《黃色墻紙》的生態(tài)女性主義分析

摘要 ：夏洛特·帕金斯·吉爾曼是十九世紀(jì)末，二十世紀(jì)初著名的女權(quán)主義者兼作家。她的代表作——《黃色墻紙》是一部女性主義文學(xué)作品，描繪了婦女如何掙扎著尋求自我，表現(xiàn)了婦女對(duì)自由和獨(dú)立自主的強(qiáng)烈渴望。這篇論文從生態(tài)女性主義理論的視角研究《黃色墻紙》，旨在討論十九世紀(jì)婦女的悲劇命運(yùn)以及資本主義工業(yè)革命對(duì)婦女和生態(tài)的負(fù)面影響。

關(guān)鍵詞：《黃色墻紙》；生態(tài)女性主義；父權(quán)制；二元論；自然

作者簡(jiǎn)介：陳康妮，女，碩士研究生，暨南大學(xué)外國(guó)語(yǔ)學(xué)院。研究方向：英語(yǔ)語(yǔ)言文學(xué)，華裔美國(guó)文學(xué)。

[中圖分類號(hào)]：I106.4 [文獻(xiàn)標(biāo)識(shí)碼]：A

[文章編號(hào)]：1002-2139(2012)-17-00-03

Wallpaper， first published in 1892， is largely considered as Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s best work. This landmark work appeared during the era of the “New Woman，” a transitional time in American history and literary history. It challenged the inequalities between the sexes and generated debates in literary and political circles. This semi-autobiographical short story is about a young mother’s succumbing to madness with postpartum depression. Doctor Silas Weir Mitchell’s unsuccessful prescription of the “rest cure” leads Gilman to write The Yellow Wallpaper. In response to the readers who feared her story was madness-inspiring， after Gilman had written The Yellow Wallpaper， she decided to write her purpose behind the story. She said that she based it on her own personal experiences through this disease and “it was not intended to drive people crazy， but to save people from being driven crazy， and it worked” (Gilman， 1913). She wrote this story to represent the oppression of women in a masculine society， illustrating how women’s lacks of autonomy were detrimental to their mental and physical wellbeing. Today， this outstanding work is hailed both as a feminist classic and a key text in the American literary canon.

The short story has been studied in numerous ways， among which the research on the theme of feminism is the most common. Much attention has been paid to the women’s subordination in marriage. For Gilbert and Gubar， the wallpaper signifies the oppressive situation in which the woman finds herself; for Kolodny the paper is the narrator’s “own psyche writ large”; for Fetterly it is the husband’s patriarchal text which becomes increasingly feminine in form. Susan S. Lanser suggested that “one of the messages of ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ is that textuality， like culture， is more complex， shifting， and polyvalent than any of the ideas we can abstract from it， that the narrator’s reductive gesture is precisely to isolate and essentialize one ‘idea about sex and gender’ from a more complex textual field” (Lanser， 1989). Elaine Hedges praised that the story is “one of the rare pieces of literature we have by a nineteenth-century woman which directly confronts the sexual politics of the male-female， husband-wife relationship” (Hedges， 1996:37). This essay tries to reveal the deep meaning of woman and nature in The Yellow Wallpaper under the perspective of ecofeminism that few research has done before.

2. The Curse of God

According to the Holy Bible， before Adam and Eve are expelled from the paradise， God said to Eve: “I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband， and he will rule over you” (Genesis， 3:17). In the nineteenth century， women not only had to endure the pain of giving birth to children， but also had to endure the pain brought by men under the control of patriarchy.

In The Yellow Wallpaper， the narrator’s husband， John rents an ancestral hall in which they are going to spend for summer. Actually， they are not going to spend their summer holidays there. The narrator is confined in the mansion to receive the “rest cure” for a depression seemingly brought by the birth of her child， in clinical terms a postpartum depression. However， the sickness was not diagnosed as a serious health problem in 19th century. At the beginning of the story， the narrator says his husband does not believe she is sick and he “assures friend and relatives that there is really nothing the matter with one but temporary nervous depression---a slight hysterical tendency” (Gilman， 1997:6). As her husband is a physician， he believes that the only way to cure his wife is to take the “rest cure” which has great popularity in the 19th century. In 1873， American neurologist Silas Weir Mitchell introduced what he called “The Rest Cure”. “He essentially imprisoned women for up to two months， and gave them little contact with the outside world. In the first few weeks， women were not allowed engaged their minds by reading or performing small activities. Most were even not allowed to roll over in their beds”(Christensen， 2003). The narrator’s husband rents the mansion for three months， and it is long enough for his wife to take the “rest cure”. The narrator says the mansion “is quite alone， standing well back from the road， quite three miles from the village. There are hedges and walls and gates that lock”(Gilman， 1997:7). The repetition of “quite” emphasizes the distance between this location and that of other people. The descriptions like hedges， walls and locked gate are the symbols of isolation. The narrator’s husband doesn’t allow the narrator to go out even she hopes to visit her cousin. Any works of excitement are also forbidden though the narrator tries to convince her husband that the “rest cure” is not the right method for her. She believes congenial work is good for her health but her husband shows no attempt to agree what his wife asks for. In the story， the narrator has to stay in the mansion all the days. “I lie down ever so much now. John says it is good for me， and to sleep all I can. Indeed he started the habit by making me lie down for an hour after each meal” (Gilman， 1997:7). As her illness gets worse， she is even compelled to stay on the bed and go to sleep.

Though both man and woman get wisdom from the “tree of knowledge”， women can not use their knowledge as men in the 19th century. Through the story， we can see the narrator is educated. She is interested in writing but she has “to be so sly about it， or else meet with heavy opposition” (Gilman， 1997:6). She is afraid that her husband finds out that she keeps writing and also she feels guilty for not doing the things that her husband tells her to do. The narrator says， “I think sometimes if I were only well enough to write a little it would relieve the press of ideas and rest me” (Gilman， 1997:12). However， John takes away her only pleasure which is to write; he tells her that writing will just confuse her and corrupt her imagination. Without writing， there are no meaningful things for her to do. Instead of confronting her husband， the narrator relies on him and follows his rules in every way. Meanwhile， the “rest cure” therapy produces extremely negative effect on her day by day. “John says if I don’t pick up faster he shall send me to Weir Mitchell in the fall. But I don’t want to go there at all. I had a friend who was in his hands once， and she says he is just like John and my brother， only more so” (Gilman， 1997:15). The narrator becomes physically frail and more mentally ill due to the restrictive seclusion.

At the end of the story， the narrator gets completely mad by the isolation and the manipulation from her husband. In a sense， the behavior that the narrator creeps around the room symbolizes the curse of God. The LORD God said to the serpent， “Because you have dome this， Cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life” (Genesis， 3:17). It is the serpent that leads human to get knowledge， but woman is cursed to be ruled by man. In the 19th century， men forbid women to use their knowledge. Women become the second sex in human world as the serpent is the inferior animal in the nature. The living situation of the women in the 19th century is just like the serpent can’t get rid of the fate of crawling. The narrator’s behavior at the end of the story shows that she is awakening and attempts to free herself from the restrictions of the patriarchal world. However， she can’t escape from her fate and the curse that she succumbs to madness.

3. The Madwomen in the Industrial Civilization

The interlocking dualisms of patriarchal western culture include the dualisms of male/female and reason/nature.

Karen J. Warren states that women have been naturalized and nature has been feminized. She emphasizes that women are “naturalized” when they are described in animal terms such as “cows， foxes， chicks， serpents， bitches， beavers， old bats， cats， bird-brains， hare brains” (Warren， 1996:8). In The Yellow Wallpaper， the narrator’s husband John calls her “a blessed little goose”. This feminine connection with nature seems to be regressive and insulting. In other words， women and animals are inferior and weak as compared with men.

According to the ecofeminist view， the development of the capitalist industrial civilization brings damage to both nature and women. The Eden that human and animals once lived together harmoniously no longer exist. Through the nineteenth centuries， it is generally accepted that a woman’s place is stay at home as wives and mothers. “By the middle and late eighteenth century， and particularly into the nineteenth century， historical circumstances， notably the industrial revolution， separated the work place from the home， isolation women in the domestic sphere. With mechanized factories and the decline of cottage industries the public world of work became split off from the private world of the home as never before” (Donovan， 2000:19). Marxists attribute this split to the rise of industrial capitalism. It made strong impact on the married， bourgeois women as they married to relatively wealthy professional and entrepreneurial men. They are left at home with servants and have nothing to do. As we see， in the family of the patriarchy， woman becomes part of her husband’s private property. In other words， the industrial capitalism changes human being to objects. Goldman states that “It is the private dominion over things that condemns millions of people to be mere nonentities， living corpses without originality or power of initiative， human machines of flesh and blood， who…pay for it with gray， dull and wretched existence for themselves”(Goldman， 2008:340). The narrator in The Yellow Wallpaper has to receive the “rest cure” by her husband John and is confined to an ancestral mansion. There’s no need for her to do any housework as their servant Jennie can handle all of them including take care of her newborn baby. Otherwise， the narrator is not allowed to do any creative work like reading or writing. With the similar encounter， nature is also the victim of the capitalist industrial society. Manufactured landscapes like gardens replaced the virgin nature and they are kept as one’s own property. The virgin nature without transforming is just like the mad women， thus women and nature are transformed into the standard of male under the patriarchy society. In the narrator’s garden， “hedges”， “walls”， “gates”， “box-bordered paths”， “seat”， “greenhouse” that are all man-made symbolize the medicines that John uses to cure her wife. However， the effect of the “medicines” and the way of the “therapy” are not good for the narrator’s health or the beauty of the garden. As the garden “has been empty for years”， all the manufactured ornamentations， especially the “greenhouses” are “all broken now”. Only the natural plants are still “shady”. Thus， if the narrator is not enforced to take the “rest cure”， she won’t be mad at the end.

John Locke’s Treatise of Government is considered as the gospel of natural rights and is the main ideological source of the Declaration of Independence. He states that “The state of nature has a law of nature to govern it， which obliges everyone; and reason， which is that law， teaches all mankind which will but consult it， that， being all equal and independent， no one ought to harm another in his life， health， liberty， or possessions”(Locke， 1939:405). Besides， he presumed a primary qualification for citizenship， the right to participate in public， to be rationality. However， “In Locke’s theory it is women who are seen as ‘naturally’ lacking in rationality and as ‘naturally’ excluded from the status of ‘free and equal individual，’ and so unfit to participate in public life” (Donovan， 2000:21). As the narrator’s horizon is limited at home， she has no idea why the mansion they rents is empty for a long time， John doesn’t give her an answer and laughs at her. We can see the narrator is quite curious about the world outside home that she even guesses “there was some legal trouble…something about the heirs and coheirs” (Gilman， 1997:7). According to Wollstonecraft， women are denied access to reason because they must always deal with an intermediary---man---who obscures its truth. The narrator is eager to participate in the public life， she believes “congenial work， with excitement and change”， and “more society and stimulus” can cure her and make her healthy. But her husband forbids her to do so and never bring any information about the outside world for her.

In patriarchy culture， woman and nature has the intrinsic self-identity. “Nature， as the excluded and devalued contrast of reason， includes the emotions， the body， the passions， animality， the primitive or uncivilized， the non human world， matter， physicality and sense experience， as well as the sphere of irrationality， of faith and of madness.”(Plumwood， 1993:19) Thus， the tradition of men as reason and women as nature confirms the masculine power. In The Yellow Wallpaper， the narrator’s physician husband is the representative of the so-called rational man. She comments that “John is practical in the extreme. He has no patience with faith， an intense horror of superstition， and he scoffs openly at any talk of things not to be felt and seen and put down in figures” (Gilman， 1997:7). In contrast， the narrator has full of passion to fancy as she likes writing. Actually， women can’t be rational as men because of their living condition. Wollstonecraft reasoned that if men were confined to the same cages that trap women， they would develop the same flawed characters. “Denied the chances to develop their rational powers， to become moral persons with concerns， causes， and commitments beyond personal pleasure， men， like women， would become overly ‘emotional，’ a term Wollstonecraft tended to associate with hypersensitivity， extreme narcissism， and excessive self-indulgence” (Tong， 2009:14). The narrator’s husband considers all of her theories about the house， the room， and the wallpaper are “1 and foolish fancy.” “John does not know how much I really suffer. He knows there is no REASON to suffer， and that satisfies him” (Gilman， 1997:10). Thus， the narrator’s husband can’t never understand what really result her illness.

4. The Degradation of the Second Sex

In Gilman’s first major work， Women and Economics， she states that “We are the only animal species in which the female depends upon the male for food， the only animal species in which the sex-relation is also an economic relation. With us an entire sex lives in a relation of economic dependence upon the other sex” (Gilman， 2007:3). The economic dependency on man has kept women in a retarded state of development. Women are kept in an unnatural state of helpless femininity: they are forced to be preoccupied with a limited sphere of life， restricted at home， and generally prevented from engaging in creative work. Excessive development of “secondary sex-characteristics” is “an erratic and morbid action” that drags down the whole human race of proper evolution. Gilman makes an allegorical comment on human race that the “over-sexed” peacock with his “too large and splendid tail” would die. In the opposite direction， the peahen would also die if they are too “small and dull”. She argues that “Woman has been checked， starved， aborted in human growth” (Gilman， 2007:38). As all the avenues of development are blocked， women have become stunted in most of their faculties and have developed only one---the capacity to attract a male---because this is their primary means of survival.

In The Yellow Wallpaper， the narrator has “a schedule prescription for each hour in the day” and her husband John takes all care for her. John picks the nursery at the top of the house as their bedroom symbolizes the narrator’s status in the marriage. John treats his wife like a child and he seems to control her every move and there is nothing she can do other than obey him in everything. This manipulation is very well described by Gilman in the story and it shows all the way through， for example when John says: “What is it， little girl? ... Don’t go walking about like that---you get cold” (Gilman， 1997:19). The windows in the nursery “are barred for little children” also symbolizes the narrator is kept as a child at the mercy of the patriarchy authority and she is not able to escape. Since she cannot work， the narrator spends her long idle hours as a child would: eating， sleeping， walking in the garden and using her own imagination to keep her busy.

As the narrator has been reduced totally to the position of a child， the trivial things in daily life become difficult for her to handle. “Nobody would believe what an effort it is to do what little I am able， to dress and entertain， and other things” (Gilman， 1997:10). The narrator mentions that she “used to lie awake as a child and get more entertainment and terror out of blank walls and plain furniture than most children could find in a toy store” (Gilman， 1997:13). And now being confined in the nursery room， forbidden to undertake any intellectual activities， it seems that the narrator degenerates to a child. She spends more time on the wallpaper， explores and imagines the pattern of the wallpaper. Moreover， the narrator’s temper becomes more and more like a child， she “cry at nothing， and cry most of the time” (Gilman， 1997:15). Once she tells her husband that she wants to visit her cousin Henry and Julia， however she is crying before she has finished her words.

5. Conclusion

In The Yellow Wallpaper， Gilman clearly uses the wallpaper in the story to symbolize the “rest cure”， the industrial civilization and patriarchy. The narrator’s illness contains two sides from the curse of God: one is the pain of giving birth to children that leads to postpartum depression， and the other is to take the “rest cure” by the rule of man that leads to her madness. According to ecofeminism， in the patriarchy culture， woman and nature has the intrinsic self-identity. During the industrial revolution， manufactured landscapes like gardens replaced the virgin nature and they were kept as one’s own property. Similarly， women lost their work and were kept at home as private property. Their economic dependence on men led to excessive development of “secondary sex-characteristics.” It made negative effect on women， with the result of their physical and psychological degradation.

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