The book Prozac Nation is the young writer Elizabeth Wurtzels journal of her depression. In the book Wurtzel describes her experience in the depths of a depressive illness, her own character failings and how she managed to live through particularly difficult periods while completing college and working as a writer. The short story The Yellow Wallpaper, by nineteenth-century feminist Charlotte Perkins Gilman, was first published in New England Magazine. Gilman's story, based upon her own experience with a cure for mental illness, was written as a critique of the medical treatment prescribed to women suffering from a condition known as psychological disorder. Both of these stories have about the similar theme, which is depression. Also, both characters are similar in a way.
Several major themes emerge from the narrative of The Yellow Wallpaper. The narrator's confinement to her home and her feelings of being under enemy control and mistreated by those around her, particularly her husband, is an indication of the many domestic limitations that society places upon women. The narrator's urge to express herself through writing is stifled by the rest cure. Finally, The Yellow Wallpaper addresses issues of mental illness and the medical treatment of women. While the narrator is clearly suffering from some kind of psychological distress at the beginning of the story, her mental state is worsened by her husband's medical opinion that she confines herself to the house. "The Yellow Wallpaper" is the story of a woman who suffers from depression.
The main focus of the book and the reason behind Wurtzel's behavior, depression and its many forms takes center stage throughout the novel. At times, it is as if Wurtzel is only a puppet and her actions are not her own simply because of the influence of her depressive disease. Elizabeth Wurtzel, deals with depression and her story from when the depression starts to when she is cured and her new life begins.
"Elizabeth Wurtzel details her struggle with depression starting from early adolescence and continuing throughout college and beyond. She speaks of a great force outside of herself, a "black wave," that takes over her being and immobilizes her during a time when we as a society were first beginning to understand depression as a mental illness. In attempts to get her emotions under control, Wurtzel describes her journey through therapy, self-medication with drugs and alcohol, thoughts of suicide, and hospitalization. It is not until Wurtzel has been battling her inner chemistry for years that antidepressants come into play. Wurtzel's thought provoking account, full of a variety of rock bottoms, brings to light a modern American generation that has become reliant on pills to find happiness.
The narrator of The Yellow Wallpaper is a paradox, as she loses touch with the outer world, she comes to a greater understanding of the inner reality of her life. This inner/outer split is crucial to understanding the nature of the narrators suffering. At every point, she is faced with relationships, objects, and situations that seem innocent and natural but that are actually quite bizarre and even oppressive. She remembers terrifying herself with imaginary nighttime monsters as a child, and she enjoys the notion that the house they have taken is haunted. Yet as part of her cure, her husband forbids her to exercise her imagination in any way. Both her reason and her emotions rebel at this treatment, and she turns her imagination onto seemingly neutral objects like the house and the wallpaper in an attempt to ignore her growing frustration. Her negative feelings color her description of her surroundings, making them seem mysterious and threatening, and she becomes fixated on the wallpaper. When the narrator finally identifies herself with the woman trapped in the wallpaper, she is able to see that other women are forced to creep and hide behind the domestic patterns of their lives, and that she herself is the one in need of rescue.
In conclusion, depression is the main event in both stories. Recovering from depression requires action. But taking action when youre depressed is hard. In fact, just thinking about the things you should do to feel better. Share what youre going through with the people you love and trust. Ask for the help and support you need. You may have retreated from your most treasured relationships, but they can get you through tough time.
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