The Yellow Asylum

The story entitled "The Yellow Wallpaper" is the story of one woman's descent into madness. The narrator of the story has been cooped up inside a room, presumably to help her recover from her illness. Everyone around her says it is temporary and that it will only last a short while. Eventually, the narrator begins to lose her sanity and becomes obsessed with the wallpaper in her room. This story is certainly disturbing and makes for a very interesting read. However, I think it is also telling of the general attitude toward the mentally ill of this time period, and this is what I will be focusing on in this blog post.

This topic relates to me in that it has always interested me. I have three uncles that were born developmentally disabled, and although this is different than a mental disease, there are many correlations as well. I have always admired the patience and willingness of their caretakers to help them, and I feel it takes a special kind of person to be able to work with the mentally ill or disabled. The topic of the treatment of the mentally ill has always fascinated me, although I admit my knowledge of the subject is limited. However, reading this story only reinforced my previous knowledge of the terrible treatment of the mentally ill in times gone by.

The mistreatment of the insane and mentally ill was common in the 19th Century, and many insane asylums of the time more so resembled prisons than hospitals. This sense of being caged in and kept away from everyone else is a common theme throughout the story, as noted in a few passages. The first is on page 487, where the narrator states, "the windows are barred for little children, and there are rings and things in the walls." Her mention of a "gate at the head of stairs" also conveys this sense of containment, which was common in insane asylums of the time period. Also, the fact that she is kept away from everyone else, and that John makes up excuses to keep her upstairs and not in some other room also conveys the sense of segregation. Around this time, the insane or cognitively disabled were locked away and not allowed in the public sphere. This is also evident in the story how she is told to stay in bed, not to get up and walk around much, and that she cannot help take care of her child. Another example of the treatment of the mentally ill is that, often, John refutes her claims or slyly mocks her comments. This is evident  in a number of passages, including on page number 488, "I suppose John was never nervous in his life. He laughs at me about this wall-paper!" and also on page 490 where the narrator says, "I don't know why I should write this. I don't want to. I don't feel able. And I know John would think it absurd." Passages like these clearly indicate that John felt about the narrator the same way many felt about the mentally ill or disabled at that time, that they were idiots, and their ideas about things were often ridiculed or ignored entirely.

The implications of what I have discussed are far reaching indeed. It is with examples like this that we are able to see how society progresses onward and how our view of certain things has become more ethical over the past 100 to 150 years or so. I think that this shows that now days, those who are mentally ill or disabled are treated much more fairly and with more respect than before. They are sometimes given jobs, and people try to understand and help them rather than ridicule, isolate and try to control them. Mental illness is now looked upon as a disease that can be treated and possibly even cured rather than an oddity or spectacle to be gawked at. In the same way, many other ideas and views of things in society have changed since the time the story was written, such as views on race, women, science, religion, and so on. Most of the these changes have been good, and I think viewing the progression of treatment of the mentally ill is a good example of this.

Outside source used to pull  information from in this post:

http://www.canadianmysteries.ca/sites/jerome/contextes/maladiementale/indexen.html