It is interesting to listen to what people have to say about a story and then reading it. I feel you pick up on more than you would if you read it before hearing someones opinion on it beforehand. That being said, it is hard to have your own opinion on a piece of literature without part of it being based off what you have already heard about the story. However, that didn't stop my imagination from creating the most frightful images.
From what I can gather, (using the theory I heard in class) it was about a woman, who in the Gothic Tradition has been classified as insane, or has a "temporary nervous depression", as stated in the story. She spends most of her time in this room with a "sickly sulfur" coloured wallpaper surrounding her. As time wears on she begins to see things within the patterns of the paper, eventually seeing a woman, or many women at times trapped behind the bars the patterns make. She spends her time then ripping the paper off, attempting to free the woman from within. The perspective flips then, and she sees herself as the woman, free now from the bars that had trapped her and not wanting to return to them. This could be looked upon as a theme for Woman's Oppression, but as always arguments are open for debate. You can read the story here.
Frankly, this story frightened me, whether it be from the word choice or my own imagination I am not sure. The word 'creep' was used frequently, to describe how the visions of women she seen outside her windows crawled around in the grass, and later she used the word for herself to described how she 'crept' around her own room. The imagery that this gave me was of, 'The Exorcist' of course! We all know the scenes in which Regan (or the demon Pazuzu) 'creeps' along the walls in the now grotesque body it has possessed. "I see her on the long road under the trees, creeping along, and when a carriage comes she hides under the blackberry vines." I think of Pazuzu when she talks about creeping. What frightens me more though is the second part of the quote: " I don't blame her a bit. It must be very humiliating to be caught creeping by daylight." As if she thinks it is fine to creep along the road looking like Regan from the 'Exorcist', smiling and waving to the common passerby, BUT only at night, because no proper lady creeps by in the daylight...
Reading the story really put me into the mind of the woman who suffered from insanity. It's argued that she is not in a summer home, but in a institution for people like herself. There is fair bit of evidence to suggest this, such as her husband, who happens to be a doctor, (A doctor in an institution? Nah.) repeatedly tells her that this place will do her good, and she will come out much better. So they go to a place for three months, because she is sick, and they plan on leaving again and going back their original home. Interesting. Another example of this is how she fancies she sees people walking about the grounds and her husband has cautioned her not to take to such fancies. As if she is imagining them, or maybe she isn't, and this home is not a home and is more a Institution. I won't go any farther into the topic, but those are just a couple of facts to suggest it.
There is so much in this story that I could talk/write about, that it's rather hard to keep my thoughts in order. The imagery, the character development, the real meaning, the plot... The plot! Yes, the plot. Such an interesting plot line, I honestly don't know what to say about it, or even know if there is a real plot to it. Her insanity (in the gothic tradition) progresses as you move deeper into the story of course, and she seems so calm about most things up until the end, and that is where it gets me. I honestly have no idea what happens in the end. There are so many different interpretations of it. Who was Jane? Was is always her she saw behind the wallpaper? What did she actually do with the rope? Was she in a summer-home or Institution? I guess it really depends on the reader them selves, and ultimately it is them who has to decide what really happens in the story and not what everyone else says (Although it probably can help a bit). My concluding remarks are that one should read the story before it is discussed in class, so that you may have you own opinion and not get what you think your opinion might be, jumbled up with the 30 opinions you get in class.
A side note that has nothing to do with the story itself: When you
listen to a discussion about a piece of literature in class and you go
to read it afterwards. USE A HIGHLIGHTER! As I wrote this, I struggled through the eight pages of small text to find all the quotes and words that I thought would be good to use in this blog.
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