narrator begins to obviously go
insane. I think this is slightly due to the fact that no one will let
her do anything. The physician husband and brother swear nothing is
wrong yet they confine her to an "R & R" type treatment. The short
story represents realism in the sense of anyone who is also confined
in such a way would act the same way. The narrator begins to question
everything around her, even her own husband. The yellow wall-paper in
the room begins to eat at her inside and out while she is steadily
seeing a woman in the wall-paper. I think this woman is her being
portrayed like she feels, trapped. Finally in the end the woman ends
up losing her mind completely and forgets who those are around her.
This represents realism quite well in the sense of anyone bed ridden
who cannot do anything would act this same way. The short story
touches well with everyday life and does a good job creating the
image.