The first half of “The Yellow Wallpaper” introduces Jane as a narrator who is deliberate and in control of her thoughts. As the story progresses, however, it uses stream of consciousness to represent Jane’s actual thoughts and measure her mental decline as she's confined to a room to recover from postpartum depression. In the first half of the story, the entries are logical, coherent, and well-organized. Take, for example, Jane talking about her treatment in her first diary entry:
So I take phosphates or phosphites—whichever it is, and tonics, and journeys, and air, and exercise, and am absolutely forbidden to “work” until I am well again. Personally, I disagree with their ideas. Personally, I believe that congenial work, with excitement and change, would do me good.
Although the above passage is an informal diary entry, the thoughts are clear and connected. The writing is thoughtful, methodical, and measured. Jane even challenges John’s medical knowledge, which suggests that she’s still able to think independently and access her situation logically. But as Jane is gradually loses her grip on reality, the writing deviates significantly, as in her eighth entry:
It [the odor] used to disturb me at first. I thought seriously of burning the house—to reach the smell. But now I am used to it. The only thing I can think of that it is like is the color of the paper! A yellow smell. There is a very funny mark on this wall, low down, near the mopboard. A streak that runs around the room.
In this instance, the story uses stream of consciousness to reflect Jane’s train of thought, jumping erratically from one topic to the next. Jane fixates on a smell emanating from the wallpaper before suddenly moving on to the color of the wallpaper and then conflating the two, describing a “yellow smell.” Her entries no longer connect logically, moving from one idea to the next without any transitions or context. The diary entries like the one above highlight the chaos in Jane’s mind, as her writing becomes rambling and unclear. The shorter, frenzied sentences signal Jane’s decline, allowing the reader to infer that she’s going mad even though she herself doesn’t seem to recognize this.
The first half of “The Yellow Wallpaper” introduces Jane as a narrator who is deliberate and in control of her thoughts. As the story progresses, however, it uses stream of consciousness to represent Jane’s actual thoughts and measure her mental decline as she's confined to a room to recover from postpartum depression. In the first half of the story, the entries are logical, coherent, and well-organized. Take, for example, Jane talking about her treatment in her first diary entry:
So I take phosphates or phosphites—whichever it is, and tonics, and journeys, and air, and exercise, and am absolutely forbidden to “work” until I am well again. Personally, I disagree with their ideas. Personally, I believe that congenial work, with excitement and change, would do me good.
Although the above passage is an informal diary entry, the thoughts are clear and connected. The writing is thoughtful, methodical, and measured. Jane even challenges John’s medical knowledge, which suggests that she’s still able to think independently and access her situation logically. But as Jane is gradually loses her grip on reality, the writing deviates significantly, as in her eighth entry:
It [the odor] used to disturb me at first. I thought seriously of burning the house—to reach the smell. But now I am used to it. The only thing I can think of that it is like is the color of the paper! A yellow smell. There is a very funny mark on this wall, low down, near the mopboard. A streak that runs around the room.
In this instance, the story uses stream of consciousness to reflect Jane’s train of thought, jumping erratically from one topic to the next. Jane fixates on a smell emanating from the wallpaper before suddenly moving on to the color of the wallpaper and then conflating the two, describing a “yellow smell.” Her entries no longer connect logically, moving from one idea to the next without any transitions or context. The diary entries like the one above highlight the chaos in Jane’s mind, as her writing becomes rambling and unclear. The shorter, frenzied sentences signal Jane’s decline, allowing the reader to infer that she’s going mad even though she herself doesn’t seem to recognize this.
