Paradox of Pure Becoming: A Deleuzian Analysis of Jane’s Quest of Identity in The Yellow Wallpaper

Abstract

In this article, we argue how Jane struggles to change her state and surroundings by resisting her oppression as a woman and as a struggling writer in a dominant male society. Her trip depicts her spiritual enlightenment as a human who acknowledges her being as an individual and equally significant component of the universe. We intend to analyze the story in the context of the Deleuzian idea of Pure Becoming. The Deleuzian idea of pure becoming which is an inescapable process of evolution that results in fresh epiphanies, illumination, and understanding of existence in flux, illuminates that Jane's insanity causes an epistemological turn and leads to her conversion and pure becoming and that insanity becomes her only method to subvert her tyranny and undermine her captivity in order to achieve autonomy. From this harmonious frame of reference, this article investigates how Jane suffers the pressure of her male dominator in silence, and how a series of events in her life trigger her pure becoming through transformation, leaning toward conversion from a state of non-being to being.