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American writer Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s novella The Yellow Wallpaper details the deteriorating mental health of a woman experiencing postpartum depression. The room’s ugly, dirty yellow wallpaper forms the centerpiece of the novel. Her obsession with the yellow wallpaper marks her fall into psychosis throughout history. Thus, in the composition The Yellow Wallpaper, the wall color symbolizes the despair of Jane, who is confronted with visions.
At the beginning of the work, the author describes the family’s move to a new estate, the main room of which is covered with ugly yellow wallpaper, which is constantly the object of criticism. The main character spends almost all her time in her room, and the more she stays there, the more hatred and despair appear in her soul. The author describes the walls of this room as “One of those sprawling flamboyant patterns committing every artistic sin. The color is repellant, almost revolting; a smoldering unclean yellow, strangely faded by the slow-turning sunlight” (Gilman, 1999). It is the wallpaper that more and more affects the consciousness of the narrator with its vicious influence. Subsequently, it seems as if the woman is going crazy and not only hates this wallpaper, but she sees on the walls silhouettes of women watching her.
In this connection, it is interesting to refer to the meaning of color. One can imagine that yellow is associated with sun, joy, and happiness, but this is not always the case. A negative value produces a muddy shade closer to green. It is associated with illness, weakness, and despair. Regular exposure to this shade causes people to feel depressed and makes them doubt their strengths. People who are disappointed in life reject yellow. It reminds them of unfulfilled hopes and therefore irritates them. People prone to depression subconsciously avoid it so as not to get additional stress on the psyche. Thus, the above-described color value fully corresponds to the mood of the main character.
Work Cited
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. The Yellow Wallpaper. 1999. The Project Gutenberg eBook, Web.
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