Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Old medicine vs. new medicine

What are some differences in treatments during Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s time and ours?

When I read “The Yellow Wallpaper” I learned about the treatment for postpartum depression in the 1900’s. It was treated by a popular form of rehabilitation called the rest cure, a regimen consisting of continuous rest and suppression of all thoughts of or actions toward a career (http://www.webster.edu/~woolflm/gilman.html). When I read this I immediately thought this was crazy, and that it was opposite of present day. Postpartum depression is taken very seriously now; any signs of depression should be reported to the doctor immediately. The doctor will prescribe antidepressants and recommend being as social as possible.  I realized that during the 20^th century rest was the cure for almost everything, and a hundred years from now people will probably think some of our treatments were crazy.

In 1900, the three leading causes of death were pneumonia, tuberculosis (TB), and diarrhea and enteritis, which (together with diphtheria) caused one third of all deaths. Sir William Osler, known as "the father of modern medicine," appreciated the morbidity and mortality of pneumonia, describing it as the "captain of the men of death" in 1918, as it had overtaken tuberculosis as one of the leading causes of death in his time (http://www.news-medical.net/health/Pneumonia-History.aspx). There was no known cure for pneumonia until the mid 1900’s. Patients were told to get a lot of rest and usually died. Several developments in the mid 1900s improved the outcome for those with pneumonia. With the introduction of penicillin and other antibiotics, modern surgical techniques, and intensive care in the twentieth century, mortality from pneumonia dropped precipitously in the developed world (http://www.news-medical.net/health/Pneumonia-History.aspx). Today antibiotics are still used to treat bacterial pneumonia. Other medications are also used to help improve breathing and relieve symptoms in bacterial and viral pneumonia.  The second leading cause of death in the 1900’s was tuberculosis. In 1900, 194 of every 100,000 U.S. residents died from TB; most were residents of urban areas. In 1940 (before the introduction of antibiotic therapy), TB remained a leading cause of death, but the crude death rate had decreased to 46 per 100,000 persons. Those infected with tuberculosis were isolated from society and placed in sanatoriums. These self-contained communities became known as "waiting room[s] for death.”



This the abandoned tuberculosis sanitarium Waverly Hills in Kentucky



This shows how close they were put together because there were so many people with TB.

The emphasis on the cure was "Rest in Bed" in the open air on sleeping porches or in well-ventilated rooms. There were strict rules governing coughing in public, spitting on the floor and basically controlling any potential spray that came from the lungs, throat or mouth. Exercise was stressed as speeding up "…the end of many of those now dead from tuberculosis". The patients were instructed to never get out of breath, never exercise when the temperature is above 99.6º, never exercise if sputum was streaked, never run or walk fast, never get tired, and never attempt mountain climbing. The emphasis was placed on the individual and how he/she could facilitate their own cure by following the sanatorium rules. The Piedmont Sanatorium Rules and Information for Patients said, "If you expect to get well you must work for it" (http://www.faculty.virginia.edu/blueridgesanatorium/death.htm). Today in the United States, there are approximately 10 cases of TB per 100,000 people. However, rates vary dramatically by area of residence and socioeconomic status. It is usually treated by antibiotics, and you may need to stay at home or be admitted to a hospital for 2 - 4 weeks to avoid spreading the disease to others until you are no longer contagious.

Many things have changed over the years, and a lot of changes are sure to come in the future.

Emily Dickinson

What was Emily Dickinson’s writing style and how was it different?

Emily Dickinson was born on December 10, 1830 in Amherst, Massachusetts, and she died there on May 15, 1886. Most of the family belonged to the Congregational Church, though the poet herself never became a member. Dickinson had a strong secondary education and a year of college at South Hadley Female Seminary. She was far more educated than most other girls during her time. The poet was born in, and died in, a house called the Homestead (http://www.uta.edu/english/tim/poetry/ed/bio.html).

Homestead in 1800's

Dickinson Museum


Today Emily Dickinson is considered one of America’s most original poet’s. Only seven poems were published in her lifetime, but now eighteen hundred have now been published. Little known in her own lifetime, she was first publicized in almost mythic terms as a reclusive, eccentric, death-obsessed spinster who wrote in fits as the spirit moved her (Baym). Dickinson’s fame as a poet rests on the fact that she introduced new styles that were well ahead of her times; she used the elements of slant rhyme and assonance along with simple language to create a melodious effect in her poetry. Dickinson’s poetry is considered to encompass emotions and issues that transcend the barriers of time and are as relevant today as they were in her age. The manner in which she employed punctuations, capitalization and metaphors are aspects of her style that has inspired many poets (http://classicliterature.net/emily-dickinson/).  Her complex lyrics have a wide range of subjects: pain and joy, the relationship of self to nature, the intensely spiritual, and the intensely ordinary. Also her poems about death confront its grim reality with honesty, humor and curiosity.

Emily Dickinson’s life experiences had an intense impact on her writing style. Dickinson’s love poems have convinced biographers that she fell in love a number of times. Not only did love play a big part of her life, but also death. Within ten years Dickinson lost her father, mother, nephew, and one of her close friends. Her seclusion from the world and her poems about death could have been a response to her grief of these losses (Baym).

Baym, Nina, Wayne Franklin, and Robert S. Levine. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. New York [u.a.: Norton, 2012. Print.

This is one of my favorite Emily Dickinson poems :)