Status
Checked out
Publication
Feminist Press (1977), Paperback, 63 pages
Description
"If a physician of high standing, and one's own husband assures friends and family that there really is nothing the matter with one but temporary nervous depression - a slight hysterical tendency - what is one to do?" This is the story of a young woman whose husband rents a summer home to enable her to recuperate after childbirth. However, what should be a relaxing getaway dissolves into a haunting psychological battle that sees her confined to an attic, drained, depressed and slowly losing her sanity. This semi-autobiographical story was published in 1892, and immediately denounced in the press. Charlotte Perkins, a sociologist and utopian feminist, provides a startling insight into women's oppression in marriage, madness, postpartum depression, and the ignorance surrounding mental illness. Women's issues, especially as regards mental illness, were often dismissed as hysterics or out rightly ignored. And it's sadly no different today. Perkin's work is now regarded as feminist literature for its adept portrayal of society's attitude towards the mental health of women. But it doesn't just do that. Written over a century ago, it offers insight today into society's treatment and ignorance of mental health. It's a must read for everyone, especially for people with friends or relatives who struggle with mental health issues.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member rainpebble
The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
This little book is perfection. It is a stark & bare 36 pages & a beyond perfect 5 star read for me. It is the tale of a young woman, told from her POV, falling into the pit of madness. She is unknowingly helped along by her husband who is a doctor &
It begins as the husband takes an isolated house for them for the summer. He feels that his wife will get better if she doesn't have many distractions. His sister Jane comes along to help care for the woman.
She spends her days on the top floor of the house alone for the most part yearning to write but her husband doesn't think that writing is a good thing for her to be doing now. She needs to rest, not worry nor concern herself with anything and get well. He doesn't like her walking out for it may tire her and she needs to be resting.
The room upstairs is papered with ugly yellow wallpaper. Within the pattern of the wallpaper she sees changes occurring as the light changes. New shoots seem to grow within the pattern and forms appear to undulate in the paper. It changes day by day. The woman begins to see faces within the paper and as her madness deepens she thinks that the woman comes out and walks on the pathway outside the house.
Her husband thinks that she is getting better because as she gets deeper & deeper into the wallpaper she becomes happier, begins eating again. He doesn't know it is because she has found something with which to occupy her time and thoughts and that actually she is falling deeper & deeper into a world of madness.
This book is genius. I am so thankful that I picked it up. Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a brilliant author. I hope she has written a great many books for there is a hunger in the pit of my gut for more such as this.
This little book is perfection. It is a stark & bare 36 pages & a beyond perfect 5 star read for me. It is the tale of a young woman, told from her POV, falling into the pit of madness. She is unknowingly helped along by her husband who is a doctor &
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others who should know better.It begins as the husband takes an isolated house for them for the summer. He feels that his wife will get better if she doesn't have many distractions. His sister Jane comes along to help care for the woman.
She spends her days on the top floor of the house alone for the most part yearning to write but her husband doesn't think that writing is a good thing for her to be doing now. She needs to rest, not worry nor concern herself with anything and get well. He doesn't like her walking out for it may tire her and she needs to be resting.
The room upstairs is papered with ugly yellow wallpaper. Within the pattern of the wallpaper she sees changes occurring as the light changes. New shoots seem to grow within the pattern and forms appear to undulate in the paper. It changes day by day. The woman begins to see faces within the paper and as her madness deepens she thinks that the woman comes out and walks on the pathway outside the house.
Her husband thinks that she is getting better because as she gets deeper & deeper into the wallpaper she becomes happier, begins eating again. He doesn't know it is because she has found something with which to occupy her time and thoughts and that actually she is falling deeper & deeper into a world of madness.
This book is genius. I am so thankful that I picked it up. Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a brilliant author. I hope she has written a great many books for there is a hunger in the pit of my gut for more such as this.
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LibraryThing member anawkwardreader
On the surface, it's a creepy, intriguing story about a woman and the wallpaper in her room, but it goes so much deeper to address how women were treated by their husbands and by doctors at the time. It's partially autobiographical and appalling and groundbreaking, especially for 1892, yet not as
It's in the public domain and a really quick read, but I liked this edition for its introduction and afterword that set the historical context and gave a lot of information about Charlotte Perkins Gilman and her own experiences with the "rest cure." But the afterword does spoil "The Awakening" and "The House of Mirth," just FYI.
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unrecognizable as one would hope for being well over 100 years old, which added to the disturbance level of this story for me.It's in the public domain and a really quick read, but I liked this edition for its introduction and afterword that set the historical context and gave a lot of information about Charlotte Perkins Gilman and her own experiences with the "rest cure." But the afterword does spoil "The Awakening" and "The House of Mirth," just FYI.
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LibraryThing member BALE
The Yellow Wallpaper is a dark and powerfully written tale, first published in 1892, about a woman's descent into madness. Her psychosis is brought on by the social restrictions of the time, a controlling husband and the deteriorating yellow wallpaper that covers their bedroom.
LibraryThing member Citizenjoyce
This is a classic of feminist literature. It tells of a woman suffering from depression which is made worse and worse by the paternalistic care of her "loving" husband who treats her as a child, manages every aspect of her life, discourages her writing career, and dismisses any concern she might
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have. His idea of a cure for depression seems to be that she sleep for 3 months and not trouble her pretty little brain. The result is a very moving, very creepy story. Show Less
LibraryThing member DeltaQueen50
I really enjoyed the deliciously creepy novella The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. The author hit all the right notes and left the reader wondering if they had just read about a woman’s decent into madness or this was a story about spirit possession. This story was first published
Told entirely from the woman’s perspective, we learn that she, her husband, physician John, his sister and their baby are spending the summer in a remote colonial mansion. Her husband has diagnosed a need for a “rest cure” for her nervous depression. The negative aspects and limited understanding about this women’s psychological condition are soon apparent as she spends her time in isolation. She is confined to one room of the house, an old nursery and with nothing to fill her time with, she soon turns her attention to the room’s wallpaper, and in particular it’s intricate patterns.
For such a short story there is a lot for the reader to think about including a woman’s role and rights in Victorian society and mental health issues. I loved how the author gave this story a haunting quality and left the conclusion up to the reader to determine. The Yellow Wallpaper had just the right amount of “unexpected” and I highly recommend this story.
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in 1892 and I would say it has definitely stood the test of time.Told entirely from the woman’s perspective, we learn that she, her husband, physician John, his sister and their baby are spending the summer in a remote colonial mansion. Her husband has diagnosed a need for a “rest cure” for her nervous depression. The negative aspects and limited understanding about this women’s psychological condition are soon apparent as she spends her time in isolation. She is confined to one room of the house, an old nursery and with nothing to fill her time with, she soon turns her attention to the room’s wallpaper, and in particular it’s intricate patterns.
For such a short story there is a lot for the reader to think about including a woman’s role and rights in Victorian society and mental health issues. I loved how the author gave this story a haunting quality and left the conclusion up to the reader to determine. The Yellow Wallpaper had just the right amount of “unexpected” and I highly recommend this story.
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LibraryThing member IonaS
I hadn’t any previous experience of this author.
When reading the story I felt that it was the most horrifying piece of writing I had ever read, though when looking through it I didn’t feel that it was so bad.
Reputedly, the story was based on the author’s own experience of her psychosis
We’re not given the name of the woman recounting her experience, and I will call her the protagonist, or the P.
Two of the first things that meet the eye are the protagonist’s negative comments about marriage, that the P’s husband John laughs at her (which is to be expected in marriage) and also negative comments about doctors.
The P remarks that one reason she is not getting well faster may be because her husband is a physician.
He does not believe she is “sick””, and what can one do?
Both her husband and brother are doctors “of high standing” and both think there is nothing the matter with her except “a temporary nervous depression” or “slight hysterical tendency”.
Perhaps at some level, then, the P feels obliged to prove them both wrong, that there really is something wrong with her; thus the need and “satisfaction” at some level to develop a full-blown psychosis.
She is forbidden to work or write; but she is a woman with her own opinions and she herself feels that congenial work would do her good.
She feels that if she had less “opposition” and “more society and stimulus”, she would feel better.
We’re warned from the start that strange things are about to happen; she feels there is something queer, something strange, about the house. And otherwise, how had they been able to rent it so cheaply, and why would it have “"stood so long untenanted”?
John is “very careful and loving” but he does not listen to his wife’s objections to the room he has chosen for them to sleep in.
John is absolutely controlling; he chooses the house and the bedroom they’ve to sleep in and dictates what the P is permitted to do.
When the P tells her left-brained husband what she feels about the house, he has so little understanding of what she’s talking about that he claims what she felt was a draught!
She would have preferred to use as a bedroom a downstairs room with roses all over the window, but John wouldn’t hear of it.
John has a “schedule prescription” for each hour in the day – the utnost control.
Is this a general criticism of the control of all, or most, husbands of the times?
At least the P is permitted to eat that which her appetite dictates, at any rate, “somewhat”.
The room John chose for the bedroom was the former nursery that had bars on the windows.
This is metaphoric for the P’s feeling of imprisonment when confined to the room.
She had never seen worse wall-paper in her life.
The colour of the wall-paper is a “smoldering unclean yellow”.
John hates her to have to write a word.
The P tells us that she is suffering, whereas logical John says there is no reason to suffer. (This is his subjective opinion.)
She says her baby is “so dear” but she cannot be with him since it makes her so nervous. She supposes John was never nervous in his life.
I will not cite any more details but will talk in a general manner.
The author discloses in a gradual and subtle manner the start of the psychosis.
First, she becomes convinced there is a woman or several women behind bars in the wall-paper, trying to get out.
Later, she fails to distinguish between herself and the woman/women.
She begins to display a slight paranoia, in that she gets a little afraid of John and Jennie (John’s sister), and feels they both give her strange looks.
She projects her own problems onto John, and she thinks that he is getting queer now. She doesn’t like the look in John’s eyes and feels he is only pretending to be loving and kind.
Now she. sees many creeping women outside, creeping so fast.
Finally, she talks about she herself having to get back behind the pattern. She thinks she is the woman or one of the women behind the pattern.
Eventually, John comes in the room and sees her creeping on the floor, realizes something is very wrong and faints.
To sum up, I felt this to be an excellent and superbly written story and may read some of the author’s other stories.
When reading the story I felt that it was the most horrifying piece of writing I had ever read, though when looking through it I didn’t feel that it was so bad.
Reputedly, the story was based on the author’s own experience of her psychosis
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We’re not given the name of the woman recounting her experience, and I will call her the protagonist, or the P.
Two of the first things that meet the eye are the protagonist’s negative comments about marriage, that the P’s husband John laughs at her (which is to be expected in marriage) and also negative comments about doctors.
The P remarks that one reason she is not getting well faster may be because her husband is a physician.
He does not believe she is “sick””, and what can one do?
Both her husband and brother are doctors “of high standing” and both think there is nothing the matter with her except “a temporary nervous depression” or “slight hysterical tendency”.
Perhaps at some level, then, the P feels obliged to prove them both wrong, that there really is something wrong with her; thus the need and “satisfaction” at some level to develop a full-blown psychosis.
She is forbidden to work or write; but she is a woman with her own opinions and she herself feels that congenial work would do her good.
She feels that if she had less “opposition” and “more society and stimulus”, she would feel better.
We’re warned from the start that strange things are about to happen; she feels there is something queer, something strange, about the house. And otherwise, how had they been able to rent it so cheaply, and why would it have “"stood so long untenanted”?
John is “very careful and loving” but he does not listen to his wife’s objections to the room he has chosen for them to sleep in.
John is absolutely controlling; he chooses the house and the bedroom they’ve to sleep in and dictates what the P is permitted to do.
When the P tells her left-brained husband what she feels about the house, he has so little understanding of what she’s talking about that he claims what she felt was a draught!
She would have preferred to use as a bedroom a downstairs room with roses all over the window, but John wouldn’t hear of it.
John has a “schedule prescription” for each hour in the day – the utnost control.
Is this a general criticism of the control of all, or most, husbands of the times?
At least the P is permitted to eat that which her appetite dictates, at any rate, “somewhat”.
The room John chose for the bedroom was the former nursery that had bars on the windows.
This is metaphoric for the P’s feeling of imprisonment when confined to the room.
She had never seen worse wall-paper in her life.
The colour of the wall-paper is a “smoldering unclean yellow”.
John hates her to have to write a word.
The P tells us that she is suffering, whereas logical John says there is no reason to suffer. (This is his subjective opinion.)
She says her baby is “so dear” but she cannot be with him since it makes her so nervous. She supposes John was never nervous in his life.
I will not cite any more details but will talk in a general manner.
The author discloses in a gradual and subtle manner the start of the psychosis.
First, she becomes convinced there is a woman or several women behind bars in the wall-paper, trying to get out.
Later, she fails to distinguish between herself and the woman/women.
She begins to display a slight paranoia, in that she gets a little afraid of John and Jennie (John’s sister), and feels they both give her strange looks.
She projects her own problems onto John, and she thinks that he is getting queer now. She doesn’t like the look in John’s eyes and feels he is only pretending to be loving and kind.
Now she. sees many creeping women outside, creeping so fast.
Finally, she talks about she herself having to get back behind the pattern. She thinks she is the woman or one of the women behind the pattern.
Eventually, John comes in the room and sees her creeping on the floor, realizes something is very wrong and faints.
To sum up, I felt this to be an excellent and superbly written story and may read some of the author’s other stories.
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LibraryThing member LisaMorr
A very quick read. The VMC edition I had included an Afterword which was almost as long as the book itself!
I enjoyed this book (short story, or at most a novella). Written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, an early feminist, it recounts a wife's descent into madness.
The main character is the wife
This was a disturbing book - I felt helpless, like the narrator. A good book.
I enjoyed this book (short story, or at most a novella). Written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, an early feminist, it recounts a wife's descent into madness.
The main character is the wife
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mentioned above; it is told in the first person, and the reader is not entirely convinced of what is real and what is in the narrator's mind.This was a disturbing book - I felt helpless, like the narrator. A good book.
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LibraryThing member bookworm12
Short and über creepy, this story is told from the point-of-view of a woman staying in the country with her husband. She’s recovering from an unnamed illness (possibly post-partum depression) and her husband has set her up in a room by herself. The walls are covered with an ugly yellow wallpaper
She begins to believe she can see a woman lurking behind the designs in the wallpaper. The longer she remains confined to the room the deeper she descends into her madness, taking the reader along for the ride.
The story was published in 1892 and is often called one of the first pieces of feminist literature. It’s a chilling look at the “treatment” women were often given and the lack of freedom they were permitted in these situations. It’s also just a great scary story, so there’s something for everyone.
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and as the story progresses she becomes obsessed with it. She begins to believe she can see a woman lurking behind the designs in the wallpaper. The longer she remains confined to the room the deeper she descends into her madness, taking the reader along for the ride.
The story was published in 1892 and is often called one of the first pieces of feminist literature. It’s a chilling look at the “treatment” women were often given and the lack of freedom they were permitted in these situations. It’s also just a great scary story, so there’s something for everyone.
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LibraryThing member pocketmermaid
One of my favorite pieces of short fiction ever. I was first exposed to this story during my senior year of high school, where I just wrote it off as a creepy story. I enjoyed it, but I didn't really GET it. This 6,000 word story, written as a journal of a woman's descent into madness, is
I came across it again years later, and I saw it in a different way. An extremely personal way. I related to this narrator in that I feared ending up like her. And if I'd been born in her time, I very well might have. I chose this story to be the focus of a research paper for a lit class, and studied it once again for another lit class. I am very familiar with this story and I've lost count of how many times I've read it. But every time I read it, I get a new feeling from it, and it chills me all over again.
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deceptively simple.I came across it again years later, and I saw it in a different way. An extremely personal way. I related to this narrator in that I feared ending up like her. And if I'd been born in her time, I very well might have. I chose this story to be the focus of a research paper for a lit class, and studied it once again for another lit class. I am very familiar with this story and I've lost count of how many times I've read it. But every time I read it, I get a new feeling from it, and it chills me all over again.
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LibraryThing member HotWolfie
This is my favorite short story. It's a good look at the repression of women, the mistreatment of women by society and the medical profession, and sexual oppression. It's an interesting representation of how post-partum depression was completely ignored in the past. It's a creepy, short story about
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a depressed woman's descent into madness after her husband locks her away in an old nursery (windows barred, door locked). Very chilling read. Show Less
LibraryThing member ahooper04
Very moving story about a woman who slowly loses her mind because of the way society treats women during the 19th century.
LibraryThing member MMWiseheart
** spoiler alert ** This is a fantastic insight into the mind of someone who has been suffering from undiagnosed post-partum depression. Her husband believes she just needs rest and confines her to a room with yellow wallpaper. The result of this isolation is a mental breakdown.
LibraryThing member janemarieprice
I am glad I read this during the day. It is quite frightening on a lot of levels. The narrator is struggling with depression stemming from the pressure of being a ‘good wife’ by society’s standards and possibly also from the recent birth of her child. As I’m sure was common at the time, she
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is assumed to have some sort of non-medical exhaustion by her doctor husband and brother. The cure is extended rest and absolutely no work whatsoever. Trapped in a room (of her husband’s choosing of course), she descends into a sort of madness through obsession with the wallpaper. There is a lot going on in the short story, most disturbing to me is the narrators seeming ignorance of the cause of her own depression. While she does fight in a way against her husband’s diagnosis, she doesn’t seem to feel sure about her condition herself. Show Less
LibraryThing member crimsonsonata
Summary: While vacationing at a summer home in rural England to recover from depression and hystericism, the main character becomes obsessed with the wallpaper her room is papered with and descends into madness.
Use and appropriateness in a HS classroom: This honestly was the first piece of
Use and appropriateness in a HS classroom: This honestly was the first piece of
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literature I can remember that made me really think analytically about what the author actually meant by the story. Its length makes the story very accessible to students who haven’t had to analyze much (or at all) before and the topic is so unusual it creates a need to find out exactly why this seemingly innocuous wallpaper is so interesting and maddening. Overall, it’s a shocking but extremely effective short story that can be read and analyzed within one or two class periods. It’s most appropriate for 11th or 12th graders depending on their reading and comprehension levels. Show Less
LibraryThing member Kristelh
The Yellow Wallpaper is a short story written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, first published in January 1892 in The New England Magazine can be found on the internet and read in about thirty minutes. It is considered an example of early feminist literature. The protagonist, a woman married to a
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physician who may have just had a baby is being kept in a home to rest because she is suffering from nervous hysteria. She is being kept in a room with a yellow wallpaper. The reader is given a picture of her descent into madness. At first the pattern is just annoying and irritating but then it becomes sinister. The woman wants to write but is forbidden by her husband so she is writing in her journal secretly. She wants to visit with lively friends but he husband tells her it will be too much for her. In the end she is more paranoid and no longer feels safe leaving the room. Show Less
LibraryThing member jewelknits
A journalized descent into a woman's madness . . . brought on yellow wallpaper.
A quick, rather creepy sort of read.
A quick, rather creepy sort of read.
LibraryThing member LaneLiterati
Excitingly creepy in every way.
LibraryThing member Tanner33
“The Yellow Wall-Paper”
“The color is repellant almost revolting; a smoldering, unclean yellow, strangely faded by the slow turning sunlight.” In “The Yellow Wall-Paper” by Charlotte Gilman written in 1891, John takes his wife to a house in the woods because she has a mental illness. He
Charlotte Gilman was born July 3, 1860 in Hartford, Connecticut. She died August 17, 1935 at the age of 75. At the age of five, she taught herself how to read because her mom was ill. Charlotte was as she explains in this quote: “For many years I suffered from a severe and continuous nervous breakdown tending to melancholi.” The reason she wrote this is because she wanted to help people. “It was not intended to drive people crazy, but to save people from being driven crazy, and it worked.” This story reflects on how she felt when she was ill.
I did not like this story. “I’ve got out at last, in spite of you and Jane? And I’ve pulled most of the paper, so you can’t put me back.” This is one of the reasons the book was confusing for me. There were a lot of words that I didn’t understand. I also didn’t understand most of the story because Jane was difficult to understand. Even though I didn’t like it, people who constantly use marginallia may find this book easier to follow.
I would not encourage this to high schoolers because it is very hard to read. I would encourage it to adults who like short stories. If you like weird, and creepy stories, this is the story for you. Beware, there are a lot of words that we don’t really use.
“The color is repellant almost revolting; a smoldering, unclean yellow, strangely faded by the slow turning sunlight.” In “The Yellow Wall-Paper” by Charlotte Gilman written in 1891, John takes his wife to a house in the woods because she has a mental illness. He
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locks her in a room for three months. During the three months she becomes worse and worse. She believes that there is a person behind the wall-paper that only she can see. If you want to find out the ending, read the story. Charlotte Gilman was born July 3, 1860 in Hartford, Connecticut. She died August 17, 1935 at the age of 75. At the age of five, she taught herself how to read because her mom was ill. Charlotte was as she explains in this quote: “For many years I suffered from a severe and continuous nervous breakdown tending to melancholi.” The reason she wrote this is because she wanted to help people. “It was not intended to drive people crazy, but to save people from being driven crazy, and it worked.” This story reflects on how she felt when she was ill.
I did not like this story. “I’ve got out at last, in spite of you and Jane? And I’ve pulled most of the paper, so you can’t put me back.” This is one of the reasons the book was confusing for me. There were a lot of words that I didn’t understand. I also didn’t understand most of the story because Jane was difficult to understand. Even though I didn’t like it, people who constantly use marginallia may find this book easier to follow.
I would not encourage this to high schoolers because it is very hard to read. I would encourage it to adults who like short stories. If you like weird, and creepy stories, this is the story for you. Beware, there are a lot of words that we don’t really use.
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LibraryThing member jmchshannon
The Yellow Wallpaper brings to mind the chicken and the egg argument. In this case, which came first, the woman's mental illness or the wallpaper? Was she mentally deranged before she gave birth? Would she have been okay had she not been put on bed rest? Who truly is at fault - the husband who
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ordered her to rest, genetics, or that blasted wallpaper? Written as journal entries, the reader bears the full brunt of the woman's downward spiral into delusions, all the while left with a myriad of unanswered questions thanks to an extremely flawed narrator. Another creepy novel in which nothing is as it seems and during which the reader is forced to draw his or her own conclusions, The Yellow Wallpaper brings to the fore the idea of gender relationships and the inadequacies of previous medical treatments. There is no doubt that this short story will continue to stand the test of time and provide plenty of discussion fodder for years to come. Show Less
LibraryThing member countrylife
A gradual descent into madness, as ‘journaled’ by a Victorian lady. Semi-autobiographical, and subtly written, this depression settling into something darker delivers chills along with the story.
LibraryThing member john257hopper
This is an interesting short story about the psychological disintegration of a woman, seeing images in the eponymous object around her as she lays in her sickbed. Too short to exert a really powerful impact, though, for me. 3.5/5
LibraryThing member jaredharnish
"The Yellow Wallpaper"
"Never to touch pen, brush or pencil again as long a I lived" was Charlotte Perkins Gilman's advice that was said to help cure her mental illness. Charlotte, having lived through the real life events,decided to write her own story,"The Yellow Wallpaper". The story takes place
Charlotte Perkins Gilman was born July 3, 1860 in Hartford, Connecticut, and died on August 17, 1935 is Pasadena, California. She published her story in the New England Magazine in 1891. There were many mixed feelings on the piece that she wrote. One Kansas Physician said,"it was the best description of incipient insanity he had ever seen." This was exactly what Charlotte was going for when she wrote her story. She lived the real life events so her story should show the reality of the actual illness. On the other hand some people hated it, as one Boston Physician said, "Such a story ought not to be written and that it was enough to drive anyone mad to read it." Charlotte wrote this story to show how the disease affects people, so this quote displayed was exactly the message she was trying to send.
I personally had mixed feelings about the piece because it wasn't a bad story, but I didn't really enjoy reading it myself. I made it through the story just fine, but the challenging part was understanding it. There were a few parts in the writing that were very confusing for me, and I couldn't understand them. Another part that I didn't really like was how weird the story was, which added to the confusion. An example that displays the weirdness in the story is when the wife says, "It is so pleasant to be out in this great room and creep around as I please!" Its just a crazy story and, at times, can be hard to grasp the fact that the events in the story could be true.
I would encourage people to read this piece if they like a somewhat challenging story to read, and maybe they enjoy figuring out the story and what is going on. It is a bit confusing and if you are thinking of reading this book just to read it and not try to understand what is happening, I wouldn't recommend reading this text. The story doesn't have many confusing words and isn't at an extremely high reading level. That being said, I would definitely recommend this story to someone who likes a piece that takes some thinking and likes getting something out of what they are reading. I believe that an older, more experienced reader would enjoy this story more than a younger, inexperienced reader.
"Never to touch pen, brush or pencil again as long a I lived" was Charlotte Perkins Gilman's advice that was said to help cure her mental illness. Charlotte, having lived through the real life events,decided to write her own story,"The Yellow Wallpaper". The story takes place
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in a house out in the country. John is trying to help his wife get better from her mental illness. His solution for a cure is confining her in a room. The room is very dull, and it's just not a great place to stay in. She doesn't really think anything is wrong and doesn't see how she is sick, but she tries not to second guess her husband. He feels that she is getting better as time goes along, when in reality, it is just the opposite.Charlotte Perkins Gilman was born July 3, 1860 in Hartford, Connecticut, and died on August 17, 1935 is Pasadena, California. She published her story in the New England Magazine in 1891. There were many mixed feelings on the piece that she wrote. One Kansas Physician said,"it was the best description of incipient insanity he had ever seen." This was exactly what Charlotte was going for when she wrote her story. She lived the real life events so her story should show the reality of the actual illness. On the other hand some people hated it, as one Boston Physician said, "Such a story ought not to be written and that it was enough to drive anyone mad to read it." Charlotte wrote this story to show how the disease affects people, so this quote displayed was exactly the message she was trying to send.
I personally had mixed feelings about the piece because it wasn't a bad story, but I didn't really enjoy reading it myself. I made it through the story just fine, but the challenging part was understanding it. There were a few parts in the writing that were very confusing for me, and I couldn't understand them. Another part that I didn't really like was how weird the story was, which added to the confusion. An example that displays the weirdness in the story is when the wife says, "It is so pleasant to be out in this great room and creep around as I please!" Its just a crazy story and, at times, can be hard to grasp the fact that the events in the story could be true.
I would encourage people to read this piece if they like a somewhat challenging story to read, and maybe they enjoy figuring out the story and what is going on. It is a bit confusing and if you are thinking of reading this book just to read it and not try to understand what is happening, I wouldn't recommend reading this text. The story doesn't have many confusing words and isn't at an extremely high reading level. That being said, I would definitely recommend this story to someone who likes a piece that takes some thinking and likes getting something out of what they are reading. I believe that an older, more experienced reader would enjoy this story more than a younger, inexperienced reader.
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LibraryThing member FlanneryAC
Originally published in 1899, the slight, 30-odd page story is one of the creepiest glimpses into the process of a mental breakdown I have ever read. Republished by The Feminist Press in 1973, the afterword of the edition I read spoke of the author’s prolific career as a writer, poet, publisher,
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and academic. She wrote several textbooks, opened her own school, and for several years of her life wrote, published, and edited her own magazine, which amounted to about 21,000 words per month. (Hedges, Afterword to the 1973 Feminist Press edition, 38.) In other words, Gilman was a total badass. However, the short story captures the prisoner-like aspects of the submissive role that many women lived at the time of publication, both in terms of marriage and societal expectations overall. The protagonist of the story is left in a room, with little to no social contact and no medical treatment. As the story progresses her mental condition worsens and those around her coddle her but do nothing proactive to alleviate her situation. It is scary, realistic, and her lack of choices and the guilt she is made to feel are heart-wrenching. Gilman's writing draws you right into the story and right down the slide of sanity in a way I will never forget. I absolutely recommend this work to anyone who enjoys short stories, people who like to read about mental illness, and anyone interested in 19th century feminism. Show Less
LibraryThing member frozenplums
One of my favorite short stories of all time! Beautifully haunting psychological thriller!
LibraryThing member austinmeurer
“Yellow Wall-Paper” Review
“ It is a dull yet lurid orange in some places, a sticky sulphur tint in others.” This quote, from the “Yellow Wall-Paper”, written by Charlotte Gilman in 1891, describes the wallpaper in Jane's room. John and Jane are a married couple and are renting an
Charlotte Gilman was born on July 3, 1860 in Hartford, Connecticut. She died August 17, 1935 at the age of 75. When Charlotte was five years old, she taught herself to read because her mother was ill. Her father left her and her mom when she was young. “ For many years I suffered from a severe and continuous nervous breakdown tending to melancholia.” After writing the book, Charlotte said, “ It was not intended to drive people crazy, but to save people from being driven crazy, and it worked.” This quote from Charlotte explains why she wrote this short story.
I liked reading this story, but it was very confusing. “ I’ve got out at last, in spite of you and Jane? And I’ve pulled off most of the paper, so you can’t put me back.” This is one quote that made this text so confusing. Overall, I enjoyed reading this piece. Many parts of this book were hard to understand, and that made me want to keep on reading to try to figure out what was happening. I was really confused when she talked about Jane because I didn’t know who she was talking about until the very end of the story. After reading the end of the book, and thinking about it for awhile, I then understood what the plot was all about.
I would recommend this story to anybody who likes reading mystery books and books that are hard to follow. I also think any adults who like reading quick, short stories might enjoy this story. I would not recommend this book to people younger than high school students, because they may not be able to understand what is happening throughout the story.
“ It is a dull yet lurid orange in some places, a sticky sulphur tint in others.” This quote, from the “Yellow Wall-Paper”, written by Charlotte Gilman in 1891, describes the wallpaper in Jane's room. John and Jane are a married couple and are renting an
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isolated country house. Jane is mentally ill, and she is locked up in her room for most of the day. John is a doctor and he thinks this is the best way for her to recover. While she sits in her room, she becomes insane. She is confused about the wallpaper, and eventually she gets the idea that a woman is trapped inside of the wallpaper. Jane’s condition is continually becoming worse. John denies it, and tells her she is improving. If you wish to learn more you should read this story.Charlotte Gilman was born on July 3, 1860 in Hartford, Connecticut. She died August 17, 1935 at the age of 75. When Charlotte was five years old, she taught herself to read because her mother was ill. Her father left her and her mom when she was young. “ For many years I suffered from a severe and continuous nervous breakdown tending to melancholia.” After writing the book, Charlotte said, “ It was not intended to drive people crazy, but to save people from being driven crazy, and it worked.” This quote from Charlotte explains why she wrote this short story.
I liked reading this story, but it was very confusing. “ I’ve got out at last, in spite of you and Jane? And I’ve pulled off most of the paper, so you can’t put me back.” This is one quote that made this text so confusing. Overall, I enjoyed reading this piece. Many parts of this book were hard to understand, and that made me want to keep on reading to try to figure out what was happening. I was really confused when she talked about Jane because I didn’t know who she was talking about until the very end of the story. After reading the end of the book, and thinking about it for awhile, I then understood what the plot was all about.
I would recommend this story to anybody who likes reading mystery books and books that are hard to follow. I also think any adults who like reading quick, short stories might enjoy this story. I would not recommend this book to people younger than high school students, because they may not be able to understand what is happening throughout the story.
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Subjects
Awards
Language
Original publication date
1892
Physical description
63 p.; 5 inches
ISBN
0912670096 / 9780912670096
Other editions
The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (Paperback)