In this world you have people suffering from several different kinds
of mental illnesses because people believe is what they see. You have
people that do not believe the mind can be ill because they do not see a
physical defect that points to something being wrong. This is what I see in
“The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. She tells of how
John a well known physician deals with his wife’s mental condition. She
shows effect of how mental illness can be misunderstood. She tells of how
the wife’s neglected mental condition turns into madness.
John, the well known physician, does not believe that there is
anything seriously wrong with his wife because he does not see no physical
defects that points to something not right. John says “Temporary nervous
depression--a slight hysterical tendency” (pg 956) which means he is
dismissing his wife’s feelings as not serious. John goes on and says “the
worst thing I can do is to think about my condition” (pg 956) which is
ignoring that a problem exists. In these two statements I see a man who
does not realize that there is a real serious mental illness going on with his
wife’s mind.
The wife, whose name is not given, know that something is not as it
should be in her mind. She tries to get her husband to understand that
something is wrong when she says “there is something queer about it” (pg
956) and “there is something strange about the house”(pg 957). John just
laughs and treats her like a little girl wanting attention. What she really
feels is trapped with no way out. She starts seeing things in the wallpaper
that slowly turns her mental illness into madness.
The madness begins with the wife ripping the