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Is Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" a work of Realism or Naturalism?
Quick answer:
"The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is often associated with psychological realism and Gothic literature rather than strictly Realism or Naturalism. While it depicts everyday characters and situations typical of Realism, the story's descent into madness aligns with Gothic elements. It also shows aspects of Naturalism by illustrating the oppressive impact of gender roles. Ultimately, the focus on the narrator's mental state and societal oppression makes it a work of psychological realism.
Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" does have some qualities of Realism and Naturalism. However, it is more closely connected to the sub-genres of psychological realism and Gothic literature, as another answer mentioned already.
I'll start by discussing the traits that link "The Yellow Wallpaper" to realism and naturalism. Works of realism depict everyday characters in everyday situations and try to represent their lives in detail to enhance the feeling that this fictional text is very similar to "real life." In "The Yellow Wallpaper," the characters are fairly average and the story begins with a common enough scenario. However, once the narrator is confined to the room with the yellow wallpaper for some time, she descends into madness and the story takes a turn into the Gothic. At that point, it is no longer strictly realist, if it ever was. Naturalism is similar to realism, but it usually features oppressed...
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lower class characters whose circumstances determine their fates (these will not be happy endings, either). As a feminist story, "The Yellow Wallpaper" could be seen as a work of Naturalism in the sense that it shows how the narrator's gender contributes to her fate. She is not taken seriously and is treated as inferior to her husband. Because he will not listen to her concerns, she becomes sicker, rather than improved. Again, the story includes fantastical elements that place it better in the Gothicgenre.
Psychological realism, on the other hand, is a good fit for "The Yellow Wallpaper." Works of psychological realism aim to portray the workings of the human mind in a realistic way. This differs from Realism, though, because the writers have more freedom when they try to capture the intricacies, nuances, and mysteries of human psychology. Gilman's story is primarily the study of how her narrator both devolves into madness and also becomes more aware of her oppression. As she studies the wallpaper, she begins to project her own fears and anxieties onto it, until she begins to see women shaking the paper and moving around behind it. By the story's end, she is ripping the wallpaper from the walls in an attempt to free the trapped women. She identifies with the women behind the paper because she too is imprisoned in a patriarchal society and, on the more micro-level, by her husband, who is also her doctor. Gilman's choice to tell the story from the narrative perspective of a woman who steadily goes insane, because of a "cure" that is supposed to actually heal her, allows us to see inside the narrator's mind. This makes the story an example of psychological realism.
To answer this question, one must have a complete understanding of both the Realist movement and the Naturalistic movement.
Realism, historically defined as "the faithful representation of reality," typically focuses upon life of the middle-class. Evoked from the disapproval of the previous period, Romanticism, Realism was focused upon scientific methodology, history, and rational.
Naturalism is very similar to Realism given its base in science. Naturalists considered themselves as observers. One of the characteristics of Naturalism was the giving of power to nature over mankind. Naturalists did not believe in free-will.Typically, Naturalists depicted the lives of the lower class.
Many critics have found it very difficult to distinguish Realism from Naturalism. Many have found that one characteristic which defines the difference between Realism and Naturalism is the focus upon the socio-economic class depicted.
Therefore, based upon a distinction provided by David Pizer in The Cambridge Companion to American Realism and Naturalism: Howells to London, one could define Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" as a work of Realism. The class depicted is far from that of the lower-level working (and struggling) class. Solely based upon this one distinction, the story is one written from the Realist perspective.