Since her husband tells her over and over again that she is sick, the narrator starts to personally believe it herself. The narrator lost all personal beliefs and feelings she had, and replaced them with those of her family members. The relationship shown throughout the novel is unhealthy for her personal well being because she no longer is in control of her thoughts.
As the relationship with her husband continues to affect her emotions, her traits and actions also seem to influence her problems. As the story progresses, the traits of the narrator such as depression, stealth, and instability grow as well. At the beginning of the story, the narrator’s husband informs her that she has a mental disability. This is the beginning of her depression. The despair inside of the narrator increases throughout the story. The reader is then shown that her husband does not like how she relieves her stress and feelings out on paper, and therefore tells her to completely discontinue writing. Although John told her to stop, she still continues to write, but does so cautiously. Her stealth allows her to express her creativity and thoughts where there is no one for her to talk to. Not only does she have to hide the work from John, but also from her “housekeeper” Jennie, who in reality is her sister in-law (Gilman 545). Because of the repetitiveness of John telling her that she is sick, she furthermore believes it herself. Her instability of controlling her own thoughts messes with her mind. She continues to flip back and forth between the ideas of her being sick or not, which brings out another personality. Her other personality resembles “the woman in the wall.”
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