When Worlds Collide: Human Connections in Stranger Things and The Yellow Wallpaper

Introduction

Why Human Connection Matters in Storytelling

Human connection is one of the most powerful forces in storytelling. It shapes identity, influences behaviour, and determines how individuals respond to fear, isolation and social pressure. In both the Duffer Brothers’ Stranger Things (Season 1) and Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper, human relationships are not simply background details they are central to how characters experience control, resistance and hope.

Although these texts emerge from vastly different contexts a late-19th-century Gothic narrative and a nostalgic 1980s supernatural drama they intersect through a shared exploration of what happens when human connection is limited, distorted, or intensified. This essay argues that both texts reveal how relationships can operate as both a source of emotional confinement and a catalyst for empowerment, particularly for characters navigating psychological distress, social expectations and personal transformation.

Human Connection as Protection and Survival in Stranger Things

In Stranger Things (Season 1), human connection is constructed as a form of emotional and physical survival. The disappearance of Will Byers fractures the small-town community of Hawkins, yet it also triggers a network of collective support. One of the clearest examples is Joyce Byers, whose bond with Will challenges rationality, authority and societal doubt.

Even when others dismiss her as unstable, Joyce remains fiercely connected to her son:

This relationship positions her determination as an act of protective motherhood. Rather than being a sign of delusion, her emotional connection becomes a powerful resistance to institutional disbelief.

Similarly, the friendship between Mike, Lucas, Dustin and later Eleven demonstrates how connection becomes a form of loyalty and identity. Their bond is constructed around:

• shared curiosity

• emotional trust

• mutual protection

When Mike tells Eleven, “You’re our friend now,” this declaration does more than include her in their group it symbolically gives her belonging, identity and safety in a world that has repeatedly exploited and controlled her.

Human connection in Stranger Things therefore functions as:

• a survival mechanism

• a moral anchor

• a challenge to authority structures

• a means of restoring emotional wholeness

Yet, the series also reveals that connection has boundaries. Hopper’s grief distances him from others, and Nancy’s emerging independence strains traditional expectations. Connection is shown to be fragile, powerful and deeply human.

Relationships as Confinement and Control in The Yellow Wallpaper

In contrast, The Yellow Wallpaper demonstrates how human connection can become oppressive when shaped by patriarchal values and medical authority. The narrator’s relationship with John her husband and physician is presented as caring on the surface, yet deeply controlling beneath it.

John insists he knows what is “best” for her and prescribes the rest cure, removing her from intellectual stimulation, autonomy, and social engagement. His authority transforms connection into surveillance.

He assures her: He loves me very dearly, and hates to have me sick.”

However, his love is defined by dominance, rational superiority and emotional dismissal. The narrator is infantilised through language such as:

• “little girl”

• “blessed little goose”

What appears to be affection instead reinforces power imbalance.

Here, connection does not heal it restricts.

The narrator is isolated from:

• meaningful companionship

• creative expression

• emotional validation

As her psychological state deteriorates, she turns inward, forming a disturbing connection with the imagined woman behind the wallpaper. This symbolic connection functions as both fragmentation and rebellion, representing suppressed identity fighting against social constraint.

Where Stranger Things portrays connection as life-affirming, The Yellow Wallpaper exposes its potential to damage when structured by authority and gendered power.

Where the Texts Resonate Isolation and the Need to Belong

Despite their contrasts, both texts intersect in their exploration of isolation.

In Stranger Things, isolation is external and situational:

• Eleven is separated from society by experimentation

• Will is trapped in the Upside Down

• Joyce is dismissed and misunderstood

These characters are isolated but actively seek connection.

In The Yellow Wallpaper, isolation is imposed through social and medical control. The narrator’s emotional world collapses inward because meaningful human contact is denied rather than unavailable.

Across both narratives, isolation becomes a catalyst for transformation:

• Eleven discovers identity through friendship

• Joyce finds strength through maternal instinct

• The narrator resists through psychological fragmentation

Connection whether present or absent shapes how characters respond to fear, trauma and identity.

Cultural Assumptions and Power Within Relationships

Both texts reveal the cultural beliefs surrounding connection in their respective contexts.

The Yellow Wallpaper reflects:

• 19th-century patriarchal marriage norms

• authority of male doctors

• silencing of women’s emotional expression

Connection equals control.

Stranger Things reflects:

• nostalgic family and community structures

• value of friendship loyalty

• distrust of institutional power

Connection equals empowerment.

Yet both warn that relationships are shaped by:

• social values

• authority structures

• emotional expectations

Neither text presents connection as simple or universally positive instead, it is complex, negotiated and deeply ethical.

Aesthetic and Stylistic Techniques Enhancing Representation

Both texts rely on aesthetic and stylistic features to deepen their exploration of human connection.

In Stranger Things:

• warm lighting and close-up framing emphasise intimacy

• parallel plotlines foreground emotional interdependence

• nostalgic visual style reinforces themes of friendship and unity

The aesthetic invites viewers to feel part of a shared emotional world.

In The Yellow Wallpaper:

• first-person narration creates psychological intimacy

• fragmented diary structure reveals emotional deterioration

• gothic symbolism reflects internal confinement

The aesthetic traps the reader inside the narrator’s mind, mirroring her relational isolation.

Form and meaning operate together to shape representation.

Conclusion

Connection as Resistance, Control and Survival

Both Stranger Things (Season 1) and The Yellow Wallpaper demonstrate that human connection is never neutral. It can heal, protect and empower or confine, silence and destabilise.

Across time periods and genres, these works reveal that:

• relationships define identity

• authority influences intimacy

• isolation reshapes perception

• connection can become a site of struggle

Where the narrator of The Yellow Wallpaper is controlled through enforced dependence, the characters in Stranger Things resist danger through collective strength. Together, these texts invite audiences to reflect not only on how we connect with others, but also on how those connections shape the boundaries of autonomy, vulnerability and human resilience.

Brief Summary of Assessment Requirements

The assessment required the student to produce an analytical essay exploring how human connection is represented in two texts:

• Stranger Things (Season 1) The Duffer Brothers

• The Yellow Wallpaper Charlotte Perkins Gilman

The key expectations of the task were to:

• Analyse how human relationships influence characters’ identity, behaviour, and emotional experience

• Compare how connection operates as both:

  • protection / empowerment

  • confinement / control

• Discuss themes of isolation, power, cultural values, and psychological struggle

• Explain how aesthetic and stylistic techniques shape meaning in both texts

• Draw comparisons between contexts, characters, and representations

• Conclude with an evaluation of how connection functions as resistance, control, or survival

The assessment required:

• Critical comparison across both texts

• Evidence-based interpretation

• Thematic discussion

• Consideration of context and power structures

• Structured argument supported by textual ideas

How the Academic Mentor Guided the Student 

The Academic Mentor supported the student through a structured analytical writing process. Guidance was provided in the following stages:

Step 1 Understanding the Task & Key Focus

The mentor first helped the student:

• unpack the assessment question

• identify the core theme: human connection in storytelling

• recognise that the task involved:

  • comparison

  • interpretation

  • analysis of representation rather than retelling the plot

The student was guided to frame the essay around:

• survival, control, empowerment, and isolation

• emotional, social, and psychological dimensions of relationships

Download This Assignment Sample for Guidance 

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