Louis Dupré claims, “What is uniquely romantic is that the person has become a question to himself;” but I believe Dupré is overlooking that the character ultimately answers this question by determining his nature as well as his sanity. By comparing and contrasting “The Yellow Wallpaper” and “The Damned Thing,” I will analyze how the protagonists of these stories become questions to themselves, as well as determine who they are, whether the conclusion is rational or not. I will walk through both characters’ journeys to determine where they begin with their beliefs, how they come to question themselves, and what answers they ultimately find.
In Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s fictional piece, “The Yellow Wallpaper,” a female protagonist experiences the process of becoming a question to herself, as well as answering it. During her lifetime, Gilman was an avid feminist and strongly rejected traditional female roles due to her beliefs that women were bound by societal stigmas that stunted female success. This short story is a reflection of her own “descent into madness.” (From Woman to Human: The Life and Work of Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Radcliffe Institute for Advance Study) The story revolves around the protagonist’s captivity which wears away at her sanity, which Gilman related to while she underwent a period of mental illness and was told to stay inside and rest continually. Similar to the traditional female roles of Gilman’s time period, the character is nearly brainwashed into believing her own feelings are invalid and she cannot speak or appropriately think for herself. She begins the narrative accepting what she’s been told, despite its confusing nature to her. “I am glad my case is not serious! But these nervous troubles are dreadfully depressing.” She is fully aware that something is not right and she is not being listened to, but still accepts her husband’s word, belittling her condition. So initially, the character must believe what she is told before she can begin to question herself.
Ambrose Bierce’s “The Damned Thing” also demonstrates an initial expectation of mindset and behavior, although not as direct and pronounced. I believe that it is safe to assume that three pages of Hugh Morgan’s diary are ripped out because he was dissatisfied with them in one way or another. The most logical notion would be their apparent “insanity” or nonsense, if the other entries are any indication of what must have been on those missing pages. Perhaps Morgan reread what he had written and determined it to be so implausible that he could not allow it to stay on paper. The coroner does not show Morgan’s diary to the other men because he “thought it not worth while to confuse the jury.” Even though this specific incident does not apply direct pressure on the protagonist, it is a broad but very real expectation for people to be sane. Morgan’s treatment of his diary proves his discontent with himself and his mental state, initially believing that he is insane rather than just that he could be noticing something that others have not. People fear what they do not understand, and Bierce aims to maintain a level of mystery throughout the entire story to demonstrate this fear. Gary Pullman writes in his article, “The nature of the Damned Thing must, in the final analysis, remain essentially mysterious.” (Bierce’s Exercise in Existential Absurdity, Gary L. Pullman) In the same way the female protagonist in “The Yellow Wallpaper” is bound by voices telling her she’s fine, Hugh Morgan is bound by the general belief that if you are alone in your observations of something and it cannot be explained, the fault is with your own mind.
Becoming questions to themselves is probably the smallest part of the characters’ journey, albeit the most important. In “The Yellow Wallpaper,” she records, “I’m getting really fond of the room in spite of the wallpaper. Perhaps because of the wallpaper. It dwells in my mind so!” Her mentality shifts and she easily reflects on her continuous thoughts on the matter. Because she is turning from her former ways of thinking and allowing the matter to fill her thoughts, she is unwittingly questioning her beliefs and her sanity. Hugh Morgan questions himself as well, only he accepts that his mind could be the problem, and if he is not already insane, he is on his way. In his diary he writes, “If these amazing experiences are real I shall go mad; if they are fanciful I am mad already.” He accepts the inevitability of it.
Further in “The Yellow Wallpaper,” the character speaks to her husband about her condition before he swiftly shuts her down. He insists that she is getting healthier and she records her response as well as his subsequent reaction. “‘Better in body perhaps—’ I began, and stopped short, for he sat up straight and looked at me with such a stern, reproachful look that I could not say another word.” She questions herself aloud for only a moment before her thinking is repressed immediately. While this exemplifies the manner in which women’s beliefs and rationalities are belittled, more so it notes the importance as well as brevity of this “questioning.” The question’s immediate disparagement does not prevent Gilman from achieving her desired effect, which is to enlighten the reader and the narrator to the possibility just long enough for it to remain a thought in the back of their minds. It is not absurd, however, to step back and look more abstractly at the piece and consider that the narrator perhaps knows what she’s doing more than the reader most likely gives her credit for. This is not to say that she is not senseless by the end, but she does actively resist what she is told. She does succumb to certain suppressions from her husband, but she also quietly fights him on some matters. In his article “The Unrestful Cure: Charlotte Perkins Gilman and “The Yellow Wallpaper,”” Jeffrey Berman claims that “Her creeping is a form of resistance and revenge.” It is almost as if, in both cases, sanity was a choice; and they chose differently.
Finally, in that choice, the characters must find an answer to their questions, which they do. The problem is the difference between the answers they come up with and the answers that most people would like to receive. The female character writes, “‘I’ve got out at last,’ said I, ‘in spite of you and Jane? And I’ve pulled off most of the paper, so you can’t put me back!’” She determines she is not insane, but it is evident that she is. Morgan also determines that he is not insane; however it is much likelier that he is correct in that conclusion. In his diary he claims, “I am not mad; there are colours that we cannot see. And, God help me! the Damned Thing is of such a colour!” The difference here is that there is scientific evidence that backs of most of his reasoning, along with the fact that he actively states he is not “mad,” and that he will stand his ground against this potent, negative force. The woman in Gilman’s story succumbed to her surroundings, Morgan did the opposite.
The biggest difference in the existential journeys both of these characters face is the external circumstances and influences. With people surrounding her, telling her what to believe while being kept in a small, barred room with mentally jarring patterns and colors, Gilman’s protagonist goes mad quickly, without much resistance. Hugh Morgan spends most of his time alone, free to determine his own beliefs and his own external limits. His questions come with answers which he is resolute in and seems to have always been, despite a short wavering of certainty. The characters must question themselves in order to ultimately determine who they are and what they represent. Dupré is correct in saying that the person becomes a question to himself, but somehow he disregards the significantly more profound conclusions the person draws.
Works Cited
Berman, Jeffrey. “”The Unrestful Cure: Charlotte Perkins Gilman and ‘The Yellow Wallpaper'”” New York: New York University Press (1985): 33-59. Wright.edu. New York University Press. Web. 5 Apr. 2015.
“From Woman to Human: The Life and Work of Charlotte Perkins Gilman.” Radcliffe Institute for Advance Study Harvard University. President and Fellows of Harvard College, 17 Feb. 2011. Web. 04 Apr. 2015.
Pullman, Gary L. “”The Damned Thing”: Bierce’s Exercise in Existential Absurdity.” : “The Damned Thing”: Bierce’s Exercise in Existential Absurdity. N.p., 19 Dec. 2010. Web. 04 Apr. 2015.
Help received: works cited
X_Sarah E. Lemon
