The primary objective of “The Yellow Wallpaper” is to show a woman’s descent into madness as the result of her husband controlling her and diminishing her true needs and desires. The writing style—specifically word choice, sentence composition, and point of view—is one of the ways it accomplishes this goal. Though Jane has severe depression, she seemingly begins the story as a reliable source of information, as evidenced by her first diary entry:
John is practical in the extreme. He has no patience with faith, an intense horror of superstition, and he scoffs openly at any taking of things not to be felt and seen and put down in figures.
The word choice and arrangement demonstrate Jane’s mental acuity. In the passage above, Jane’s choice of words and the length of sentences indicate that she's lucid and able to communicate effectively. Moreover, she is critical of her husband, pointing to his rigid nature and unwillingness to listen. This means that while she cannot challenge John outright, she can resist—in one form or another—his authority by discussing his flaws as a husband and a physician.
But the diction and syntax take a dramatic turn toward the end of the story, as in Jane’s twelfth entry:
I quite enjoy the room, now it is bare again. How those children did tear about here! This bedstead is fairly gnawed! But I must get to work. I have locked the door and thrown the key down into the front path. I don’t want to go out, and I don’t want to have anybody come in, till John comes. I want to astonish him!
Compared to the beginning of the story, the word choice and sentence composition at this point reveal a different Jane, one who is no longer a reliable narrator. The short, choppy sentences and stream of consciousness (rapidly switching topics to mirror Jane’s train of thought) reflect Jane’s frenzied mental state. The reader must now proceed with caution, as her words do not necessarily reflect reality—only her version of reality, which is clouded by her mental decline. Whereas the diction and syntax at the beginning of the story point to a contemplative and self-aware narrator, the second half of the story conveys chaos and a lack of mental control.
Moreover, the story uses a first-person point of view to emphasize the shift from reliable to unreliable narrator. The perspective demonstrates Jane’s lack of involvement in her own story—that is, things are done to her, and she has little to no say in either her treatment plan or her life more broadly. The perspective also helps establish John as the antagonist of the story, since from Jane’s diary entries it becomes clear that his decisions contribute to Jane’s worsening depression and eventual mental breakdown.
The primary objective of “The Yellow Wallpaper” is to show a woman’s descent into madness as the result of her husband controlling her and diminishing her true needs and desires. The writing style—specifically word choice, sentence composition, and point of view—is one of the ways it accomplishes this goal. Though Jane has severe depression, she seemingly begins the story as a reliable source of information, as evidenced by her first diary entry:
John is practical in the extreme. He has no patience with faith, an intense horror of superstition, and he scoffs openly at any taking of things not to be felt and seen and put down in figures.
The word choice and arrangement demonstrate Jane’s mental acuity. In the passage above, Jane’s choice of words and the length of sentences indicate that she's lucid and able to communicate effectively. Moreover, she is critical of her husband, pointing to his rigid nature and unwillingness to listen. This means that while she cannot challenge John outright, she can resist—in one form or another—his authority by discussing his flaws as a husband and a physician.
But the diction and syntax take a dramatic turn toward the end of the story, as in Jane’s twelfth entry:
I quite enjoy the room, now it is bare again. How those children did tear about here! This bedstead is fairly gnawed! But I must get to work. I have locked the door and thrown the key down into the front path. I don’t want to go out, and I don’t want to have anybody come in, till John comes. I want to astonish him!
Compared to the beginning of the story, the word choice and sentence composition at this point reveal a different Jane, one who is no longer a reliable narrator. The short, choppy sentences and stream of consciousness (rapidly switching topics to mirror Jane’s train of thought) reflect Jane’s frenzied mental state. The reader must now proceed with caution, as her words do not necessarily reflect reality—only her version of reality, which is clouded by her mental decline. Whereas the diction and syntax at the beginning of the story point to a contemplative and self-aware narrator, the second half of the story conveys chaos and a lack of mental control.
Moreover, the story uses a first-person point of view to emphasize the shift from reliable to unreliable narrator. The perspective demonstrates Jane’s lack of involvement in her own story—that is, things are done to her, and she has little to no say in either her treatment plan or her life more broadly. The perspective also helps establish John as the antagonist of the story, since from Jane’s diary entries it becomes clear that his decisions contribute to Jane’s worsening depression and eventual mental breakdown.
