The Uses and Abuses of Mentally Ill Women in Modern US and European Literature

Abstract

The understanding of mental illness throughout the centuries in the West has improved, spanning from a time when those deemed unstable for society were locked in cages away from public view to the more modern, ethical approach of understanding mental health and the scientific advancements in understanding brain chemistry. Similarly, the understanding of women throughout the centuries in the West has improved, leaving a time when women were seen primarily as domestic property for men behind as we brave the current fourth-wave of feminism. Despite this, when these two topics intersect and society is met with a "mentally ill woman," all progress reverts. Between the late nineteenth century to the present day, mentally ill women are objectified, subject to patriarchal control as they are shoved into boxes of diagnostic criteria seemingly specific to their gender. To examine the timeline of this, it is important to look at prevalent works spanning the three centuries, starting with early psychiatric care (the "rest cure"), through to psychoanalysis, to asylums and more modern aspects of mental health care. In order to do this, I examine Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper, Sigmund Freud's Dora, Susanna Kaysen's Girl, Interrupted, John Green's Looking for Alaska, and Mohsin Hamid's The Reluctant Fundamentalist. Growing up as a young woman afflicted by mental illness, being exposed to these novels -- particularly John Green's entire collection -- led me to inherently romanticize and fantasize about a man "saving me" from my self-inflicted wounds by loving me enough. It had made me consider conceptually how mentally ill women were treated differently from the "normal" woman and why. Two of the novels read, The Yellow Wallpaper and Girl, Interrupted, are written from the female perspective, while the other three, Dora, Looking for Alaska, and The Reluctant Fundamentalist, are written from the male perspective, thus casting a different light on the topic at hand. Additionally, both female-written pieces are autobiographical or semi-autobiographical, allowing for a firsthand account of their diagnosis and the conceptualization of their "craziness." In doing so, both female authors come to the conclusion that the patriarchal society is the ultimate cause of their suffering. All three male-written pieces demonstrate the objectification of the mentally ill woman, showcasing the lack of agency mentally ill women are subjected to under the patriarchy.