Inquiry Essay

Mental health is an important topic that is depicted in literature in different ways. Mental illness like depression and anxiety in women are not taken as serious in society. Women are not taken as serious when it comes to mental health. Women are deemed as “crazy” if they show any symptoms of any mental illness. In literature, books like “The Yellow Wallpaper” and “Daemon Lover” women are depicted as “crazy” and “out of their mind” based on their behavior and women showing signs of distress when in reality they are seeking help. Mental illnesses has a huge impact on women. Yet women don’t get taken serious. Literature shows the larger message of women not gaining the help they need. Literature has shown in many ways the development of society belittling women when it comes to mental health/illness. So, how has American literature expressed mental illness in women to society over the past 100 years? 

Mental illnesses like depression and anxiety are looked at differently when it comes to women. In the novel “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the main character is a women who has depression due to her having a baby. Her husband is a doctor and does not listen to what she is actually saying, she usually will do what he says and stay in the room, looking at the yellow wallpaper. The main character tries to convey to her husband her feelings and that she thinks writing is helpful for her but she is brushed off. Her husband tells her what to do and to not write. He treats her not like a person and views her as “crazy” just because she is depressed. The main character from The Yellow Wallpaper feels she cannot be vulnerable with her own husband considering “he would laugh at me.” which is portraying that her own husband does not understand post partum depression after having a baby. Depression after a baby is called post partum. Post partum depression causes the mother to not feel like raising a child and feeling unmotivated. Post partum affects 15% in women nowadays. The treatment for postpartum depression is therapy and antidepressants but her husband didn’t even let her have any treatment. The yellow wallpaper depicts a woman having depression and not getting the right help she needs instead it conveys her husband deciding what is right for her. He is considered a doctor and he decides to treat his wife. But her voice is not heard. She is voiceless. Her husband is controlling and she tries to laugh off the of how she is treated, she thinks it is normal and to be expected in marriage. Women have been shown to be helpless in literature which is conveying the bigger message The novel is trying to convey women being controlled and dismissed by a man solely because she is a woman and is not really suffering from depression but is “crazy”. American literature has depicted women in a “bad” light to society by portraying women being treated negatively and being treated less than by her own husband. Women are portrayed in American literature less than a man and is a “dramatization of wronged womanhood” considering the husband is doing what he thinks is the right treatment for his wife instead of actually listening and paying attention to her needs. Women are oppressed in American literature and treated as they would be in real life when it comes to depression. Women are looked as weak and not be allowed right treatment. The narrator cannot get what she desires as she is being dominated by a male figure and told what to do. Female characters are written as objects that are shown for the male privilege. Women’s mental health is showcased as not important enough and something that men can control, women cannot get a sayin what is right for their own mental health. Overall the narrators mindset is fixated on doing as her husband says since she thinks that is how a relationship between a doctor and patient considering he is her husband she thinks it’s what best for her as well. A similar novel called “Daemon Lover” by Shirley Jackson is similar to “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. The novel is based on a woman who is seen searching for her fiance who has disappeared. She cannot find him anywhere she looks, she asks many men on the street if they have seen him but she is sent in a bunch of circles. Every man she asks looks at her differently based on her frantic behavior. The newspaper man sends her in a direction about claiming to see him and then laughs with his friend while she leaves. She has gotten useless information and denied true help. Everyone she has asked shut her down completely and sent her wherever they wanted. They laughed at her behind her back while she listened to the information they gave considering she was so worried about finding her fiance. The inconsideration of strangers giving misinformation to a woman who seems “crazy” displays American literature degrading women’s problems and mental health by letting the women in the novel go and circles and do anything she wants to find her true love. Women are displayed differently than men in literature considering in both novels women are a laughing stock. In the yellow wallpaper the woman is considered as his “depressed wife” and the man is a doctor who has a stable job and can bring home money. The woman is portrayed as miserable and “crazy” considering her coping mechanism is writing, she uses it as an outlet to escape from her mind and fulfill her needs. Whereas  in “Daemon Lover” she is a taken as a joke since everyone laughs as she frantically goes in their direction because she wants to find her future husband. She is clearly showing signs of obsession and panio when she can’t find her love but is still made out to look cray. American literature has shown women to be played out as a damsel in distress. Women are not equal to men, men are placed on a higher pedestal in novels and women are not shown the respect when it comes to mental illness and care. Both women from the novels mental health are clearly evident with depression and anxiety/paranoia but are not taken as serious with their own problems. 

Although American literature has portrayed women in a bad light to society when it comes to mental health.  American literature has also showcased strong women and how they overcome their issues. Many poetry books like “milk and honey”and non fiction novels that portray fierce women facing their mental health. American literature has shown a strong women in fiction overcoming their struggles and trauma they have endeared. An example of a fierce women portraying overcoming her mental health struggle is the novel “Borderline” which is about a woman with Personality borderline disorder and she continues to live her life of magic. This novel brings hope to many women all over America to escape from reality and live their own life. The book has a message being displayed for women with any mental illness to be proud of who they are and continue living life. This specific book portrays that over the past 100 years women have been seen to be knocked down due their mental illness and then rise like a phoenix. It shows that women can have a happy ending too even if you are struggling with a mental disorder, it motivates young women to gain their self worth and identity. Women seen overcoming their struggles and trauma. Mental illness is a journey that many women go through and although most authors would rather portray woman not to have a mental illness. One in three women are likely to experience mental illness. Women being portrayed in a “good” light in American literature is an important topic considering many women suffer from depression, anxiety, PTSD and many more, a novel being a beacon of light for women who go through the same experience can make a difference in society and even change someone’s life. Literature can make a difference by showcasing strong women who can tell their personal stories and how they overcame it or dealt with their personal problems which could help society’s viewpoint from seeing woman without a mental illness shift. 

Women suffer from depression twice as men and are more likely to get depression than men. In American literature, women’s mental health are conveying a message to the audience. The message is to gain more attention towards women dealing with depression and other mental illnesses. Women need to get help the help/treatment for their mental illness. Women have the highest percentage rate in depression and anxiety.  In society women are not taken that serious when it comes to mental health and instead are put on to be objectified. In society’s eyes women are seen as objects, not a person who goes through emotional trauma. In novels like “The Yellow Wallpaper” and “Daemon Lover”, the two women are judged by their behavior and things they say. They are taken as a joke to society and decide to misguide them. In these novels these two women are shown as weak in society. In the “Daemon lover” the women is made fun of for trying to find her lover. A man sends her the wrong way just to lead her on and make fun of her. She is deemed as “crazy” in the novel. These woman portrayed in both novels are given a role to be shown as a damsel in distress. Women have many traumatic experiences with struggling with their mental health and American literature will usually represent women to be shown in a way that makes them seem as they are the problem. American literature does show the good and bad side of women with mental health but it mainly pinpoints female characters that don’t have a say when it comes their health whether it be emotional or physical. Literature has expanded its stance on how women are perceived by using characteristics that showcase the women being misunderstood and shows the injustice that society views them as. As a whole American literature has clearly shown that society’s image of mental illness like anxiety in women will be “crazy” or not fit to live their life they choose. 

American literature have been portraying women being in a “bad light” to emphasize that women deserve to be treated better, to showcase women deserve a happy ending just like everyone else. Depression and anxiety displayed in the female characters in literature showcase them being “insane” and characterized as “madness’’(Shafer). Madness is a word used by most including woman to identify their rights. The word has a self empowerment concept to it and portrays that American literature show cases mental illness like anxiety and depression with using their words cohesively to bring a the larger message to society which is letting society view on women become more empowering and letting them be “insane” but rather let their “madness” come to light and let women have their happy ending for once. 

An interview containing the prize winning novelist Esme Weijun Wang which wrote a nonfiction bestselling essay collection, The Collected Schizophrenias. The interview consists of her book containing her episodes of psychosis and how she choose to write this to share her experience dealing with her mental illness. She states she has “hallucinations” while she was in high school which was pretty “traumatizing”. She states “quite common to be traumatized by writing about things that had happened.” while speaking to friends about writing her memoir. She explains that being a women with a mental illness is hard to talk about it but was a coping mechanism for her and became popular with society. This shows that although it may be hard to let the world know your struggles it can empower and make a women feel better to let the struggles be known. She also states in her interview “ I do want to be careful not to glamorise mental illness when it comes to creativity because more often than not it actually tends to inhibit creativity.” Her response to why she feel its important not glamorise mental illness is displaying that a woman who has gone through traumatizing issues is being real and raw with the coping and dealing with a mental illness but not dim down how hard it really is to let society know that being a woman with a mental illness is not easy, being judged and shinned for it makes it impossible for women to be free. The real truth of society depicting mental illness in woman is that the language of literature elucidates the stigma of depression and anxiety which causes society to view the women portrayed in judgmental matter and deem the characters as “weak” minded due to their needs not being met. Even though society views women as the “damsel in distress’’ in American literature, the audience is gaining the message these authors have wanted society to perceive them as “crazy” and “weak” because in real life that’s how it is, the message overall is to gain a new self awareness of women’s  persona and the empowerment of how they keep going with their hardships. Mental illness in society is deemed as “madness” when it comes to women. Women are viewed as weak. This lets society categorize women as always needing help in American literature. Authors emphasize women looking frantic and “begging” for help to display the differences women face and that men in society will always treat women less than they deserve and not give them the resources like the right treatment for their mental disorder. 

To conclude, the main question how has American literature expressed mental illness in women to society over the past 100 years had made our understanding much clearer on they way women are portrayed in American literature. American literature has society break down women’s mental health  considering their characteristics in the novels like how they look like a “mad women” and the way they are ignored when they cry out for help due to their illness. The message is within the imagery and details of American literature, the message is to look at women in a strong way after they pick themselves back up instead of looking at them like a weak person due their mental illness. American literature wants the audience to look at the bigger picture and let woman be a symbol of resilience. American literature’s stance is to portray women are stronger than they look. 

This entry is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license.