Chris_style

Charlotte Perkins Gilman

__Literary Style__

Style in literature focuses on a number of characteristics that are unique to a writer or a particular work. When looking at literary style in fiction one is essentially focusing on use of dialogue, pace, vocabulary, figurative language, tone, point of view, and other devices that make a work or author unique.

__Charlotte Perkins Gilman__

Charlotte Perkins Gilman produced in her lifetime several dozen short stories, but it was “The Yellow Wall-Paper” that immortalized her. “The Yellow Wall-Paper” is her masterpiece that like many great revolutionary works went unappreciated at the time of its initial publication. Gilman’s unique style is significant because of its portrayal of women roles in society and criticism on the institution of marriage which was seen as extremely radical at that time (Wikipedia, Charlotte Perkins Gilman).

Gilman’s style in “The Yellow Wall-Paper” has been celebrated for its use of a first-person narrator who often seems confused or lost throughout the novel. Her style resembles the literary experimentation that the Modernist writers that followed so highly valued. Many Modernist writers tend to have dysfunctional characters that are alienated from society that are “trying to make sense of a predominately urban and fragmented society" (Wikipedia, "The Yellow Wall-Paper).

In “The Yellow Wall-Paper,” the audience follows the psychological deterioration of the main character. “The Yellow Wall-Paper” is told in the first-person which allows the reader to share in the narrator’s intimacy. The female narrator tells the story in the form of a journal (or diary entry), so the reader relies solely on her accuracy on events and descriptions of characters. However, as the story progresses and the narrator becomes more and more obsessed with the yellow wall-paper the audience can see her distance herself from reality.

The yellow wall-paper becomes more significant as a symbol as the narrator’s psychological deterioration increases. It becomes so real in the narrator’s mind that the audience can’t help feel sympathy for her. Gilman’s descriptions are based heavily on the house (the yellow wall-paper) and its immediate surroundings. The narrative employs vivid imagery and relies a great deal on symbolism. For example, the yellow wall-paper could refer to the staus of women in society or the deteriorating effect of submissive women in marriage.

The pace of the narrative is static throughout the story due to many interruptions by her husband and his sister, but many sentences have breaks that usually follow with sarcastic comments. These interruptions not only serve as chapters, but they also mirror the restrictions imposed by her husband and society. Gilman heavily employs a sort of stream of consciousness that is made popular by Modernist writers several years later.

Gilman’s style consists heavily on irony, setting, and symbols which cleverly portray women’s roles and status in society. The narrator in the story is very opinionative and uses a journal/ diary point of view from which the audience can accurately follow her character development. Gilman’s style faithfully depicts how women are treated in the institution of marriage and also allows the audience to empathize with the narrator. Gilman's style complements the themes she explores in such a remarkable manner that is a milestone in American literature.

Sources:

The Charlotte Perkins Gilman Society http://web.cortland.edu/gilman/

[|The Heath Anthology of American Literature], Fifth Edition __http://college.hmco.com/english/lauter/heath/4e/students/author_pages/late_nineteenth____ /gilman_ch.ht__ml

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlotte_Perkins_Gilman

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Yellow_Wall-paper