Reading The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman was extremely interesting and thought provoking to me because I was able to discover a lot of dramatic irony and symbols. One of my main objectives during this class was to be able to analyze literature more efficiently and more accurately. I have always taken my time when reading assigned literature, but have never fully understood the hiding messages behind the word. This story, however, was different. The author did a great job in creating enough irony and symbolism in the story without hiding it too much.
I read this story a few times over in order to gain a better understanding of the plot, but noticed some dramatic irony the first time through. Dramatic irony is when the reader knows something that the character in the story does not yet know. The first, and most obvious, exemplification I noticed in the story was when the narrator initially describes the room. When the narrator said, “It was a nursery first and then playroom and gymnasium, I should judge; for the windows are barred for little children, and there and rings and things in the walls” it is clear to me, the reader, that the room did not used to be a nursery. The room was, indeed, used to house an insane person.
This was also one of my favorite stories to read simply because I was able to track the narrator’s thought process. In the beginning of the story, she is positive about the house, only expressing dislike of the yellow wall. Towards the middle of the story, when she realized the figures on the yellow wall resemble her, she begins to turn insane about being trapped in the house. Finally, toward the end, the narrator is obsessed with the yellow wall and begins to tear it down off the wall. She turns completely insane.
Charlotte Perkins Gilman did a fantastic job in creating this short story and it truly marked a turning point in my literary analysis abilities.
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