Infantilization, Toxic Masculinity, and Rest Cure: A Literary Analysis of Mental Health Throughout Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway and Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”
Location
Ponderosa Room D
Presentation Type
Presentation
Start Date
6-3-2026 10:10 AM
Event Sort Order
15
Abstract
This paper examines representations of mental illness and medical authority in Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” (1892) and Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway (1925), arguing that both texts critique early twentieth-century mental health practices shaped by rigid gender norms. Through a comparative literary analysis, I explore how infantilization and toxic masculinity contribute to the deterioration of mentally ill characters under the “rest cure,” an antiquated and harmful treatment rooted in medical misinformation. Gilman’s unnamed narrator illustrates the infantilization of women through enforced passivity and intellectual repression, while Woolf’s Septimus Smith reveals the destructive consequences of emotional repression imposed by wartime masculinity and dismissive medical authority. In contrast, figures such as John, Dr. Holmes, and Sir William Bradshaw embody the era’s flawed physicians, whose adherence to gendered assumptions about mental illness exacerbates their patients’ suffering. Drawing on close textual analysis and contextualized by both authors’ lived experiences with mental illness, this paper demonstrates how Woolf and Gilman expose the dangers of misdiagnosis, lack of empathy, and gendered medical practices. Together, these works offer a powerful literary indictment of early mental health treatment and underscore the necessity of humane, informed, and patient-centered care.
Infantilization, Toxic Masculinity, and Rest Cure: A Literary Analysis of Mental Health Throughout Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway and Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”
Ponderosa Room D
This paper examines representations of mental illness and medical authority in Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” (1892) and Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway (1925), arguing that both texts critique early twentieth-century mental health practices shaped by rigid gender norms. Through a comparative literary analysis, I explore how infantilization and toxic masculinity contribute to the deterioration of mentally ill characters under the “rest cure,” an antiquated and harmful treatment rooted in medical misinformation. Gilman’s unnamed narrator illustrates the infantilization of women through enforced passivity and intellectual repression, while Woolf’s Septimus Smith reveals the destructive consequences of emotional repression imposed by wartime masculinity and dismissive medical authority. In contrast, figures such as John, Dr. Holmes, and Sir William Bradshaw embody the era’s flawed physicians, whose adherence to gendered assumptions about mental illness exacerbates their patients’ suffering. Drawing on close textual analysis and contextualized by both authors’ lived experiences with mental illness, this paper demonstrates how Woolf and Gilman expose the dangers of misdiagnosis, lack of empathy, and gendered medical practices. Together, these works offer a powerful literary indictment of early mental health treatment and underscore the necessity of humane, informed, and patient-centered care.
Presenter Bio
Abigail is a junior at the University of Nebraska at Kearney majoring in Secondary Language Arts Education with a minor in Spanish and a minor in creative writing. She plans on pursuing an English MA degree from UNK upon graduation with a focus area of creative writing, and also plans to teach English at a small, rural Nebraska school. One fun fact about her is that on top of her love of reading and wrirting, Abigail is an avid plant lover, and has eleven plants she cares for.