Point Of View In Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper"

Point of view and narrative mode in Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" supports and conveys the theme of sanity versus insanity in a number of ways. In her capturing of the authority of narration, Gilman leaves the reader questioning the narrator's reliability. Her repeated use of self-reflexivity and the stream of conscious mode allow the reader to know in what way we are meant to comprehend the events of the story. Finally, the reader is bombarded by signs of the narrator's descent into psychosis while receiving conflicting information from the narrator herself. How is the reader meant to understand the story? Is the narrator too mentally unstable for her story to be taken seriously or is she just sane enough? More to the point, how does the narrative mode lead to this conclusion?

Seeing as how Abrams defines an unreliable narrator as "one whose perception, interpretation, and evaluation of the matters he or she narrates do not coincide with the opinions and norms implied by the author, which the author expects the alert reader to share," (244) calling the narrator of "The Yellow Wallpaper" unreliable becomes problematic. This is for the simple reason that the issue of authorship is under debate. The reader is led to believe that the narrator is telling her own story; one similar yet slightly different from the one Gilman herself experienced. Given that this is the case, how can one be sure of the author's intent? Is the reader meant to assume that the story is autobiographical or are they to question the validity and the reality of the narrator's statements? My supposition is that the reader is meant to be unsure of the narrator's reliability. This may be by Gilman's intent or by circumstance. By drawing heavily on her experiences, it is easy to at least argue that she may have been 'too close' to the story and therefore, could not write objectively. In other words, it seems quite reasonable to assume that Gilman could have taken her own story, her own diary written during her 'rest cure,' and added to it to produce "The Yellow Wallpaper." The fact that the narrator makes reference to the very physician who treated Gilman, Dr. Weir Mitchell, ("John says if I don't pick up faster he shall send me to Weir Mitchell in the fall.") (Gwynn 77) in the course of the events in the story, seems to support the association at the very least.

Gilman's use of self-reflexivity and stream of consciousness gives the reader a distinct sense of being in the narrator's head; privy to each and every one of her thoughts. This being the case, it provides for a compelling read and allows for much speculation regarding her sanity. In speaking of the act of writing her thoughts, the narrator lends herself to utilizing the stream of consciousness, or, to be more precise, the interior monologue mode of narration. This is illustrated best as the narrator speculates on her state and how she might remedy it saying that "I sometimes fancy that in my condition, if I had less opposition and more society and stimulus-but John says the very worst thing I can do is think about by condition..." (Gwynn 97) In this passage, the narrator juxtaposes two trains of thought: her own developing thought and the idea that her husband would disapprove of her thinking such things. The hyphenated pause can be read to mean a number of things including a minute pause interrupting her initial thought and immediately inserting the fact that John would not approve and as a longer pause to indicate a rethinking of her first thought and, as if saying 'on second thought,' reworking her thought process so that it leads into another direction. The fact that the reader does not know precisely how this is to be read makes the narrator's state of mind even more of an enigma. Is she merely conditioned to think in a certain way or is she genuinely aware of her own thoughts?

The narrator's state of mind becomes even more troublesome as the story progresses. Her mental state seems to deteriorate rapidly and she begins to exhibit signs of paranoia and psychosis. The narrator becomes so focused on the wallpaper that, whenever anyone enters the room, she is keenly aware of if they merely look at it. This is best shown when she 'catches' John and Jennie looking at or touching the wallpaper. This obsession borders on paranoia, to say the very least.

The narrator's degeneration into psychosis is evident throughout the narrative. It is especially powerful as she mentions the gnawing of the bedpost, the yellow stains on her clothing, and as she begins