Role of the narrator in Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s
7 pages on the role of the narrator in Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”. Must use 3 articles from Gale Literature Resource Center.
Sample Solution
The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a significant early work of American feminist culture that uses a homodiegetic fictional female narrator in order to critically examine nineteenth century attitudes towards women`s mental health. When the story was first published in 1892, critics saw it as a “detailed account of incipient insanity” (Gilman 1935: 119), almost like a medical textbook. It was only in the 1930s when her autobiography was published that it began to be seen as a great work of feminist literature. The narrator provides a first-person perspective of events, but in different roles. She can be viewed as a mother, wife, and patient. Most revealing is her perspective as a prisoner.
