Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
Dover Publications (1997), Edition: Unabridged, 70 pages
Description
Enjoy 7 thought-provoking stories that employ charm and humor to examine relations between the sexes from a feminist perspective. In addition to the title story, an 1892 classic that recounts a woman's descent into madness, this collection includes such masterful stories as "Cottagette," "Turned," "Mr. Peebles' Heart," and more.
User reviews
LibraryThing member Kristymk18
I originally read this story back in high school. I had this uber feminist English teacher who had us reading everything from The Awakening to The Handmaid's Tale. I was way more closed minded and stubborn back then (ok, I'm still really stubborn) and definitely did not share in her feministic
So imagine my surprise when I am reading this book and I come across the backstory as to why Gilman wrote The Yellow Wallpaper. A Civil War doctor use to prescribe what he called "rest cure" for different ailments (mainly mental health related, although they certainly didn't categorize it as such back then). For men, he sent them out West, to be outdoors with other people, hunting, being active, relaxing. But for women, he sentenced them to confinement. Told them they needed to be in an isolated, dark room with no visitors and no stimulation. And people actually accepted this!
Well, most did. Gillman, one of his patients, rejected the idea so soundly that she produced The Yellow Wallpaper as a result. (Apparently Virginia Woolf also met with the doctor and had a similar response). This fact made me think I misjudged this short story all those years ago. So I took to rereading it. With this new knowledge of how it came about (and I am sure a more mature and open mindset), I was able to see just how inspired, angry, and good Gilman's story really is.
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views. However, somehow, this short story always stayed with me.So imagine my surprise when I am reading this book and I come across the backstory as to why Gilman wrote The Yellow Wallpaper. A Civil War doctor use to prescribe what he called "rest cure" for different ailments (mainly mental health related, although they certainly didn't categorize it as such back then). For men, he sent them out West, to be outdoors with other people, hunting, being active, relaxing. But for women, he sentenced them to confinement. Told them they needed to be in an isolated, dark room with no visitors and no stimulation. And people actually accepted this!
Well, most did. Gillman, one of his patients, rejected the idea so soundly that she produced The Yellow Wallpaper as a result. (Apparently Virginia Woolf also met with the doctor and had a similar response). This fact made me think I misjudged this short story all those years ago. So I took to rereading it. With this new knowledge of how it came about (and I am sure a more mature and open mindset), I was able to see just how inspired, angry, and good Gilman's story really is.
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LibraryThing member Terpsichoreus
Roland Barthes talked about 'writerly' and 'readerly' books. I've struggled for a long time, myself, in trying to come up for terms to talk about the differences between conscientious works and those which are too bumbling, too one-sided, or too ill-informed to make the reader think.
While The
As early feminism, this work is an undeniable influence. It points out one of the most apparent symptoms of the double-standard implied by the term 'weaker sex'. However, Gilman tends to suggest more than she asks, thus writing merely propaganda.
It's may be easy to say this in retrospect when the question "is isolating women and preventing them from taking action really healthy?" was less obvious back then. However, I have always been reticent to rate a work more highly merely because it comes from a different age. Austen, the Brontes, Christina Rossetti, and Woolf all stand on their own merits, after all.
This symbolism by which this story operates is simplistic and repetitive. The opinions expressed are one-sided, leaving little room for interpretation. This is really the author's crime, as she has not tried to open the debate so much as close it, and in imagining her opinion to mark the final word on the matter, has doomed her work to become less and less relevant.
This is the perfect sort of story to teach those who are beginning literary critique, because it does not suggest questions to the reader, but answers. Instead of fostering thought, the work becomes a puzzle with an accurate solution to be worked out, not unlike a math problem. This is useful for the reader trying to understand how texts create meaning, but under more rigorous critique, we find it is not deep or varied enough to support more complex readings.
Unfortunately, this means it is also the sort of story that will be loved by people who would rather be answered than questioned. It may have provided something new and intriguing when it was first written, but as a narrow work based on a simplistic sociological concept, can no longer make that claim.
The story is also marked by early signs of the Gothic movement, and lying on the crux of that and Feminism, is not liable to be forgotten. The symbolism it uses is a combination of classical representations of sickness and metaphors of imprisonment. Sickness, imprisonment, and madness are the quintessential concepts explored by the Gothic writers, but this work is again quite narrow in its view. While the later movement was interested in this in the sense of existential alienation, this story is interested in those things not as a deeper psychological question, but as the literal state of the woman.
Horror is partially defined by the insanity and utter loneliness lurking in everyone's heart, and is not quite so scary when the person is actually alone and mad. Though it all comes from the imposition of another person's will, which is very horrific, the husband has no desire to be cruel or to harm the woman, nor is such even hinted subconsciously. Of course, many modern feminists would cling to the notion that independent of a man's desire to aid, he can do only harm, making this work an excellent support to their politicized chauvinism.
I won't question the historical importance or influence of this work, but it is literarily very simple. A single page of paper accurately dating the writing of Shakespeare's Hamlet would also be historically important, but just because it is related to fine literature does not mean it is fine literature.
While The
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Yellow Wallpaper brings up interesting points, it does not really address them. The text has become part of the canon not for the ability of the author, which is on the more stimulating end of middling, but because it works as a representational piece of a historical movement.As early feminism, this work is an undeniable influence. It points out one of the most apparent symptoms of the double-standard implied by the term 'weaker sex'. However, Gilman tends to suggest more than she asks, thus writing merely propaganda.
It's may be easy to say this in retrospect when the question "is isolating women and preventing them from taking action really healthy?" was less obvious back then. However, I have always been reticent to rate a work more highly merely because it comes from a different age. Austen, the Brontes, Christina Rossetti, and Woolf all stand on their own merits, after all.
This symbolism by which this story operates is simplistic and repetitive. The opinions expressed are one-sided, leaving little room for interpretation. This is really the author's crime, as she has not tried to open the debate so much as close it, and in imagining her opinion to mark the final word on the matter, has doomed her work to become less and less relevant.
This is the perfect sort of story to teach those who are beginning literary critique, because it does not suggest questions to the reader, but answers. Instead of fostering thought, the work becomes a puzzle with an accurate solution to be worked out, not unlike a math problem. This is useful for the reader trying to understand how texts create meaning, but under more rigorous critique, we find it is not deep or varied enough to support more complex readings.
Unfortunately, this means it is also the sort of story that will be loved by people who would rather be answered than questioned. It may have provided something new and intriguing when it was first written, but as a narrow work based on a simplistic sociological concept, can no longer make that claim.
The story is also marked by early signs of the Gothic movement, and lying on the crux of that and Feminism, is not liable to be forgotten. The symbolism it uses is a combination of classical representations of sickness and metaphors of imprisonment. Sickness, imprisonment, and madness are the quintessential concepts explored by the Gothic writers, but this work is again quite narrow in its view. While the later movement was interested in this in the sense of existential alienation, this story is interested in those things not as a deeper psychological question, but as the literal state of the woman.
Horror is partially defined by the insanity and utter loneliness lurking in everyone's heart, and is not quite so scary when the person is actually alone and mad. Though it all comes from the imposition of another person's will, which is very horrific, the husband has no desire to be cruel or to harm the woman, nor is such even hinted subconsciously. Of course, many modern feminists would cling to the notion that independent of a man's desire to aid, he can do only harm, making this work an excellent support to their politicized chauvinism.
I won't question the historical importance or influence of this work, but it is literarily very simple. A single page of paper accurately dating the writing of Shakespeare's Hamlet would also be historically important, but just because it is related to fine literature does not mean it is fine literature.
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LibraryThing member sarafenix
One of those required feminist readings of the 70s that us old bra burners still revere.
LibraryThing member cal8769
A very good short about a woman who is moved temporarily into a house and is slowly losing her mind.
LibraryThing member Lori_OGara
I just love The Yellow Wallpaper I had a lit professor tell me to read it to “see into the mind of an author who is forbidden to write”. It is an intriguing look into the degenerating well-being of sane woman into an insane woman. It is a touching portrait and a must read.
LibraryThing member tloeffler
A small collection of short stories, very progressive for the time they were written (early 1900s). All of them contain a bit of a feminist perspective, and these 7 stories made me want to run out and find more by this author.
LibraryThing member deargreenplace
A small collection of short stories, featuring strong female characters and elegant, intelligent writing.
They've dated very little considering when they were written, and should be read by all of your friends and daughters.
They've dated very little considering when they were written, and should be read by all of your friends and daughters.
LibraryThing member skwoodiwis
The Yellow Wallpaper
By Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Monthly I meet with my writers group – today was exceptional – many good conversations and works. Today Sally spoke of a skeleton key, an object she connects with her father. The opening and closing of doors, the opening and closing of locks.
I have
But this isn’t about me, it’s about “The Yellow Wallpaper,” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman.
When speaking of keys and locks, our group leader mentioned, “The Yellow Wallpaper.”
If anyone does read this - let me explain to you right now – this is one of the most terrifying works written.
I’m nervous, I’m edgy, I want to sleep and I want to pace. I want to hear the piano played, I want to go dancing, I want crawl up in the attic to see if anyone is there, and I want to forget I have an attic.
If you’ve ever loved a woman, lover, sister, wife, mother – this work will put their faces in front of you in an entirely new light.
I wanted to call Darlene (my writer’s group leader) and tell her I’m terrified and I want to hear her gentle voice talk me down off the wall. I want to call my friends of over twenty years – the ones who know me and I want to listen to their problems and not ever hear the word SMOOCH again.
Perhaps I would not take this work so hard if I had not ever loved, not ever betrayed myself in trying to maintain a relationship dead, blaming myself and letting him blame me as well by taking on all the responsibility. Really, what’s wrong with the world is woman’s weak will – right. Oh my deep and loving God – spare me such considerations again.
No one should miss this small little work – The Yellow Wallpaper.
By Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Monthly I meet with my writers group – today was exceptional – many good conversations and works. Today Sally spoke of a skeleton key, an object she connects with her father. The opening and closing of doors, the opening and closing of locks.
I have
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a fascination with locks – for the most part when I feel a lock has been opened – well the little snick of hope I hear is a lie, the lock closes tighter.But this isn’t about me, it’s about “The Yellow Wallpaper,” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman.
When speaking of keys and locks, our group leader mentioned, “The Yellow Wallpaper.”
If anyone does read this - let me explain to you right now – this is one of the most terrifying works written.
I’m nervous, I’m edgy, I want to sleep and I want to pace. I want to hear the piano played, I want to go dancing, I want crawl up in the attic to see if anyone is there, and I want to forget I have an attic.
If you’ve ever loved a woman, lover, sister, wife, mother – this work will put their faces in front of you in an entirely new light.
I wanted to call Darlene (my writer’s group leader) and tell her I’m terrified and I want to hear her gentle voice talk me down off the wall. I want to call my friends of over twenty years – the ones who know me and I want to listen to their problems and not ever hear the word SMOOCH again.
Perhaps I would not take this work so hard if I had not ever loved, not ever betrayed myself in trying to maintain a relationship dead, blaming myself and letting him blame me as well by taking on all the responsibility. Really, what’s wrong with the world is woman’s weak will – right. Oh my deep and loving God – spare me such considerations again.
No one should miss this small little work – The Yellow Wallpaper.
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LibraryThing member thairishgrl
A story about a woman desperate to escape the confines of her room and the protection of her husband/society.
LibraryThing member veisig
The Yellow Wall-Paper
“The Yellow Wall-Paper” was written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman in 1892. It tells the story about a young woman named Jane, who is considered mentally ill and gets put into a mental hospital. Her husband means the world to her and she believes everything he says. When she
Charlotte Perkins wrote the “Yellow Wall-Paper” in response of her own experience of mental illness. She suffered from a nervous breakdown and when she was three years into it she decided to see a doctor. The doctor basically told her to stay home and do nothing and quit writing. She followed the doctor’s advice for three months, but what he had told her to do just made her depression worse. She pulled herself together and started to write again. Shortly after she wrote “The Yellow Wall-Paper”. A physicist who did not like Carlotte Perkins story wrote following, “When the story first came out, in the New England Magazine about 1891, a boston physicist made protest in The Transcript. Such a story ought not to be written, he said. It was enough to drive anyone mad to read it.” Charlotte Perkins response to the man was, “It was not intended to drive people crazy, but to people from being driven crazy, and it worked.”
I think “The Yellow Wall-Paper” is an interesting and different story. I like how Charlotte Perkins describes Jane’s change from normal to crazy. It’s not an obvious change, but small things that step by step make the reader notice the signs of her mental stability changing. It can be a sign like saying the same thing many times. Her mind was tortured and it seemed like she didn’t know what was going on around her, so she forgot what she just had written and therefore wrote it again. Another sign that shows Jane’s lack of intelligence is her trust to her husband. He is controlling her and gets more control the weaker she gets.
The following quote is an example of Janes obsession about the wallpaper and how it affects her. “The color is hideous enough, and unreliable enough and infuriating enough, but the pattern is torturing. You think you have mastered it, but just as you get well underway in following, it turn a back-somersault and there you are. It slaps you in the face, knocks you down, and tramples upon you. It is like a bad dream. “ She talks about the wall-paper like it’s alive and will hurt her.
I think “The Yellow Wall-Paper” can be read by everyone. It does not take a special interest to think this story is fascinating. It lets you know what’s going on in a mentally ill person’s mind. Reading the story will give you a glimpse of society in the 19th-century and how it must have been to be a patient at a mental hospital. The story also describes how women were treated at that time. When “The Yellow Wall-Paper” came out in 1892 I can imagine it must have been liked a lot by women because the story was a call for attention about women’s rights. On the other side i think the men might have felt humiliated and exposed by the way Charlotte describes John’s power over Jane. The story was new and daring for that time. Men were not used to women having their own voice so Charlotte Perkins took a big chance when she chose to publish it.
“The Yellow Wall-Paper” was written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman in 1892. It tells the story about a young woman named Jane, who is considered mentally ill and gets put into a mental hospital. Her husband means the world to her and she believes everything he says. When she
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arrives her mental stability is normal, but throughout the story you’ll read about how her stability changes. Her mind gets weaker and weaker and she starts fantasizing about the wallpaper in her room. Jane believes a woman is trapped in it and she wants to help her come out. Throughout her stay she is told not to do anything, but be in her room. She starts writing a paper in secrecy about her life in the house, which is considered a mental hospital. As a reader it’s her diary you are reading. You’ll get to think the way she thinks and read about her obsession concerning the wallpaper and where that leads. Charlotte Perkins wrote the “Yellow Wall-Paper” in response of her own experience of mental illness. She suffered from a nervous breakdown and when she was three years into it she decided to see a doctor. The doctor basically told her to stay home and do nothing and quit writing. She followed the doctor’s advice for three months, but what he had told her to do just made her depression worse. She pulled herself together and started to write again. Shortly after she wrote “The Yellow Wall-Paper”. A physicist who did not like Carlotte Perkins story wrote following, “When the story first came out, in the New England Magazine about 1891, a boston physicist made protest in The Transcript. Such a story ought not to be written, he said. It was enough to drive anyone mad to read it.” Charlotte Perkins response to the man was, “It was not intended to drive people crazy, but to people from being driven crazy, and it worked.”
I think “The Yellow Wall-Paper” is an interesting and different story. I like how Charlotte Perkins describes Jane’s change from normal to crazy. It’s not an obvious change, but small things that step by step make the reader notice the signs of her mental stability changing. It can be a sign like saying the same thing many times. Her mind was tortured and it seemed like she didn’t know what was going on around her, so she forgot what she just had written and therefore wrote it again. Another sign that shows Jane’s lack of intelligence is her trust to her husband. He is controlling her and gets more control the weaker she gets.
The following quote is an example of Janes obsession about the wallpaper and how it affects her. “The color is hideous enough, and unreliable enough and infuriating enough, but the pattern is torturing. You think you have mastered it, but just as you get well underway in following, it turn a back-somersault and there you are. It slaps you in the face, knocks you down, and tramples upon you. It is like a bad dream. “ She talks about the wall-paper like it’s alive and will hurt her.
I think “The Yellow Wall-Paper” can be read by everyone. It does not take a special interest to think this story is fascinating. It lets you know what’s going on in a mentally ill person’s mind. Reading the story will give you a glimpse of society in the 19th-century and how it must have been to be a patient at a mental hospital. The story also describes how women were treated at that time. When “The Yellow Wall-Paper” came out in 1892 I can imagine it must have been liked a lot by women because the story was a call for attention about women’s rights. On the other side i think the men might have felt humiliated and exposed by the way Charlotte describes John’s power over Jane. The story was new and daring for that time. Men were not used to women having their own voice so Charlotte Perkins took a big chance when she chose to publish it.
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LibraryThing member bdunnum
Book Review of “The Yellow Wallpaper”
Brittany Dunnum
Jane is a mentally unstable, young woman who is married to John. Since her husband, John, is a doctor, he thinks that she can be cured by being put on a rest cure. In order to be on her rest cure, John places her in a plain room plastered
Charlotte Perkins Stetson, the author of “The Yellow Wallpaper”, once suffered from a mental breakdown. She states that, “For many years I suffered from a severe and continuous nervous breakdown tending to melancholia-and beyond.” Later on in her article about why she wrote “The Yellow Wallpaper”, talking about her disease she stated, “...I went, in devout faith and some faint stir of hope, to a noted specialist in nervous diseases, the best known in the country. This wise man put me to bed and applied the rest cure.” While on this rest cure, Charlotte was told by her specialist that she was not to touch a pen or brush ever again in her life. She followed these rules for three months, but when she was on the verge of mental ruin, she returned to work again. Charlotte wrote “The Yellow Wallpaper” to explain her experiences with the rest cure and to help people understand how women were treated and what the terrible effects of the rest cure could be.
I think that “The Yellow Wallpaper” is a very complex story that really challenged me to try and interpret the text to understand what the author was trying to get across to the reader. At first glance, the story just seems to be about a young woman who is slowly going insane because of this certain wallpaper. But when I looked a little deeper into the content, I really believed that it is trying to explain how women were treated in 1892 when the text takes place. I enjoyed the strange details in this piece that talk about the woman behind the wallpaper, such as, “I’ve got a rope up here the even Jennie did not find. If that woman does get out, and tries to get away, I can tie her!” It was really exciting for me to try and interpret how Jane must be feeling to have these insane thoughts running through her mind throughout the passage.
As I stated before, I think that “The Yellow Wallpaper” is a very complicated piece that requires immensely deep insight to truly understand the meaning of the context. Therefore, I think that this story is best fit for more mature readers, such as high school students and older. I believe that anyone in that age group should read this story because it helps you understand deeper meanings within stories and will give anyone a totally different perspective on interpreting various types of texts for the rest of their lives.
Brittany Dunnum
Jane is a mentally unstable, young woman who is married to John. Since her husband, John, is a doctor, he thinks that she can be cured by being put on a rest cure. In order to be on her rest cure, John places her in a plain room plastered
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with distracting wallpaper. While in this room, she is not allowed to participate in any activities. Even though she is not supposed to, Jane keeps a journal tracking what she thinks about while inside the room. As a reader, you get to interpret what she writes as she sits in this room with the obnoxious wallpaper and try to understand what about this certain wallpaper that is driving her completely insane. Charlotte Perkins Stetson, the author of “The Yellow Wallpaper”, once suffered from a mental breakdown. She states that, “For many years I suffered from a severe and continuous nervous breakdown tending to melancholia-and beyond.” Later on in her article about why she wrote “The Yellow Wallpaper”, talking about her disease she stated, “...I went, in devout faith and some faint stir of hope, to a noted specialist in nervous diseases, the best known in the country. This wise man put me to bed and applied the rest cure.” While on this rest cure, Charlotte was told by her specialist that she was not to touch a pen or brush ever again in her life. She followed these rules for three months, but when she was on the verge of mental ruin, she returned to work again. Charlotte wrote “The Yellow Wallpaper” to explain her experiences with the rest cure and to help people understand how women were treated and what the terrible effects of the rest cure could be.
I think that “The Yellow Wallpaper” is a very complex story that really challenged me to try and interpret the text to understand what the author was trying to get across to the reader. At first glance, the story just seems to be about a young woman who is slowly going insane because of this certain wallpaper. But when I looked a little deeper into the content, I really believed that it is trying to explain how women were treated in 1892 when the text takes place. I enjoyed the strange details in this piece that talk about the woman behind the wallpaper, such as, “I’ve got a rope up here the even Jennie did not find. If that woman does get out, and tries to get away, I can tie her!” It was really exciting for me to try and interpret how Jane must be feeling to have these insane thoughts running through her mind throughout the passage.
As I stated before, I think that “The Yellow Wallpaper” is a very complicated piece that requires immensely deep insight to truly understand the meaning of the context. Therefore, I think that this story is best fit for more mature readers, such as high school students and older. I believe that anyone in that age group should read this story because it helps you understand deeper meanings within stories and will give anyone a totally different perspective on interpreting various types of texts for the rest of their lives.
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LibraryThing member Sylvia97
The Yellow Wallpaper Book Review
Sylvia Hanson
4th hour
The slow downfall of a young woman into insanity is portrayed in “The Yellow Wallpaper” written by Charlotte Perkins in 1891. Jane is diagnosed with depression and anxiety by her doctor and husband, John. Her treatment is to be placed in a
The purpose of this story is to inform our generation of the struggle women back in the day went through being second class citizens. The author of this book, Charlotte Perkins, was one of those second class citizens. She received the rest cure from one of the world famous specialists in nervous diseases. Back then men didn’t believe it was a severe illness as stated in the story: “You see he does not believe I am sick! And what can one do?” She had the beginning signs of insanity until she decided to cure herself the way she wanted to which obviously worked and led her to write a masterpiece. The quote “I always lock the door when I creep by daylight. I can’t do it at night, for I know John would suspect something at once.” shows us how women had to creep to do what they pleased from fear of men. From Perkins experience she can show us how women fought back for their equal rights to men.
My personal reaction in the beginning is frustration and anger. Because I am a woman in today’s generation I have all of my freedoms and can for the most part do what I please. But in those days women were treated lower than men and it angers me that men are allowed to treat them with such disrespect. I believe she did an amazing job of grabbing and pulling at people’s emotions to get them more involved in the underlying issue. My personal favorite quote from the story was, “‘I’ve got out at last,’ said I, ‘in spite of you and Jane. And I’ve pulled off most of the paper, so you can’t put me back!’ Now, why should that man have fainted? But he did, and right across my path by the wall, so that I had to creep over him every time”. This captures portraits of women breaking free of men’s grip, but only to have to creep over them as if were still behind.
I believe every young adult should read this book by age fifteen or sixteen. I read it as a sixteen year-old and enjoyed every second of it. It’s a book filled with drama and mystery, but also with knowledge and reasoning. I encourage all young adults to pick it up at their local bookstore or Barnes and Nobles.
Sylvia Hanson
4th hour
The slow downfall of a young woman into insanity is portrayed in “The Yellow Wallpaper” written by Charlotte Perkins in 1891. Jane is diagnosed with depression and anxiety by her doctor and husband, John. Her treatment is to be placed in a
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child’s playroom and do absolutely nothing other than think about getting better. Because of John being a man and seeing himself as “above” her she follows his directions. She eventually starts noticing miniscule details about her surroundings. As you read on she slowly becomes more illusional and closer to insanity. Will she break and become completely insane or find footing towards sanity?The purpose of this story is to inform our generation of the struggle women back in the day went through being second class citizens. The author of this book, Charlotte Perkins, was one of those second class citizens. She received the rest cure from one of the world famous specialists in nervous diseases. Back then men didn’t believe it was a severe illness as stated in the story: “You see he does not believe I am sick! And what can one do?” She had the beginning signs of insanity until she decided to cure herself the way she wanted to which obviously worked and led her to write a masterpiece. The quote “I always lock the door when I creep by daylight. I can’t do it at night, for I know John would suspect something at once.” shows us how women had to creep to do what they pleased from fear of men. From Perkins experience she can show us how women fought back for their equal rights to men.
My personal reaction in the beginning is frustration and anger. Because I am a woman in today’s generation I have all of my freedoms and can for the most part do what I please. But in those days women were treated lower than men and it angers me that men are allowed to treat them with such disrespect. I believe she did an amazing job of grabbing and pulling at people’s emotions to get them more involved in the underlying issue. My personal favorite quote from the story was, “‘I’ve got out at last,’ said I, ‘in spite of you and Jane. And I’ve pulled off most of the paper, so you can’t put me back!’ Now, why should that man have fainted? But he did, and right across my path by the wall, so that I had to creep over him every time”. This captures portraits of women breaking free of men’s grip, but only to have to creep over them as if were still behind.
I believe every young adult should read this book by age fifteen or sixteen. I read it as a sixteen year-old and enjoyed every second of it. It’s a book filled with drama and mystery, but also with knowledge and reasoning. I encourage all young adults to pick it up at their local bookstore or Barnes and Nobles.
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LibraryThing member samanthaoftedahl
Book Review- “The Yellow Wallpaper”
Samantha Oftedahl
“It is very seldom that ordinary people like John and myself secure ancestral halls for the summer.” This is the first sentence of the story, “The Yellow Wallpaper”. “The Yellow Wallpaper” is about a woman who is “sick” and
The author, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, wrote “The Yellow Wallpaper” in 1892 because she went through the same thing as the woman in her book, just not as extreme. Charlotte had a tendency of having nervous breakdowns. She went to the wisest man in the country and he put her in a bed and told her she couldn’t write and work. She obeyed the doctor’s orders for three months, and then she could feel herself going crazy. “Then, using the remnants of the intelligence that remained, and helped by a wise friend, I cast the noted specialist’s advice to the winds and went to work again-work, the normal life of an everyday human being; work, in which is joy and growth and service, without which one is a pauper and a parasite; ultimately recovering some measure of power.” She wrote “The Yellow Wallpaper” for women like her who were suffering and to open the eyes of the world. “It was not intended to drive people crazy, but to save people from being driven crazy, and it worked.”
“The Yellow Wallpaper” was different but I liked it. It was a very well written story. It kept me wanting more until I reached the end of the story, and I didn’t want to stop reading it. “I don’t like to look out of the windows even, there are so many of those creeping women, and they creep so fast. I wonder if they all come out of that wallpaper as I did?” What Jane that said really stuck out because it just shows how crazy she was actually getting. It also shows how much she was obsessing over the yellow wallpaper and how she creeps around. This book is interesting and kept you on your toes the whole time you are reading it. The book really shows how women had no freedom in this time era and if they stood up for themselves in front of their husbands, they were considered crazy or “sick”. I think that it’s insane that women couldn’t stand up for themselves or they would be considered crazy; I would never let myself be treated way the women in this era did and, I’m not sure how they did it without going crazy, which most of them did anyway.
I would recommend this book to people who like scary, interesting stories like this. I also think that everyone in high school should read this because it makes them think a lot more than other books and it keeps them hooked and wanting more until they reach the end. It also makes them more educated about how women were treated in this era and I think that it’s important for men to know how to treat a women with respect and not as a joke, like they did in this time era. “The Yellow Wallpaper” is an interesting story that keeps you thinking.
Samantha Oftedahl
“It is very seldom that ordinary people like John and myself secure ancestral halls for the summer.” This is the first sentence of the story, “The Yellow Wallpaper”. “The Yellow Wallpaper” is about a woman who is “sick” and
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her and renting a house with her husband . Her husband puts her on a “rest cure” she is not allowed to work or write for months. She is put in a room by herself where all she thinks about is the yellow wallpaper that has a weird pattern that she starts to obsess over. The smell of the wallpaper makes her want to burn the house down. While she’s not thinking about the wallpaper she is thinking about John, her husband, and how controlling he is becoming towards her. But while obsessing about the wallpaper in the room, she starts to see a woman in the wallpaper; she sees the woman start to “creep” in the daytime. She see’s the woman clearly in the night. She realizes that it is her trying to escape from her past. She starts to go crazy and…well you will just have to read the rest yourself.The author, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, wrote “The Yellow Wallpaper” in 1892 because she went through the same thing as the woman in her book, just not as extreme. Charlotte had a tendency of having nervous breakdowns. She went to the wisest man in the country and he put her in a bed and told her she couldn’t write and work. She obeyed the doctor’s orders for three months, and then she could feel herself going crazy. “Then, using the remnants of the intelligence that remained, and helped by a wise friend, I cast the noted specialist’s advice to the winds and went to work again-work, the normal life of an everyday human being; work, in which is joy and growth and service, without which one is a pauper and a parasite; ultimately recovering some measure of power.” She wrote “The Yellow Wallpaper” for women like her who were suffering and to open the eyes of the world. “It was not intended to drive people crazy, but to save people from being driven crazy, and it worked.”
“The Yellow Wallpaper” was different but I liked it. It was a very well written story. It kept me wanting more until I reached the end of the story, and I didn’t want to stop reading it. “I don’t like to look out of the windows even, there are so many of those creeping women, and they creep so fast. I wonder if they all come out of that wallpaper as I did?” What Jane that said really stuck out because it just shows how crazy she was actually getting. It also shows how much she was obsessing over the yellow wallpaper and how she creeps around. This book is interesting and kept you on your toes the whole time you are reading it. The book really shows how women had no freedom in this time era and if they stood up for themselves in front of their husbands, they were considered crazy or “sick”. I think that it’s insane that women couldn’t stand up for themselves or they would be considered crazy; I would never let myself be treated way the women in this era did and, I’m not sure how they did it without going crazy, which most of them did anyway.
I would recommend this book to people who like scary, interesting stories like this. I also think that everyone in high school should read this because it makes them think a lot more than other books and it keeps them hooked and wanting more until they reach the end. It also makes them more educated about how women were treated in this era and I think that it’s important for men to know how to treat a women with respect and not as a joke, like they did in this time era. “The Yellow Wallpaper” is an interesting story that keeps you thinking.
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LibraryThing member Dr.Rick_Marshall
Book Review
“The Yellow Wall-Paper”
By: Eric Schreier
Have you ever wanted to know what it’s like to be insane, without being insane? Well, in the “Yellow Wall-Paper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Jane, the main character, is going crazy and you get to read first hand how it feels to be going
Perkins herself had “severe and continuous nervous breakdowns”. The doctor she went to, put her in bed, and “applied the rest cure”.She said that the cure basicly made her go insane and started writing again to make herself feel better. When she wrote the Yellow Wallpaper, she sent a copy to the doctor, and he never responded to it. A doctor from Kansas wrote to her saying, “that it was the best description of incipient insanity he had ever seen, and--begging my pardon--had I been there?” so the doctor she actually saw for her sickness was probably too embarrassed to reply.
I personally didn’t like the story. I think it was confusing to me, and it just never really caught my interest and the only reason I finished it was because I had to. "I've got out at last," said I, "in spite of you and Jane. And I've pulled off most of the paper, so you can't put me back!" I think that quote is just confusing for a reader at first, unless they are really into the story, but theres always the chance they too could also get confused.
I personally wouldn’t suggest this book, but if i did, is because the person asked me if there was a really confusing book that I knew out there, and it would be the first thing i’d come up with. I wouldn’t recommend it because it probably will escape my mind somewhere down the road, unless they asked in a few weeks. But, the book just never appealed to me, so it wouldn’t be a book I’d recommend.
“The Yellow Wall-Paper”
By: Eric Schreier
Have you ever wanted to know what it’s like to be insane, without being insane? Well, in the “Yellow Wall-Paper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Jane, the main character, is going crazy and you get to read first hand how it feels to be going
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insane. Jane is escorted by her husband John for a vacation, where Jane can try out the “rest cure”, which is just a cure where you lay in a room and just think of why you are crazy. While in this room, Jane is keeping a diary, which she isn’t suppose to, and records events that you are reading. In the story, you will find out that Jane becomes obsessed with the wallpaper in the room. She believes that there are people inside the wallpaper watching her every move. She becomes insane, and you’ll have to read the story to find out what happens next.Perkins herself had “severe and continuous nervous breakdowns”. The doctor she went to, put her in bed, and “applied the rest cure”.She said that the cure basicly made her go insane and started writing again to make herself feel better. When she wrote the Yellow Wallpaper, she sent a copy to the doctor, and he never responded to it. A doctor from Kansas wrote to her saying, “that it was the best description of incipient insanity he had ever seen, and--begging my pardon--had I been there?” so the doctor she actually saw for her sickness was probably too embarrassed to reply.
I personally didn’t like the story. I think it was confusing to me, and it just never really caught my interest and the only reason I finished it was because I had to. "I've got out at last," said I, "in spite of you and Jane. And I've pulled off most of the paper, so you can't put me back!" I think that quote is just confusing for a reader at first, unless they are really into the story, but theres always the chance they too could also get confused.
I personally wouldn’t suggest this book, but if i did, is because the person asked me if there was a really confusing book that I knew out there, and it would be the first thing i’d come up with. I wouldn’t recommend it because it probably will escape my mind somewhere down the road, unless they asked in a few weeks. But, the book just never appealed to me, so it wouldn’t be a book I’d recommend.
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LibraryThing member SamDunnum
The Yellow Wall-Paper
Mini-Book Review
Sam Dunnum
American Literature 4th Hour
Imagine being forced into a room for an isolated treatment for an extended period of time seeing only what’s contained within the room. The short story, “The Yellow Wall-Paper” was written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Charlotte Perkins Gilman, who lived from 1860-1935, was a feminist who wrote short stories and poems. Charlotte often was asked why she wrote “The Yellow Wall-Paper” after it was published in the New England magazine in 1891. She received many questions as to why she wrote it in the weeks and months that followed. Gilman claims, “For many years I suffered from a severe and continuous breakdown.” Gilman was given treatment to stay in a room, but she did not feel any better. It occurs to me that she intended to attack the treatment for depression, that has been prescribed for years; she wanted to show what it actually did to the narrator and herself. “It was not meant to drive people crazy, but to be kept from being driven crazy, and it worked.”
Personally, I enjoyed the short story written by Charlotte Gilman. “The Yellow Wallpaper” challenged me to think and occasionally to relate. I sensed a feeling that the intention of the actual story, or theme, varied from audience to audience. I heard people think the story is about a woman in the shadow of her husband, which I somewhat agree with; however I believe it is a story that insulted the therapy and showed how the patient was driven insane due to lack of the outside world. “I will follow that pointless pattern to some sort of a conclusion” is proof that it became an obsession.
I encourage readers who like to experience new and unique stories to give this one a try. The story targets a female more than a male audience in many different ways if they feel like they’re behind a male figure or are struggling with depression. People who enjoy stories that make you think would definitely enjoy this, because each audience can come out with a different take on the text. Again, I believe there can be many varying thoughts on this piece, but I also believe this is a great short story in history.
Mini-Book Review
Sam Dunnum
American Literature 4th Hour
Imagine being forced into a room for an isolated treatment for an extended period of time seeing only what’s contained within the room. The short story, “The Yellow Wall-Paper” was written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
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who was able to relate in many ways to the narrator. The story begins when the narrator is placed in a bedroom for treatment of depression, but the “so called” treatment only makes it worse. In the room there was yellow wallpaper with a crazy, insane, and suicidal pattern. As each day went by the narrator began to look deeper into the wallpaper, searching for the answer to the crazy, unique pattern. The narrator began to worry her husband John and his sister Jennie (who acts as the housekeeper in the story). The days grew longer as the narrator created an obsession. She craved to keep searching for the answer to the pattern. As she looked deeper and deeper, a curious sickness grew in her mind, something no one could stop. The narrator had one goal; to find the conclusion to the pattern on the wallpaper.Charlotte Perkins Gilman, who lived from 1860-1935, was a feminist who wrote short stories and poems. Charlotte often was asked why she wrote “The Yellow Wall-Paper” after it was published in the New England magazine in 1891. She received many questions as to why she wrote it in the weeks and months that followed. Gilman claims, “For many years I suffered from a severe and continuous breakdown.” Gilman was given treatment to stay in a room, but she did not feel any better. It occurs to me that she intended to attack the treatment for depression, that has been prescribed for years; she wanted to show what it actually did to the narrator and herself. “It was not meant to drive people crazy, but to be kept from being driven crazy, and it worked.”
Personally, I enjoyed the short story written by Charlotte Gilman. “The Yellow Wallpaper” challenged me to think and occasionally to relate. I sensed a feeling that the intention of the actual story, or theme, varied from audience to audience. I heard people think the story is about a woman in the shadow of her husband, which I somewhat agree with; however I believe it is a story that insulted the therapy and showed how the patient was driven insane due to lack of the outside world. “I will follow that pointless pattern to some sort of a conclusion” is proof that it became an obsession.
I encourage readers who like to experience new and unique stories to give this one a try. The story targets a female more than a male audience in many different ways if they feel like they’re behind a male figure or are struggling with depression. People who enjoy stories that make you think would definitely enjoy this, because each audience can come out with a different take on the text. Again, I believe there can be many varying thoughts on this piece, but I also believe this is a great short story in history.
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LibraryThing member ErikHenchen
“The Yellow Wallpaper”
Book Review
Has your mind ever been taunted by an illness? Jane, the main character of “The Yellow Wallpaper” has. Charlotte Gilman, the author of “The Yellow Wallpaper” written in 1892, begins with a wife, mentally ill Jane, and a husband, a physician named John.
The author, 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, Charlotte taught herself to read, because her mother was ill. Also, her father left her when she was young. “For many years I suffered from severe continuous nervous breakdown tend to melancholia.” Charlotte moved around a lot during her lifetime. “It was not intended to drive people crazy, but to save people from being driven crazy, and it worked.” What she is talking about is, when her father left her, and her mother was left there to raise two children she moved around a lot. This short story, I think, can actually be somewhat related to her life.
“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 quote kind of threw me in a loop. Right away I couldn’t figure out what Charlotte, was saying, or what it meant. I finally realized after this quote though that Jane was actually narrating the story. I thought the story was pretty good. I didn’t understand a lot of the story right away until we had our group discussions. After we talked through it, all the pieces came together.
I would recommend this story to anyone who likes a challenging read. Mostly adults and teens in high school would be the ones I recommend this to. I don’t think kids would, or should read this because it would be very hard for them to follow along with.
Book Review
Has your mind ever been taunted by an illness? Jane, the main character of “The Yellow Wallpaper” has. Charlotte Gilman, the author of “The Yellow Wallpaper” written in 1892, begins with a wife, mentally ill Jane, and a husband, a physician named John.
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They are married and they are renting a somewhat creepy house in the country. Jane is mentally ill and is locked up in her room most of the day trying to get cured by her husband. John is a doctor and thinks it is best for her. While she is in her room, she chews on the corner of her bed, and tears pieces off the wallpaper of the wall. She thinks she can see a person draped inside of the wallpaper. Her condition declines as this goes on, and she starts hallucinating with the yellow wallpaper in her room. John denies her and tells Jane that she is getting better. If you want to find out what the illness does to her by the end of the story, you will have to read the story.The author, 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, Charlotte taught herself to read, because her mother was ill. Also, her father left her when she was young. “For many years I suffered from severe continuous nervous breakdown tend to melancholia.” Charlotte moved around a lot during her lifetime. “It was not intended to drive people crazy, but to save people from being driven crazy, and it worked.” What she is talking about is, when her father left her, and her mother was left there to raise two children she moved around a lot. This short story, I think, can actually be somewhat related to her life.
“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 quote kind of threw me in a loop. Right away I couldn’t figure out what Charlotte, was saying, or what it meant. I finally realized after this quote though that Jane was actually narrating the story. I thought the story was pretty good. I didn’t understand a lot of the story right away until we had our group discussions. After we talked through it, all the pieces came together.
I would recommend this story to anyone who likes a challenging read. Mostly adults and teens in high school would be the ones I recommend this to. I don’t think kids would, or should read this because it would be very hard for them to follow along with.
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LibraryThing member 26kathryn
I really enjoyed this collection of short stories. Here's what I thought about each individual tale:
The Yellow Wallpaper is about a woman who is thought to have a nervous condition. She is told to get plenty of rest. She is staying in a room with horrible yellow wallpaper and she spends so long
The story is written as journal entries, and it's quite disturbing to see how the woman becomes more and more obsessed with the wallpaper and the things it contains.
Three Thanksgivings is about a woman who cannot afford to keep her house, but does not want to move. She has only two years to find the money to pay the mortgage off in full, or she will be forced to marry the man who has loaned her the money. One day she has an idea and goes on to set up her home as a clubhouse and starts making her own money.
A sweet little story, I thought it was hilarious how Mr Butts, the money lender, didn't believe that she could have made the money herself.
The Cottagette is about a female artist who falls in love with a man and is convinced that she has to be a good cook and housekeeper in order to get him to marry her. I liked this story, it was cute and funny.
Turned was probably the story I liked least out of this book. Mrs. Marroner has a girl servant who she has brought up as if she were her own daughter and has prepared her to go to college. It turns out that the servant is pregnant and the father is Mr. Marroner. I found this story to be quite cliched and the ending was a bit strange.
Making A Change is a story of Julia, who used to be a musician before she got married. Julia is a new mother and is struggling to look after her baby. Julia is obviously depressed and she reluctantly lets her mother-in-law start caring for the baby, and then tries to end her own life. Luckily Julia's mother-in-law finds her in time to save her, and together they come up with a way to solve their problems. Once I got past Julia's attempted suicide, this was a really happy story.
If I Were A Man is a really funny story. Mollie wishes she were a man, and all of a sudden she finds herself in her husband, Gerald's head. I thought the author did a wonderful job of writing from a man's perspective. I especially loved the man's thoughts on women's hats.
Mr. Peeble's Heart is about Mr Peeble who has always wanted to go travelling, but never got around to it. The story is mostly concentrated on Mr Peeble's sister-in-law who is a doctor. She is the one trying to convince Mr Peeble to take a trip to Europe alone. It was a cheerful story and brought a feel-good ending to the whole book.
The Yellow Wallpaper is about a woman who is thought to have a nervous condition. She is told to get plenty of rest. She is staying in a room with horrible yellow wallpaper and she spends so long
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staying in the room, staring at the walls, that she starts to see things that aren't really there.The story is written as journal entries, and it's quite disturbing to see how the woman becomes more and more obsessed with the wallpaper and the things it contains.
Three Thanksgivings is about a woman who cannot afford to keep her house, but does not want to move. She has only two years to find the money to pay the mortgage off in full, or she will be forced to marry the man who has loaned her the money. One day she has an idea and goes on to set up her home as a clubhouse and starts making her own money.
A sweet little story, I thought it was hilarious how Mr Butts, the money lender, didn't believe that she could have made the money herself.
The Cottagette is about a female artist who falls in love with a man and is convinced that she has to be a good cook and housekeeper in order to get him to marry her. I liked this story, it was cute and funny.
Turned was probably the story I liked least out of this book. Mrs. Marroner has a girl servant who she has brought up as if she were her own daughter and has prepared her to go to college. It turns out that the servant is pregnant and the father is Mr. Marroner. I found this story to be quite cliched and the ending was a bit strange.
Making A Change is a story of Julia, who used to be a musician before she got married. Julia is a new mother and is struggling to look after her baby. Julia is obviously depressed and she reluctantly lets her mother-in-law start caring for the baby, and then tries to end her own life. Luckily Julia's mother-in-law finds her in time to save her, and together they come up with a way to solve their problems. Once I got past Julia's attempted suicide, this was a really happy story.
If I Were A Man is a really funny story. Mollie wishes she were a man, and all of a sudden she finds herself in her husband, Gerald's head. I thought the author did a wonderful job of writing from a man's perspective. I especially loved the man's thoughts on women's hats.
Mr. Peeble's Heart is about Mr Peeble who has always wanted to go travelling, but never got around to it. The story is mostly concentrated on Mr Peeble's sister-in-law who is a doctor. She is the one trying to convince Mr Peeble to take a trip to Europe alone. It was a cheerful story and brought a feel-good ending to the whole book.
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LibraryThing member collinthebiscuit
“The Yellow Wallpaper” written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, published in 1892, is short story about a young woman named Jane who is depressed. Her husband decides to rent a house in the middle of nowhere and puts her in a room with next to nothing to do for fun. It’s all in a first person
Charlotte Perkins Gilman herself suffered from a severe case of a nervous state and depression. It makes perfect sense for her to write this story because she had basically the same thing happen to her.She actually said in “Why I Wrote ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, 1913, ”For many years I suffered from a severe and continuous nervous breakdown tending to melancholia-and beyond”. She went to a doctor for professional help and he told her to get plenty of rest with as little of contact with the outside world as possible. She tried this advice for three full months and came very close to going completely insane. She wrote the yellow wallpaper because she had a very similar experience, as stated here: “Being naturally moved to rejoicing by this narrow escape, I wrote The Yellow Wallpaper, with its embellishments and additions to carry out the ideal (I never had hallucinations or objections to my mural decorations) and sent a copy to the physician who so nearly drove me mad.
“Life is very much more exciting now than it used to be.” this quote comes in the story right after Jane first realizes her hate for the wallpaper. Because of the time she says it it shows how insane she has slowly become.Its a common topic. Mentally insane people go even more insane. Because of the year that this was a written I would assume that this story started many things for the future. This could have been one of the first stories with this type of topic. This story likely started a whole new genre of stories. Stephen King is a prime example of this. He has made a lot of stories about mentally insane people and if someone didn't start that from the beginning Stephen King’s many stories may not exist today. So therefore i would absolutely encourage anyone with the passion of reading to take a go at this wonderful history lesson.
I would absolutely encourage anyone to read this story. It certainly keeps you on your toes throughout the whole thing and makes you wonder what will happen next. Especially for someone who experienced this exact thing first hand; its really cool to find out what its like to be depressed or even mentally insane.
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perspective and after awhile of being mostly alone for long periods of time her depression soon progresses to full on mental insanity. She is soon amused by very simple things. In fact, at one point she says, “I never saw so much expression in an inanimate thing before, and we all know how much expression they have! I used to lie awake as a child and get more entertainment and terror out of blank walls and plain furniture than most children could find in a toy-store.” This supports the idea of how easily amused she is. As the story progresses she finds the yellow wallpaper to be most intriguing and ends up with a very odd conclusion, read on to find out what happens. Charlotte Perkins Gilman herself suffered from a severe case of a nervous state and depression. It makes perfect sense for her to write this story because she had basically the same thing happen to her.She actually said in “Why I Wrote ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, 1913, ”For many years I suffered from a severe and continuous nervous breakdown tending to melancholia-and beyond”. She went to a doctor for professional help and he told her to get plenty of rest with as little of contact with the outside world as possible. She tried this advice for three full months and came very close to going completely insane. She wrote the yellow wallpaper because she had a very similar experience, as stated here: “Being naturally moved to rejoicing by this narrow escape, I wrote The Yellow Wallpaper, with its embellishments and additions to carry out the ideal (I never had hallucinations or objections to my mural decorations) and sent a copy to the physician who so nearly drove me mad.
“Life is very much more exciting now than it used to be.” this quote comes in the story right after Jane first realizes her hate for the wallpaper. Because of the time she says it it shows how insane she has slowly become.Its a common topic. Mentally insane people go even more insane. Because of the year that this was a written I would assume that this story started many things for the future. This could have been one of the first stories with this type of topic. This story likely started a whole new genre of stories. Stephen King is a prime example of this. He has made a lot of stories about mentally insane people and if someone didn't start that from the beginning Stephen King’s many stories may not exist today. So therefore i would absolutely encourage anyone with the passion of reading to take a go at this wonderful history lesson.
I would absolutely encourage anyone to read this story. It certainly keeps you on your toes throughout the whole thing and makes you wonder what will happen next. Especially for someone who experienced this exact thing first hand; its really cool to find out what its like to be depressed or even mentally insane.
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LibraryThing member Ross17
Book Review
“The Yellow Wall-Paper”
Ross WIthington
“The Yellow Wall-Paper”, was written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Jane is a mentally unstable woman with nervous depression. Her husband John is a doctor, and his treatment for her is to stop doing everything. So he rents a summer home in
Charlotte Perkins Gilman was born on July 3, 1860, in Hartford, Connecticut, and grew up to be an activist, author, and poet. in 1984 she got married and underwent depression, which is believed to have triggered her best known short story, “The Yellow Wallpaper”. One of Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s greatest quotes is, “It’s the same woman, I know, for she is always creeping, and most woman do not creep by daylight.
My personal reaction to the short story was that it was very boring, because I thought it was a very predictable story. If someone is kept prisoner in a house they are obviously going to go crazy, especially if they are mentally unstable. My favorite part is when she talks about the house. “There is something queer about this place”. I believe she said that because she was so nervous of being trapped in that house.
If I were you I would not read this story because of how boring and predictable it is. I didn’t find it to be at all amusing. So my fellow classmates, please choose another book. Thank you.
“The Yellow Wall-Paper”
Ross WIthington
“The Yellow Wall-Paper”, was written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Jane is a mentally unstable woman with nervous depression. Her husband John is a doctor, and his treatment for her is to stop doing everything. So he rents a summer home in
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an attempt to better his wife, but never really listens to Janes idea about the ordeal. Jane thinks that if she could just relieve her mind by writing and being free her illness will go away, but John won’t even listen to her and just keeps her prisoner in a room with what she describes as a revolting yellow wallpaper. At the beginning she constantly talks about how much he hates it but as the story progresses the wallpaper begins to grow on her. She practically becomes possessed with trying to figure out its pattern. She believes that it’s a woman trying to escape. Charlotte Perkins Gilman was born on July 3, 1860, in Hartford, Connecticut, and grew up to be an activist, author, and poet. in 1984 she got married and underwent depression, which is believed to have triggered her best known short story, “The Yellow Wallpaper”. One of Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s greatest quotes is, “It’s the same woman, I know, for she is always creeping, and most woman do not creep by daylight.
My personal reaction to the short story was that it was very boring, because I thought it was a very predictable story. If someone is kept prisoner in a house they are obviously going to go crazy, especially if they are mentally unstable. My favorite part is when she talks about the house. “There is something queer about this place”. I believe she said that because she was so nervous of being trapped in that house.
If I were you I would not read this story because of how boring and predictable it is. I didn’t find it to be at all amusing. So my fellow classmates, please choose another book. Thank you.
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LibraryThing member Willow1972
Haunting. A woman's diary of her family 'treating' her for mental illness.
LibraryThing member sadiebooks
a good collection, especially for the price. the yellow wallpaper is a great story.
LibraryThing member Loki..
“Up and down and sideways they crawl, and those absurd, unblinking eyes are everywhere.” One would think that a quote such as that would be describing an animal of sorts. Instead, it is a description used by the narrator to describe the mind-numbing, insane pattern of the paper on the walls in
Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s past experiences led her to write this story in hopes that it would influence how doctors in the late 19th Century treated nervous disorders. When she was diagnosed with a nervous disorder, a prominent physician told her to “have but two hours’ intellectual life per day,” similar to how Jane was treated in “The Yellow Wallpaper.” She complied for a few months, until she nearly reached mental ruin. At this point, she began to write this story based off of her own experiences. She wrote this article not “to drive people crazy, but to stop people from being driven crazy.”
Although this story was definitely bizarre and disturbing, I couldn’t help but enjoy how hard it made me think. “The Yellow Wallpaper” offers an interesting and insightful look into the lives of women and the lives of the mentally ill during the late 1800s. During this time period, women were treated as inferior beings. Their opinions were not valued, which the book illustrates through the use of quotes such as, “You see he does not think I am sick!” Charlotte Perkins Gilman did an excellent job of showing how women were treated in the late 19th Century.
This is a book that I would heartily recommend, especially if you like mysteries of a slightly psychotic nature. I would suggest reading this book if you are looking for something which makes you think and challenges your mind. One of my favorite parts of this story is how the author uses such wonderful descriptions to paint an image in the reader’s mind. Sentences like, “The color is hideous enough, and unreliable enough, and infuriating enough, but the pattern is torturing,” help to make this story seem as though you were experiencing it firsthand. It is an intriguing story, and worth reading.
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“The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. This short story is about a woman, Jane, and her husband, John, who are renting a country manor for a few months. Jane has a nervous disorder, so her husband, who is also a very practical physician, prescribes a few months with little mental stimulation. Over the course of this story we see how this isolation and boredom affects her mental state.Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s past experiences led her to write this story in hopes that it would influence how doctors in the late 19th Century treated nervous disorders. When she was diagnosed with a nervous disorder, a prominent physician told her to “have but two hours’ intellectual life per day,” similar to how Jane was treated in “The Yellow Wallpaper.” She complied for a few months, until she nearly reached mental ruin. At this point, she began to write this story based off of her own experiences. She wrote this article not “to drive people crazy, but to stop people from being driven crazy.”
Although this story was definitely bizarre and disturbing, I couldn’t help but enjoy how hard it made me think. “The Yellow Wallpaper” offers an interesting and insightful look into the lives of women and the lives of the mentally ill during the late 1800s. During this time period, women were treated as inferior beings. Their opinions were not valued, which the book illustrates through the use of quotes such as, “You see he does not think I am sick!” Charlotte Perkins Gilman did an excellent job of showing how women were treated in the late 19th Century.
This is a book that I would heartily recommend, especially if you like mysteries of a slightly psychotic nature. I would suggest reading this book if you are looking for something which makes you think and challenges your mind. One of my favorite parts of this story is how the author uses such wonderful descriptions to paint an image in the reader’s mind. Sentences like, “The color is hideous enough, and unreliable enough, and infuriating enough, but the pattern is torturing,” help to make this story seem as though you were experiencing it firsthand. It is an intriguing story, and worth reading.
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LibraryThing member ShelbyMarsh
The story of “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman begins with the unnamed narrator and her husband/physician moving to a house in the country on a three year lease. The couple has high hopes that the move to the country will help the narrator recover from her recent depression.
Charlotte Gilman, who wrote the story “The Yellow Wallpaper” in 1891, went through a very similar conflict in her life, in which she suffered from a mental disease herself; however, it was not as extensive as the narrator in the story. She was ignored by male physicians, and her problems were written off as unimportant and as a joke. Like the narrator in her story, Charlotte was bedridden and forbidden to read and write. “I went home and obeyed those directions for some three months, and came so near to the border-line of utter mental ruin that I could see for,” says Gilman when she was asked to explain why she wrote this short story.
“The Yellow Wallpaper” hooked me the minute I started reading it, and it never let me go. The ending kept me on the edge of my seat with a million questions as to what happened. “I would not say it to a living soul, of course, but this is dead paper and a great relief to my mind,” the narrator says at the beginning of the story. This is the exact moment where I began to become hooked, and my mind began to buzz with questions. I believe that Charlotte was trying to get us to understand how women were not taken seriously during the 1800’s and how mental illness is not something to brush off as a joke and ignore. I think that that’s such a wonderful message to put in a story because depression is still a huge problem today, and if not taken seriously it can lead to the victim not only harming themselves, but others as well.
I would recommend this short story to people who read at a higher reading level because it does have some uncommon words, and it does take a lot to truly understand what is going on.I believe that Charlotte Gilman was directing this story towards women in general, and while entertaining you, it’s also sort of a history lesson. It’s the type of story that would be enjoyed by people who love reading things that make you think and wonder what’s going on, even beyond the ending. However, this book would not be enjoyed by someone who likes solid endings, and doesn’t enjoy to be left to focus on the unresolved conflict of a story.
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Upon moving in, the narrator is moved to an upstairs room with barred windows and peeling, faded, yellow wallpaper. Due to her “depression” the narrator has been restricted from reading, writing and most contact with the outside world. The rest of the story is used as a vehicle for the narrator to tell us and paint us pictures as her depression grows into something more.Charlotte Gilman, who wrote the story “The Yellow Wallpaper” in 1891, went through a very similar conflict in her life, in which she suffered from a mental disease herself; however, it was not as extensive as the narrator in the story. She was ignored by male physicians, and her problems were written off as unimportant and as a joke. Like the narrator in her story, Charlotte was bedridden and forbidden to read and write. “I went home and obeyed those directions for some three months, and came so near to the border-line of utter mental ruin that I could see for,” says Gilman when she was asked to explain why she wrote this short story.
“The Yellow Wallpaper” hooked me the minute I started reading it, and it never let me go. The ending kept me on the edge of my seat with a million questions as to what happened. “I would not say it to a living soul, of course, but this is dead paper and a great relief to my mind,” the narrator says at the beginning of the story. This is the exact moment where I began to become hooked, and my mind began to buzz with questions. I believe that Charlotte was trying to get us to understand how women were not taken seriously during the 1800’s and how mental illness is not something to brush off as a joke and ignore. I think that that’s such a wonderful message to put in a story because depression is still a huge problem today, and if not taken seriously it can lead to the victim not only harming themselves, but others as well.
I would recommend this short story to people who read at a higher reading level because it does have some uncommon words, and it does take a lot to truly understand what is going on.I believe that Charlotte Gilman was directing this story towards women in general, and while entertaining you, it’s also sort of a history lesson. It’s the type of story that would be enjoyed by people who love reading things that make you think and wonder what’s going on, even beyond the ending. However, this book would not be enjoyed by someone who likes solid endings, and doesn’t enjoy to be left to focus on the unresolved conflict of a story.
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LibraryThing member allisonhawthorne
“The Yellow Wallpaper”
Charlotte Perkins Stetson
The 19th century writing world ended with a bang and something to talk about; Charlotte Giman was the woman at the center of all this talk with her short story called “The Yellow Wallpaper.” It was both interesting, unique and ahead of its
In the turn of the 19th century it was thought that women with depression or anxiety were best treated by being locked in a room with no contact to the outside world. “I am perfectly confident that I shall be told here that girls ought to be able to study hard between fourteen and eighteen years without injury, if boys can do it.” Women were not, at all, treated the same as men. They were seen as the ones whose job required minimal amounts of thought and effort, they were not of the same standard as men. “How will she sustain herself under the pressure of those yet more exacting duties which nowadays she is eager to share with the man?” This is a question most men asked. A man believed that a woman could not possibly do the work that they do and not to the quality of them either. Charlotte Gilman was not a woman of her time either; she was very independent. One may ask themselves who did she right with such great detail in “The Yellow Wallpaper?” She lived it. She lived through it for three years. In her third year whe went to the most well known physician of the time. He told her to do exactly as the woman in story; have as little as possible of stimulation with the outside world. After the third month of obeying his commands she came so close to an utter and total mental breakdown.
I thought the story was very interesting, nothing like I have ever read before. I don’t think I would have picked this story out on my own; it is a bit psychotic. I did find myself having a hard time trying to put the story down. It was well written and made the reader want to see what was going to happen around the next corner and where it was going to lead. Gilman said, “Another physician, in Kansas I think, wrote to say that it was the best description of incipient insanity he had ever seen, and-begging my pardon had I been there?” I wondered the same thing as this physician. It was so in depth with detail and descriptions. I was one of the better short stories I have ever read and I am glad I read it.
To any reader wondering if this is a good story to read in his or her spare time, the answer is yes. If you start reading it you won’t be able to put it down until finished. It draws the reader in and captures their attention. It is also a good way to learn about medicine and medical practices back in earlier days. I definitely recommend this story. Gilman was a writer ahead of her time.
Charlotte Perkins Stetson
The 19th century writing world ended with a bang and something to talk about; Charlotte Giman was the woman at the center of all this talk with her short story called “The Yellow Wallpaper.” It was both interesting, unique and ahead of its
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time. It captures a woman who gradually grows more insane. She goes against her husband and all other physicians of the time to write while she was “healing”. She wrote about her feeling and encounters as she struggled through her terrible mental disorder. In the beginning, she enters a palatial estate with well-groomed gardens, fancy gates and all sorts of little suites for the grounds-keepers. Throughout the story we learned that the place she once adored was now the place she hated the most. She was locked in a room for twenty-four hours a day and had nothing to do. She was soon engulfed in the yellow wallpaper; where was the beginning, where was the end, what was the right path, why were there pieces ripped off, were there people inside trying to find their way out? The wallpaper was the had her undivided attention for the remainder of her stay; she couldn’t take her eyes off of it. She then finds a woman trapped inside the wallpaper trying to escape and she can’t manage to get out. She watched this woman every day, every night waiting for her to escape; when she finally does is when it all goes wrong.In the turn of the 19th century it was thought that women with depression or anxiety were best treated by being locked in a room with no contact to the outside world. “I am perfectly confident that I shall be told here that girls ought to be able to study hard between fourteen and eighteen years without injury, if boys can do it.” Women were not, at all, treated the same as men. They were seen as the ones whose job required minimal amounts of thought and effort, they were not of the same standard as men. “How will she sustain herself under the pressure of those yet more exacting duties which nowadays she is eager to share with the man?” This is a question most men asked. A man believed that a woman could not possibly do the work that they do and not to the quality of them either. Charlotte Gilman was not a woman of her time either; she was very independent. One may ask themselves who did she right with such great detail in “The Yellow Wallpaper?” She lived it. She lived through it for three years. In her third year whe went to the most well known physician of the time. He told her to do exactly as the woman in story; have as little as possible of stimulation with the outside world. After the third month of obeying his commands she came so close to an utter and total mental breakdown.
I thought the story was very interesting, nothing like I have ever read before. I don’t think I would have picked this story out on my own; it is a bit psychotic. I did find myself having a hard time trying to put the story down. It was well written and made the reader want to see what was going to happen around the next corner and where it was going to lead. Gilman said, “Another physician, in Kansas I think, wrote to say that it was the best description of incipient insanity he had ever seen, and-begging my pardon had I been there?” I wondered the same thing as this physician. It was so in depth with detail and descriptions. I was one of the better short stories I have ever read and I am glad I read it.
To any reader wondering if this is a good story to read in his or her spare time, the answer is yes. If you start reading it you won’t be able to put it down until finished. It draws the reader in and captures their attention. It is also a good way to learn about medicine and medical practices back in earlier days. I definitely recommend this story. Gilman was a writer ahead of her time.
Show Less
LibraryThing member SammySammy
“The Yellow Wallpaper”
What do you think of when you see or hear the color yellow? Do you think of daisies or the sun and happiness? Well in a short story called “The Yellow Wallpaper”, the color yellow means anything but happiness. Charlotte Perkins Gilman wrote “The Yellow Wallpaper”
This twisted short story Gilman wrote fits her life exactly. Gilman herself had a mental illness while writing this story. She was suffering from a severe and continuous nervous breakdown. The doctor Gilman went to sounds an awful lot like John did from “The Yellow Wallpaper”. Jane stated, “You see he (John) does not believe I am sick!” Then, in an article Gilman wrote about the doctor she saw to cure her illness, she said, “This wise man (Gilman’s doctor) put me to bed and applied the rest cure . . . never to touch pen, brush or pencil again as long as I lived.” John from “The Yellow Wallpaper” and Gilman’s doctor both said not to write anymore and both said she needed plenty of rest. These close points show that Gilman was probably writing about her own life when writing “The Yellow Wallpaper”. Not writing this story was hurting Gilman more than it was helping her just like when Jane was not able to write in the story. Gilman writing “The Yellow Wallpaper” was a very big risk because where women stood in that time period, but it didn’t matter to her because it helped her heal in her own way.
In my opinion, the odd and confusing short story was a very different but a surprisingly good story. The curiosity in not knowing what would happen next really kept you hooked. The little lessons in the text that didn’t always jump out at you were fun to find along the way as well. “John laughs at me but one can expect that in marriage.” Gilman was so honest about where women stood in the eyes of men in that time during history. She was trying to make a statement with her writing and I believe she did that. The mysterious ending made the confusing, twisted story worthwhile.
I think that anyone who is just looking for a good short story or a quick mystery to read could easily read this for enjoyment. If you are a woman and want to read a short story to inspire you to gain more strength and independence then this story may fit you particularly well. I think that Charlotte Perkins Gilman did such an excellent job with this short story that it could interest anyone simply looking for something to read. Overall, “The Yellow Wallpaper” was a very intense story that almost anyone could find enjoyment in.
What do you think of when you see or hear the color yellow? Do you think of daisies or the sun and happiness? Well in a short story called “The Yellow Wallpaper”, the color yellow means anything but happiness. Charlotte Perkins Gilman wrote “The Yellow Wallpaper”
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in 1891. This is a twisted short story that keeps you thinking the entire time. The story is about a woman named Jane who is very mentally ill who happens to be married to a physician named John. John wants to fix Jane’s condition and in the 1890’s the way of treating insane patients was to lock them in a room alone with nothing to do. When John moved Jane to a house in the country this is exactly what he did; he put her in a room with the ugliest yellow wallpaper. One of the oddest aspects from the story is Jane is not as bothered by the fact she can’t ever leave the house but, rather, by the wallpaper.This twisted short story Gilman wrote fits her life exactly. Gilman herself had a mental illness while writing this story. She was suffering from a severe and continuous nervous breakdown. The doctor Gilman went to sounds an awful lot like John did from “The Yellow Wallpaper”. Jane stated, “You see he (John) does not believe I am sick!” Then, in an article Gilman wrote about the doctor she saw to cure her illness, she said, “This wise man (Gilman’s doctor) put me to bed and applied the rest cure . . . never to touch pen, brush or pencil again as long as I lived.” John from “The Yellow Wallpaper” and Gilman’s doctor both said not to write anymore and both said she needed plenty of rest. These close points show that Gilman was probably writing about her own life when writing “The Yellow Wallpaper”. Not writing this story was hurting Gilman more than it was helping her just like when Jane was not able to write in the story. Gilman writing “The Yellow Wallpaper” was a very big risk because where women stood in that time period, but it didn’t matter to her because it helped her heal in her own way.
In my opinion, the odd and confusing short story was a very different but a surprisingly good story. The curiosity in not knowing what would happen next really kept you hooked. The little lessons in the text that didn’t always jump out at you were fun to find along the way as well. “John laughs at me but one can expect that in marriage.” Gilman was so honest about where women stood in the eyes of men in that time during history. She was trying to make a statement with her writing and I believe she did that. The mysterious ending made the confusing, twisted story worthwhile.
I think that anyone who is just looking for a good short story or a quick mystery to read could easily read this for enjoyment. If you are a woman and want to read a short story to inspire you to gain more strength and independence then this story may fit you particularly well. I think that Charlotte Perkins Gilman did such an excellent job with this short story that it could interest anyone simply looking for something to read. Overall, “The Yellow Wallpaper” was a very intense story that almost anyone could find enjoyment in.
Show Less
Awards
Audie Award (Finalist — 2012)
Language
Original language
English
Physical description
70 p.; 8.25 inches
ISBN
0486298574 / 9780486298573
UPC
800759298570