SYMBOLISM AND SOCIAL CRITICISM OF SHORT STORY THE YELLOW WALLPAPER BY CHARLOTTE PERKNIS

https://doi.org/10.23960/kata.v13i2.843
Diterbitkan: Sep 5, 2025

Abstrak:

Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper illustrates the psychological and social oppression of women in the 19th century. This article examines the story’s use of symbolism and social criticism through a feminist literary lens. Diagnosed with “temporary nervous depression,” the protagonist is subjected to the rest cure, a treatment reflecting the gendered medicalization of women’s mental health (Mitchell, 1887). The yellow wallpaper symbolizes confinement, silencing, and patriarchal domination (Treichler, 1984). It evolves into a metaphor for female resistance against imposed domestic roles (Gilbert & Gubar, 1979; Showalter, 1985).

The Yellow Wallpaper karya Charlotte Perkins Gilman menggambarkan penindasan psikologis dan sosial terhadap perempuan pada abad ke-19. Artikel ini menelaah simbolisme dan kritik sosial dalam cerita melalui lensa sastra feminis. Tokoh utama yang didiagnosis “depresi saraf sementara” dipaksa menjalani rest cure, sebuah bentuk medikalisasi terhadap kesehatan mental perempuan (Mitchell, 1887). Wallpaper kuning melambangkan keterkungkungan, pembungkaman, dan dominasi patriarkal (Treichler, 1984). Simbol ini berkembang menjadi metafora perlawanan terhadap peran domestik yang dipaksakan pada perempuan (Gilbert & Gubar, 1979; Showalter, 1985).

Penulis:
1 . Gabriella Assa
Universitas Sam Ratulangi
2 . Hardiyanti Duwila
Universitas Sam Ratulangi
3 . Lingkan Lengkong
Universitas Sam Ratulangi
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Cara Mengutip
Assa, G., Duwila, H., & Lengkong, L. (2025). SYMBOLISM AND SOCIAL CRITICISM OF SHORT STORY THE YELLOW WALLPAPER BY CHARLOTTE PERKNIS . Jurnal Kata: Bahasa, Sastra, Dan Pembelajarannya, 13(2), 538–543. https://doi.org/10.23960/kata.v13i2.843
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Vol 13 No 2 (2025): Jurnal Kata : Bahasa, Sastra, dan Pembelajarannya
Articles
Referensi

    Beauvoir, S. de. (1949). The second sex. Vintage Books.

    Fetterley, J. (1978). The resisting reader: A feminist approach to American fiction. Indiana University Press.

    Gilbert, S. M., & Gubar, S. (1979). The madwoman in the attic: The woman writer and the nineteenth-century literary imagination. Yale University Press.

    Gilman, C. P. (1892). The yellow wallpaper. New England Magazine.

    Golden, C. (1992). One hundred years of reading The Yellow Wallpaper. The New England Quarterly, 65(4), 587–604. https://www.jstor.org/stable/366994

    Kristeva, J. (1980). Desire in language: A semiotic approach to literature and art. Columbia University Press.

    Lanser, S. S. (1989). Feminist criticism, The Yellow Wallpaper, and the politics of color in America. Feminist Studies, 15(3), 415–441. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3177992

    Mitchell, S. W. (1887). Fat and blood: And how to make them. J. B. Lippincott & Co.

    Perrella, A. (2016). The Yellow Wallpaper and mental illness in women. Journal of American Literature and Culture, 12(1), 25–39. https://www.jalcjournal.org/articles/yellow-wallpaper-mental-health

    Showalter, E. (1985). The female malady: Women, madness and English culture 1830–1980. Virago Press.

    Treichler, P. A. (1984). Escaping the sentence: Diagnosis and discourse in The Yellow Wallpaper. Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature, 3(1/2), 61–77. https://doi.org/10.2307/464028

  1. Beauvoir, S. de. (1949). The second sex. Vintage Books.
  2. Fetterley, J. (1978). The resisting reader: A feminist approach to American fiction. Indiana University Press.
  3. Gilbert, S. M., & Gubar, S. (1979). The madwoman in the attic: The woman writer and the nineteenth-century literary imagination. Yale University Press.
  4. Gilman, C. P. (1892). The yellow wallpaper. New England Magazine.
  5. Golden, C. (1992). One hundred years of reading The Yellow Wallpaper. The New England Quarterly, 65(4), 587–604. https://www.jstor.org/stable/366994
  6. Kristeva, J. (1980). Desire in language: A semiotic approach to literature and art. Columbia University Press.
  7. Lanser, S. S. (1989). Feminist criticism, The Yellow Wallpaper, and the politics of color in America. Feminist Studies, 15(3), 415–441. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3177992
  8. Mitchell, S. W. (1887). Fat and blood: And how to make them. J. B. Lippincott & Co.
  9. Perrella, A. (2016). The Yellow Wallpaper and mental illness in women. Journal of American Literature and Culture, 12(1), 25–39. https://www.jalcjournal.org/articles/yellow-wallpaper-mental-health
  10. Showalter, E. (1985). The female malady: Women, madness and English culture 1830–1980. Virago Press.
  11. Treichler, P. A. (1984). Escaping the sentence: Diagnosis and discourse in The Yellow Wallpaper. Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature, 3(1/2), 61–77. https://doi.org/10.2307/464028