Erik Conti
Professor Mignano-Brady
English 102
April 22, 2017
Emotional
Imprisonment in Literature and the Modern World
Many people all over the world are blessed with a
successful life and marriage. Unfortunately, there are others who have made
life choices that they regret. Problems with relationships or differences in
ideologies can lead to miserable lifestyles for either of the affected party
members. Some people are actually imprisoned by their significant other on an
emotional level. The way they interact with the other individual can lead to a
sense of being stuck in both life and marriage. Between “The Yellow Wallpaper”
by Charlotte Perkins-Gilman, “Interpreter of Maladies” by Jhumpa Lahiri, and the
recent divorce between Mel B and Stephen Belafonte, there are distinctive examples
of clashing personalities that have led to the emotional imprisonment of those
involved. Perkins-Gilman and Lahiri successfully embody the misery of being
imprisoned in an unhappy marriage through various scenarios in their stories such
as post-pregnancy isolation, disregard for a spouse’s occupation, or the
seemingly endless suffering of a young woman.
“The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins-Gilman
provides readers with a sense of true emotional imprisonment through the vivid
description of isolation and depression in a young mother. In this story a
doctor orders his wife to a lengthy span of house rest after she delivers their
baby. This rest eventually drives her insane and drives a wedge into her
marriage. Perkins-Gilman writes, “I sometimes fancy that in my condition if I
had less opposition and more society and stimulus- but John says the very worst
thing I can do is to think about my condition, and I confess it always makes me
feel bad. So I will let it alone and talk about the house.” (Perkins-Gilman
316) This is a very powerful quote that explains how John really treats his
wife. John seems to believe that he truly knows best for his wife because he is
a doctor. He felt as if house rest was the cure to her depressive tendencies.
John’s wife feels trapped in that house and wants to get out more often, yet
she fears her husband will be disappointed in her if she fails to obey his
orders. This is very oppressive of John and shows how his emotion can imprison
his wife into following his commands. Slightly later in the story,
Perkins-Gilman writes, “Dear John! He loves me very dearly, and hates to have
me sick. I tried to have a real earnest reasonable talk with him the other day,
and tell him how I wish he would let me go and make a visit to Cousin Henry and
Julia. But he said I wasn’t able to go, nor able to stand after I got there;
and I did not make out a very good case for myself, for I was crying before I
had finished.” (Perkins-Gilman 322) This shows that John’s personality is very
full of worry and skepticism. He believed that his wife was unable to even
stand or make her way to visit her cousins. The narrator begins crying because
she simply desires freedom to do as she pleases, yet her husband is obstructing
her path. Even though John’s caring seems to come from a good place, his
obliviousness to her feelings has taken a toll on his marriage and on his
wife’s sanity. The decay of John’s relationship with the narrator is clearly
exemplified in the quote, “I’ve got out at last, in spite of you and Jane. And
I’ve pulled off most of the paper, so you can’t put me back! Now why should
that man have fainted? But he did, and right across my path by the wall, so
that now I had to creep over him every time.” This quote shows that the
narrator has finally had enough of feeling imprisoned by John. She tore the
wallpaper off because she saw the shadow of herself hiding behind it. By
tearing the wallpaper, she can now be free to creep around as she pleases. By
using the word “creep”, the author shows that the narrator can be free to do as
she pleases, yet she must do it walking on eggshells so that John is not
alerted. John’s emotional behavior led his wife to feel imprisoned in her house
and in her marriage.
The next story that clearly exemplifies emotional
imprisonment in marriage is “Interpreter of Maladies” by Jhumpa Lahiri. Lahiri
paints a picture of what a loveless marriage might look like and its effect on
the participants. This is a story about two people stuck in unhappy marriages
that end up meeting in a taxi in India. The following quote portrays the
behavior of one suffering individual, Mrs. Das; “While Mr. Das adjusted his
telephoto lens, Mrs. Das reached into her straw bag and pulled out a bottle of
colorless nail polish, which she proceeded to stroke on the tip of her index
finger. The little girl stuck out a
hand. ‘Mine too. Mommy, do mine too.’ ‘Leave me alone.’ Mrs. Das said, blowing
on her nail and turning her body slightly.”(Lahiri 15-16) Mrs. Das is clearly
ignoring her daughter which is very unusual for a mother. The reader begins to
sense her personality as withdrawn and ignorant, yet the reasoning for this is
still a mystery. Later in the story, Mr. Kapasi (the taxi driver) begins holding
a conversation with Mrs. Das regarding his career as an interpreter. He feels
as if Mrs. Das is interested in him because his wife mostly ignores him at
home. “Mr. Kapasi knew that his wife had little regard for his career as an
interpreter. He knew it reminded her of the son she’d lost, and that she
resented the other lives that he had helped, in his own small way, to save. If
ever she referred to his position, she used the phrase ‘doctor’s assistant,’ as
if the process of interpretation were equal to taking someone’s temperature, or
changing a bedpan. She never asked him about the patients who came to the
doctor’s office, or said that his job was a big responsibility.” (Lahiri 19)
This shows that emotional imprisonment can happen in men as well. Mr. Kapasi
feels completely disrespected by his wife due to her references to his work. He
feels like he has a very important job to do, yet she keeps bringing him down
by minimalizing what he actually does. This shows that their relationship is
essentially shattered, yet Mr. Kapasi’s own guilt from the death of his son
“forces” him to stay with his wife out of pity. This is the epitome of
emotional imprisonment. At the end of the story, Mrs. Das explains to Mr.
Kapasi that her life with her husband used to be exciting, but turned into a
routine of ignorance and disregard. “It means that I am tired of feeling so
terrible all the time. Eight years, Mr. Kapasi, I’ve been in pain eight years.
I was hoping you could help me feel better, say the right thing. Suggest some kind
of remedy.” (Lahiri 27) Mrs. Das is feeling imprisoned in her marriage because
she has children with Mr. Das. She knows that she has the desire to leave him
because there is no romantic spark between them. She has been suffering for
eight years now because of their emotional disconnection. The word “suffering”
specifically enunciates the true discontent that Mrs. Das was experiencing. In
a way she was shackled to her husband by her children and her memories of
better times.
Mel B is a professional singer/songwriter who recently
had to separate from her husband Stephen Belafonte. The divorce supposedly took
place due to both physical and emotional abuse of Mel by Stephen. According to
Mel B herself, Stephen would always say she was worthless and put her down. He
destroyed her self-confidence and self-esteem. A normal person would most
likely leave their significant other at this point, but Mel B felt imprisoned
by him through their connection of three children and his frightening attitude.
This man was really tearing her apart on an emotional level, yet she stayed
with him. An article from TMZ claims that he threatened to leak damaging
stories of their marriage to the media, and this scared her into staying. Mel B
is in a very similar situation as Mrs. Das. They both feel no love for their
significant other, yet they stay in their marriages because of their spouses’
attitudes and mutual children. Both Mel B and Mrs. Das are really imprisoned on
an emotional level, rather than a physical level.
Emotional imprisonment can occur in any relationship. An
individual develops a sense of imprisonment when they feel too guilty to leave
their significant other. There are multitudes of occurrences that could ruin a
relationship, yet an emotionally imprisoned individual would choose to maintain
the relationship. “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins-Gilman, “Interpreter
of Maladies” by Jhumpa Lahiri, and the recent divorce filed by singer Mel B are
all prime examples of individuals feeling imprisoned in their marriage on an
emotional level. In “The Yellow Wallpaper”, John disregards his wife’s feelings
and eventually drives her to insanity, yet she remains with him. In “Interpreter
of Maladies”, both Mr. Kapasi and Mrs. Das feel trapped in their marriages.
Mrs. Das wants to leave due to the lack of romance in her relationship, yet she
still remains with her husband. Mr. Kapasi wants to leave his marriage because
his wife regards his work as insignificant and barely shows him any attention,
yet Mr. Kapasi still remains with his wife. In the real world, Mel B suffered
tons of emotional abuse from her husband which led her to feel trapped for
years. Fortunately, she made the official decision to end her marriage. All of
these examples show that emotional imprisonment has been very much alive
throughout human history. Regardless of the situation, there are people out
there that choose to carry on their daily lives even if it means suffering on
the inside.
Works
Cited
Mays, Kelly J. The Norton Introduction to Literature 12th
Edition. New York, London. W. W. Norton & Company, 2016, Print.
Lahiri, Jhumpa. "Interpreter
of Maladies." Interpreter of
Maladies. New York:
Mariner-Houghton, 1999.
Staff, TMZ. "Mel B
Says Husband Stephen Belafonte Beat Me Physically and Beat Me Down
Emotionally." TMZ. TMZ.com, 04 Apr. 2017. Web. 24 Apr. 2017.
No comments:
Post a Comment