Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" is a classic example of narrative driven action--all the elements of the story spring from the unnamed woman's entries in her journal, over the course of her treatment for "nervous exhaustion."
This narrator is an excellent example of what is called an "unreliable narrator"--over the course of the story, we begin to realize that the author is going, or has been for some time, mad, due her confinement in one room, in order to recover from her illness. Tone in a piece of literature indicates how the author feels about what they are writing about, and/or to whom they are writing, and in this story, the narrator stands in explicitly for the author. This story is famous in part because something very similar happened to Perkins Gilman--she suffered from "nervous exhaustion," was prescribed "the rest cure" (confinement to bed for a period of several months, with no stimulation, especially not reading or writing) and she suffered a nervous breakdown from the "cure." Perkins Gilman wrote this story explicitly to expose her suffering, and that of other women in similar situations, and the first thing she did after writing it was send it to the doctor who had treated her, Dr. S. Weir Mitchell, and "convince him of the error of his ways" (Thrailkill 2002, p. 528).
With these facts mind, we can see the tone of the story develop from a determined cheerfulness in the beginning, when the narrator describes the "ancestral hall" she and her family are renting for the summer as "The most beautiful place!" with "a delicious garden!" as the narrator is determined to do what the authoritative men in her life deem best, despite her own misgivings.
As the story develops, the hints of trouble from the opening become more ominous--the narrator is forced to hide her writing from anyone, as it violates her treatment, and she becomes increasingly paranoid, even suspecting her sister-in-law of spying on her. And the terrible wallpaper of the room to which the narrator is confined--"I never saw a worse paper in my life"--takes on a terrifying life of its own as it color-"dull yet lurid orange in some places, a sickly sulphur tint in others...smouldering, unclean"-- and patterns--"dull enough to confuse the eye in following, pronounced enough to constantly irritate, and provoke study, and when you follow the lame, uncertain curves for a little distance they suddenly commit suicide—plunge off at outrageous angles, destroy themselves in unheard-of contradictions"--infiltrate the narrator's mind.
By the time we come to the long climax of the story, the narrator is in a full blow pyschotic break, seeing a woman/women trapped in the yellow wallpaper, whose heads "the pattern strangles...off and turns them upside-down, and makes their eyes white!" and finally, coming to believe that the woman in the wallpaper is herself. In an ironic turn, the woman desperate to escape the awful room she's been confined to for months, becomes determined to remain there, locking out her husband and staying where she "can creep smoothly on the floor, and [her] shoulder just fits in that long smooch around the wall, so [she] cannot lose [her] way."
Given this tension and these twists, what can we say of the narrator's tone. Firstly, there is passion, passion in exposing the dreadful circumstances of 19th century women who were profoundly mistreated by doctors for issues we recognize today as medical (depression, anxiety), and urgency, in trying to reach the men who dictated this treatment. There is also despair, for the narrator is essentially a prisoner, and she knows it; as well, the narrator's marriage to her doctor husband is breaking down and she is parted for her newborn infant for the sake of her health. Finally there is determination to see the challenges through, both Perkins Gilman's challenge to the medical world, and the narrator's determination to tear down the terrible wallpaper so that she, and no other woman, can be trapped by it again.
The narrator's tone can best be described as pessimistic, sad, disparaging, and sarcastic.
In the story, the narrator is a wife and mother who is very obviously depressed. She is discouraged that her husband, John, is not more supportive of her. John's masculine tendency is to focus on the empirical. The narrator and her husband's differing worldviews foster much of the conflict in the story.
The narrator states that John is "practical in the extreme." Her husband and brother, both physicians in good standing, determine that she suffers from a "slight hysterical tendency." For her part, the narrator feels that the men in her life are wrong. She feels marginalized by their sterile diagnosis. The narrator believes that she would feel better if she were given "congenial work, with excitement and change." However, she does not define what she means by this. She only knows that her ennui is exacerbated by John's complete and utter lack of sympathy.
The narrator is angry with her husband, and it is apparent in her sarcastic comments.
John is away all day, and even some nights when his cases are serious.
I am glad my case is not serious!
In the story, the narrator manifests persistent symptoms of depression: she is anxious, pessimistic, and guilt-ridden. Her words are often a mass of contradictions. She laments that she cannot spend time with her baby and yet maintains that the baby makes her nervous. Similarly, she complains that she is denied the opportunity to write but also asserts that she gets "pretty tired" when she tries. The narrator's depressed state makes her an unreliable storyteller. Her tone, however, is clearly pessimistic, sad, and disparaging.
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