No one will listen

Gustavo Quintero
English 48B
March 3, 2008
Journal #35 Charlotte Perkins Gilman



Quote:
"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"(Gilman 814).


Summary:
The woman is trying to reach out to her husband to make him aware that her mental condition is dangerously getting worse.



Response:
As her condition grows worse the woman from the story tries to reach out to her husband. Her husband being the well schooled and well respected doctor, does not want to talk to her her about her depression. She is trying to reach out to her husband to let him know that she is getting worse but he does not believe anything that she says. This is when he needs to stop being a husband and become a doctor. He needs to sit down and listen to her and consider what she is saying as a valid medical worry. As her mental state grows worse she stares at the wallpaper for more hours and begins to see a woman behind the design, moving that wallpaper about. Her condition is getting to the point that she is seriously in danger of her life. The most disturbing part about all of this is that she is now far worse than when she first started her "treatment". The treatment that was supposed to bring back her sanity is driving her evermore closer to the point of no return. She is teetering on the cusp of a mental breakdown and no one wants to listen to her. After reading the introduction by the Norton Anthology, the story and the woman in the story closely resemble the author,Charlotte Perkins Gilman. She also suffered from depression. When I was reading the short story the narrator actually sounded like Charlotte Perkins Gilman. She is the woman that I was imagining when I read the short story. Charlotte Perkins Gilman does commit suicide which is the road that the narrator in the story is on route to. As i have said before it is really unfortunate that no one wants to listen to the woman in the story.