​​​​​​​John Character Analysis in The Yellow Wallpaper

Charlotte Perkins Gilman allows the reader to make the story of “The Yellow Wallpaper” his or her own through the options for symbolistic and thematic interpretations she includes. The 1892 story is depicted as a combination of journal entries from the narrator, who is a woman undergoing rest therapy for ‘nervous depression.’ The narrator, John, and eventually the woman in the wallpaper all serve as a reference to gender and how it is viewed by society. Gilman’s short story, “The Yellow Wallpaper,” exemplifies the stereotypes and stigmas of gender, specifically in the late nineteenth century, looking in on both male and female roles.

John is the only developed male character in “The Yellow Wallpaper.” The traditional gender roles of the late nineteenth century affect his portryal and the way the reader interprets his character. John is the husband and physician of the narrator of the story. He is described as being “practical in the extreme” (660). Men are oftentimes portrayed as the reasonable, level-headed, black-and-white halves of a relationship. This gender-fueled stereotype can result in men being seen as cold and insensitive, much like John’s character. Although John has a difficult time relating to his wife, who is much more colorful, he is also depicted as being “careful and loving” (661). Men experience a double-edged sword expectation when it comes to gender roles. On one end they are expected to be masculine, logical, and serious, yet they are also supposed to be caring, soft, and gentle too. While fulfilling both parts of the expectation is possible, the latter half is often not showcased. John’s depiction as the narrator’s husband becomes more apparent further into the short story. One may gather that the narrator’s sickness bothers John as much as it bothers the narrator. He truely is a caring man, for the narrator refers to him multiple times as “dear John,” and expresses his love for his wife by call her “his darling and his comfort and all he ha[s]” (665). John’s role as a husband and physician is filled with nods to gender roles, and these stereotypes create a complex interpretation of the character for the reader to decipher. 

The narrator of the story is the easiest character in the story to analyze when relating to gender. The story’s narrator is a woman suffering from ‘nervous depression.’ Any negative feeling the narrator experiences is accounted to her nervousness, and she has been conditioned to blame her so-called sickness for any emotion that skews away from contentment. The narrator’s emotions are constantly being undermined throughout the entire story just as women’s emotions are often times undermined in society. John, her physician “does not even believe [she] is sick” (660), and even though she “disagree[s] with [his] ideas” (661), she believes there is nothing she can do to change her treatment. The stigma that women are to listen to and trust men in all parts of life comes into play here. It also becomes clear that the narrator is not actually freely living in this “colonial mansion” (660), with “delicious garden[s]” (661) and many other beautiful, grand features, but rather she spends the majority of her time in one room with “windows [that] are barred … and rings and things in the walls” (662). Playing on the narrator’s feminine and matronly naivety, she reasons the odd additions in the room by claiming that it must have been a “nursery first, then playroom and gymnasium” (662). Although, the reader can infer that this description may be hinting at what might have been a mental health institution or asylum of the time period.