"John does not know how much I really suffer. He only knows that there is no reason to suffer, and that satisfies him."
I believe what the narrator meant by this was that she was really suffering and her husband didn't understand because he felt like there was nothing wrong with his wife. He felt that she was basically crazy and worried herself for no reason at all. He was satisfied with this because he was a physician and his wife had no idea what was wrong with her so he had to be right.
It was really hard trying to follow the story at first. I believe that the narrator was a little crazy, but I think that she was driven to that point. She may have had a nervous break down, but the people around her made things worse by keeping her locked away and talking to her as if she were a child instead of actually trying to understand and help her. Her husband and other people close to her kept telling her that she was sick he wouldn't let her go out and do anything she wanted to do. That would drive anyone crazy!
The women behind the wallpaper was the narrator. She felt trapped like she couldn't get out. When she tore down the wallpaper she was freeing herself and she wasn't going to let anyone make her feel trapped again. I believe what Gilman is trying to say is that people will drive you to the point of insanity if you let them, but it's up to you to free yourself.
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Some good observations, Ms. House. You might want to take them in a more focused direction. For instance, when you say John feels like his wife was worried for no reason at all--does she have a reason for her nervousness? What is it? And what do you think Gilman is saying by showing us that John doesn't understand?
ReplyDeleteThe last paragraph might be developed into an introduction and thesis for a paper....