How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Section.Paragraph)
Quote #1
It is very seldom that mere ordinary people like John and myself secure ancestral halls for the summer. (1.1)
The narrator thinks of herself and her husband as "ordinary people." How accurate is that? Remember that they have servants, including a housekeeper and a nanny.
Quote #2
If a physician of high standing, and one's own husband, assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing the matter with one but temporary nervous depression—a slight hysterical tendency—what is one to do? (1.10)
Here, John’s status in society as a doctor and a husband both conspire against the narrator’s articulation of her own illness.
Quote #3
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. (1.17)
The narrator is cut off and isolated from the rest of the society. Is that the real source of her madness?