I read this for class, and I actually really liked it. Especially since we talked about the history of women's rights behind it. Basically a woman going through post-partum depression is subjected to medical practices that instead of helping her, make her go insane.
During the 1800's it was common knowledge that women (and only women) were subject to hysteria and other nervous disorders. Postpartum depression was one of these "nervous disorders" that were looked at as simply a woman's folly. So how did they deal with this "folly?" Isolation and restriction on activity. The levels depended on the case and those treating the patient. Some were literally locked in a room without anything to do. No writing or reading, because that would only increase hysteria in a woman. Now just imagine if you were going through a serious depression, and your husband (under consultation from the leading medical authorities) decided to lock you in a room in forced solitude for a month with nothing to do but twiddle your thumbs, look out a window, or stare at the walls (or wallpaper). That would make the most sane person go insane. If you were depressed? It would probably make you contemplate suicide. Today studies show that 1 in 8 women have postpartum depression, just think of all the women that couldn't hide their depression and were forced to go through these medical practices.
The author Charlotte Perkins Stetson (Gillman) had to undergo this hardship, and decided to write an almost satirical story displaying what those of her sex had to go through. However, she made sure to point out the very infamous and non-fictitious Dr. (Silas) Weir Mitchell and his design of the Rest Cure. In the story the narrator (an upper-middle-class woman) suffers from postpartum depression. She remains without a name, because Stetson wanted the reader to realize that this wasn't a specific case, but could happen to any woman. The narrator is married to John, who is a physician, and this is what makes it tough. John is a doctor himself. He obviously cares for his wife, so why would he enforce such a disastrous prescription? The reason is because it was popular for the time, he believed it would help her, and that is the reason he made her stay in isolation. During her "stay" she becomes fascinated with the strange wallpaper; studying it with an artisan's ability. Well, if you had nothing to do wouldn't you stare at the strange/ugly wallpaper (example shown on the cover of the novel). Her whole day practically revolves around studying the wall and she eventually finds herself believing their is a woman in the wallpaper. John and Jennie (his sister who is a maid) think that she is getting better, but in truth she is deepening in her madness developing an almost extreme bipolar disorder. She becomes extremely paranoid and defensive and lets just say that at the end of the story she tries to become a part of the wallpaper. John, of course, was shocked out of his wits to find how far his wife had devolved.
This story was probably my favorite that I have read in class this year. It's one thing to listen to atrocities that were forced upon women, but it's another thing to actually be put in the shoes of the person. Then their is the fact that the true villain, in my opinion, wasn't a person. You certainly couldn't blame John, he was only doing what the leading authorities had prescribed. Yes, Dr.Weir Mitchell was the leading medical authority that came up with the "Rest Cure," but I don't believe he created the cure out of hatred. He just took what knowledge he had in an attempt to create relief from, the albeit sexist, hysteria. The true villain was the ignorance of the time. People just didn't know what they know today about medicine. They didn't have the resources. So I don't read this story and find myself a man-hating feminist. I read this story under the realization that I never want to time-travel.
During the 1800's it was common knowledge that women (and only women) were subject to hysteria and other nervous disorders. Postpartum depression was one of these "nervous disorders" that were looked at as simply a woman's folly. So how did they deal with this "folly?" Isolation and restriction on activity. The levels depended on the case and those treating the patient. Some were literally locked in a room without anything to do. No writing or reading, because that would only increase hysteria in a woman. Now just imagine if you were going through a serious depression, and your husband (under consultation from the leading medical authorities) decided to lock you in a room in forced solitude for a month with nothing to do but twiddle your thumbs, look out a window, or stare at the walls (or wallpaper). That would make the most sane person go insane. If you were depressed? It would probably make you contemplate suicide. Today studies show that 1 in 8 women have postpartum depression, just think of all the women that couldn't hide their depression and were forced to go through these medical practices.
The author Charlotte Perkins Stetson (Gillman) had to undergo this hardship, and decided to write an almost satirical story displaying what those of her sex had to go through. However, she made sure to point out the very infamous and non-fictitious Dr. (Silas) Weir Mitchell and his design of the Rest Cure. In the story the narrator (an upper-middle-class woman) suffers from postpartum depression. She remains without a name, because Stetson wanted the reader to realize that this wasn't a specific case, but could happen to any woman. The narrator is married to John, who is a physician, and this is what makes it tough. John is a doctor himself. He obviously cares for his wife, so why would he enforce such a disastrous prescription? The reason is because it was popular for the time, he believed it would help her, and that is the reason he made her stay in isolation. During her "stay" she becomes fascinated with the strange wallpaper; studying it with an artisan's ability. Well, if you had nothing to do wouldn't you stare at the strange/ugly wallpaper (example shown on the cover of the novel). Her whole day practically revolves around studying the wall and she eventually finds herself believing their is a woman in the wallpaper. John and Jennie (his sister who is a maid) think that she is getting better, but in truth she is deepening in her madness developing an almost extreme bipolar disorder. She becomes extremely paranoid and defensive and lets just say that at the end of the story she tries to become a part of the wallpaper. John, of course, was shocked out of his wits to find how far his wife had devolved.
This story was probably my favorite that I have read in class this year. It's one thing to listen to atrocities that were forced upon women, but it's another thing to actually be put in the shoes of the person. Then their is the fact that the true villain, in my opinion, wasn't a person. You certainly couldn't blame John, he was only doing what the leading authorities had prescribed. Yes, Dr.Weir Mitchell was the leading medical authority that came up with the "Rest Cure," but I don't believe he created the cure out of hatred. He just took what knowledge he had in an attempt to create relief from, the albeit sexist, hysteria. The true villain was the ignorance of the time. People just didn't know what they know today about medicine. They didn't have the resources. So I don't read this story and find myself a man-hating feminist. I read this story under the realization that I never want to time-travel.