From Depression To Insanity

Literature is the way in which man talks about what it means to be human, and as such the struggles of the inner human experience are often central themes in meaningful writing. Whether the author examines the thoughts of a heartless man who seduces and destroys his secretary, the chaos within the upbringing of a problematic teenager, or the onset of personal progress and understanding, the questions of the human mind and soul are always among the most pressing stock issues within literature. Within Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper,” one finds such a tale of an inner battle with guilt, sadness, and depression; however, the story by no means falls into cliché. Gilman takes the concept of depression to its logical end: insanity, an end that may be hinted at in fiction but is rarely explored in its entirety. “The Yellow Wallpaper” therefore stands out as a provocative and shocking piece of literature that provides insight into the inner progression from depression to loss of sanity.
The story begins with the narrator in a state of depression, a state that could be remedied by human interaction and contact. Depression is impossible to completely cure, for life is a dynamic journey in which we struggle to keep up with our ever-changing surroundings and selves, but it is also easily alleviated by some kind of action, interaction, or communication. John, the narrator’s physician husband, refuses to acknowledge even the existence of an inner soul and, with such a flawed view, merely calls his wife’s state a “temporary nervous depression” in which she displays “hysterical tendencies.” He mistakenly believes that he can fix his wife with physical treatment; in actuality, his diagnosis and prescription merely drive his wife further into chaos. It is in this state of neglect and even emotional and spiritual abuse that the narrator slips into insanity via the yellow wallpaper that is her only means of occupying her mind.
Gilman illustrates a point that is not often truly understood within the human experience: that depression, when left unchecked as a product of severance from human spiritual interaction (interaction such as emotional or physical contact or such as the metaphysical process of writing) and of turbulence within one’s inner beliefs about oneself, develops into a state of mental instability that leads into insanity. Though this point in itself is of infinite consequence in the human experience, the story also points out the equally important fact that the narrator conducts her writing in a normal human style even while she looses her sanity. The transition from depression to insanity is therefore merely a slight shift upon the edge of the human soul that can happen without one’s being aware of its onset. Humans, as lost beings with broken souls, can easily slip into such a chaotic inner state; we may even already have lost our sanity to some extent.
“The Yellow Wallpaper” provides a truly unique insight into the collapse of the human mind, a collapse that could happen to anyone, yet it also stays away from following the overbeaten path of short fiction dealing with the consequences of the human mind and spirit. The story therefore not only teaches the reader of the consequences of inner chaos, but also of the power of literary individuality. The story’s piercing message would convey little meaning if it were not written in its different personal-journal style or if it were told without the complex metaphors and references to medicinal views of the day. “The Yellow Wallpaper” must be valued for both its important message about the fragile human soul and for its unique style that conveys that message so powerfully. (608)