Psychology, Sanity, and the Supernatural

In literature, the line between the supernatural, or an apparent lack of sanity among one or more of the characters is often blurred.  Wrapped in the nature of perception, sanity can be best understood as perceiving the world within parameters shared by most others. Based on the shared perceptions of the majority of humanity, humans have drawn up rules pertaining to the natural order, or natural law. However, when an individual is develops a mental illness, their perceptions may shift from the norm, causing them to see things that are not there, or place significance into people, places, and things that would not normally be associated. In Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper, the narrator begins personifying the yellow wallpaper of the room where she is imprisoned by society as she undergoes rest therapy for her depression as a physical manifestation of the oppression of women by the "cult of domesticity" in the 19th century. Driven into madness by a lack of human contact, lack of mental stimulation, and her depression she attacks the wallpaper, tearing it from the walls, and in doing so believes she has broken the chains with which society had ensnared her. A decline in mental health produced perceptions of a supernatural manifestation. It is possible however, for something innately supernatural to cause one to doubt their own sanity, as in Madelene Yale Wynne's The Little Room. As the room within the narrators mother's ancestral home shifts between being a small room and a simple china cabinet, seemingly as each woman accepts or rejects the expectations of 19th century society, their mental health is questioned by themselves and others as what they had once perceived to exist has suddenly shifted to something else. As this has occured for so many women, the supernaturality of the room is beyond question, the room is most certainly unnatural. However, as each is on their own when they visit their room, there are none who shared the same instance of discovery. The aunts do not help clear up the issue, but simply claim that either the room or china closet has always been there. Therefore each of the women believes that they only saw what they wanted to see when encountering the room, when it does in fact exist. Finally, encounters with the supernatural can actually induce insanity, as a mind attempts to grapple with a world that defies the previously existing natural order. The individual loses the ability to react appropriately to ordinary events, as their processing of their perception may be altered by their contact with supernatural events. This is showcased by the deterioration of Eleanor in Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House. Unable to react appropriately to jokes made at her expense, Theodora's inaccurate rationilization that Eleanor is behind the disturbances in Hill House, Eleanor becomes paranoid, and begins having delusions.