The Yellow Wall-Paper and Other Writings

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The Yellow Wall-Paper and Other Writings

by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Alexander Black (Introduction)

3.94 · rating details · 20,937 ratings · 804 reviews

"There is no female mind. The brain is not an organ of sex. Might as well speak of a female liver."--Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860-1935), a leading figure in the women's movement of the early twentieth century, is a pillar of the American feminist canon. This edition of her work includes her best-known story, "The Yellow Wall-paper," a terrifying t...more

Paperback, Abridged, 384 pages

Published November 28th 2000 by Modern Library (first published 1892)

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Aug 01, 2011

Shovelmonkey1 rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: people who want a brief taste of madness

Recommended to Shovelmonkey1 by: 1001 books list and danielle23

Shelves: 1001-books, bookcrossing-books, read-in-2011

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Yup, that was me enjoying the spiralling descent into madness.

Ok all jokes aside, mental health is a serious issue and something which is more fragile than we realise - do not take it for granted people. We are lucky enough to live in a time when people recognise and understand depression and constructive, helpful treatments can be offered. Unfortunately for Charlotte Perkins Gilman, she inhabited the tail end of th...moreWheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Yup, that was me enjoying the spiralling descent into madness.

Ok all jokes aside, mental health is a serious issue and something which is more fragile than we realise - do not take it for granted people. We are lucky enough to live in a time when people recognise and understand depression and constructive, helpful treatments can be offered. Unfortunately for Charlotte Perkins Gilman, she inhabited the tail end of the Victorian Period when depression, post-natal or otherwise was a totally mysterious and misunderstood thing. A perfect Victorian solution to outward displays of "unusualness" was to put you in an assylum/prison/attic/foreign country (delete as viable depending on income and social status) and then just tell the neighbours that you were either indisposed for a reaaaaaaallllly long time, or that you were having a "little holiday". Similar to the little holiday you got sent on if you managed to get knocked up without having bagged yourself a husband first. Basically, you were disappeared for a while thus making everyone feel that society had been saved the awful sight of you making a show of yourself. Phew, well we wouldn't want to upset society now, heaven forbid!

The Yellow Wallpaper is Perkins Gilmans attempt to express the hopelessness of mental illness; effectively an invisible, inescapable cage around your mind (reflected by the imagery of the caged in woman locked behind the patterns in the wallpaper), which no one in the 1890s was capable of diagnosing correctly. Gilmans suffered from depression and so knew what she was writing about. I do always struggle with the idea of the self restraint which was exhibited by many of these women, the character in the Yellow Wallpaper included. If someone had repeatedly patronised me and told me that really there was nothing wrong with me apart from a mild case of nerves and the tendancy to be a bit hysterical, I'd have probably reacted by shouting

"HOW'S THIS FOR HYSTERICAL MOTHER F*CKER", before destroying all the furniture in the room. This snippet of text is short, sharp and truly sad with a suitably ambiguous ending, after all where does the madness end?(less)

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Dec 14, 2007

Keely rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: horror, fiction, short-story, reviewed, gothic, american

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 deliberate works and those which are too bumbling, too one-sided, or too ill-informed to make the reader think.

While The Yellow Wallpaper brings up interesting points, it does not really deal with them. The text has become part of the canon not for the ability of the author, which is on the more stimulating end of m...moreRoland 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 deliberate works and those which are too bumbling, too one-sided, or too ill-informed to make the reader think.

While The Yellow Wallpaper brings up interesting points, it does not really deal with 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 tending toward propaganda.

It 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 a solution to be worked out, not unlike a math problem. This is useful for the reader trying to understand how texts can create meaning, but under more rigorous critique, 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 allegorical state of 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 does come from the imposition of another person's will, which is 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 the threads of literary history does not mean it is fine literature.(less)

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Dec 06, 2010

Paquita Maria Sanchez rated it

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Shelves: literature

*PREFACE TO REVIEW: I have a soft spot for literature about descents into madness. I blame it on my mother taking me to see Lost Highway in the theater at a young and tender age. I also blame this film, to a larger extent, on my fashion sense from then to now. Which is to say, I blame my mom. Who is, in fact, more sane than most.*

Ah, suicide authors! You do know madness so!!! There have been a few times where I have personally thought that I was going off my rocker, but conside...more*PREFACE TO REVIEW: I have a soft spot for literature about descents into madness. I blame it on my mother taking me to see Lost Highway in the theater at a young and tender age. I also blame this film, to a larger extent, on my fashion sense from then to now. Which is to say, I blame my mom. Who is, in fact, more sane than most.*

Ah, suicide authors! You do know madness so!!! There have been a few times where I have personally thought that I was going off my rocker, but considering that I've yet to seal my (nonexistent) children into a room so I can gas myself into the ever-receptive arms of Death...or shot myself when I found out I had cancer...or poisoned myself with CHLOROFORM when I found out I had cancer like Gilman did (I don't have cancer), then I guess I'm doing fine, and far from at risk of being a mad genius whose descriptive abilities concerning my slow backward crawl away from the really real realities of for real realness are the first step in accepting my problem, which would be (and is not) insanity. Well, you can't win 'em all, I guess. For example, my rational mind begs me to wonder why "in the hell" Gilman opted for chloroform. I mean if I were crazy (WHICH I'M NOT, YOU WILL RECALL), I could think of much more fashionable, delightful, actually-seeing-angels-and-heaven-on-your-way-out-of-this-mortal-coil-and-into-the-worm-farm ways to go. Just saying, you should always explore all of your options before making a firm decision on any matter...particularly those of notable importance.

The Yellow Wallpaper is a well-written and I'm sure at the time quite shocking and groundbreaking feminist rebel-yell. The title story is the bestestest one...it concerns a crazy bitch who goes all crazy like women tend to do (KIDDING, GOODREADS TROLLS! KEEP YOUR CORSETS ON AND CHILL, BABY GIRLS!) The description of the narrator's break with reality is beautifully constructed, exploring the process of "reasoning" that leads a crazy person to firmly believe that they are not crazy, because they've been so gall-darn "rational" the whole time (as you will recall, I myself am not crazy. Trust me, I've thought it through). The rest of the stories present powerful critiques of male/female power dynamics, as well as female/female dynamics from the most sincere to the most socially fabricated, destructive and (sadly) often digested. It says to the readers (consider the audience...1890's folks) "How about NOT THAT. Have you ever considered NOT THAT? Maybe that is a poisonous thought-pattern worthy of, perhaps, a consideration of exploring whatever is NOT THAT." A message worth hearing, and which left its mark on perceptions of gender and identity from 1892 forward. You can't really criticize something like that, can you?

A CRITICISM: There is one story in the book called "Turned" which tells of a married couple and their adopted-from-the-streets-mega-hot-girl-daughter-figure. *SPOILER ALERT* Daddy-figure knocks her up. Mommy Dearest finds out, and is a whee bit upset. Here is this girl that she had saved from a life of poverty, personally educated, fed, clothed, the WORKS...all of this only to find out that the ungrateful little brat doll has been fucking your husband? WTF!!?!?!, you say! Yeah, that's right. It's called righteous vindication, and she deserved to experience and work through every bit of her initial feelings of anger. THEY WERE WELL DESERVED. However, Gilman's perspective is that the only person who has done anything wrong is the father-figure. I know, you may be thinking "I smell a Humbert Humbert," but let me fill you in on a little detail. The character being presented as a victim of the savageries of *the male sex* so to speak is 18 years old. Not 12. Not 14. Not 5. She is EIGHTEEN. They say that thirty is the new twenty, which would lead me to believe that in 1892, this poor, innocent "victim" was approaching her 30's as far as everyone else was concerned. Despite this fact, the mother changes her mind, puts on her man-hater suit, and takes the young WOMAN away and raises the child with her, abandoning the man to dwell in his regret without giving him a single opportunity to be involved in the life of his child. This rubbed me the wrong way, and it is my one truly deep gripe with this book. It just seemed so, forgive me but...femi-nazi. Pardon the cliche, but they say "it takes two to tango" for a reason, people.

In short, read it. It only takes an hour or two. And never assume you can get away with cheating (especially if you're living it up in the pre-birth control days, thankyouverymuch Charlotte Perkins Gilman and the ensuing feminists you directly inspired). This ramble is over.

(less)

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Feb 02, 2010

Dan Porter rated it

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Shelves: classics, anthologies, short-stories

I added this to my TBR list because The Yellow Wallpaper is on the 1001 Books list and it looked interesting. I was surprised, and a little disappointed, that that particular story is so short. I wanted more of the drama and horror of a mind slipping into psychosis but thinking that everything's actually getting better. Come to think of it, maybe it's a good thing that she kept the story brief.

Gilman was a feminist and a socialist and she wrote her stories and essays for the purpo...more

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Apr 15, 2008

Nikki rated it

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Recommends it for: Anyone looking to be educated on the misconceptions of postpartum depression

Recommended to Nikki by: My client left it for me to read while I was house/dog sitting f

This is a story written in the 1800's by a woman thought to have a 'nervous condition', surely all in her head. She desperately longs to write but her husband and doctor forbid it. This story is compiled of the journal entries she sneaks while they aren't watching.

She is told to put being sick right out of her head. She is in a room with dreadful yellow wallpaper that she studies night and day, until she sees things that aren't really there. She begs her husband to take her awa...more

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Aug 20, 2007

Bailey added it · review of another edition

Recommends it for: anyone who thinks wearing a corset is a good idea.

I first read the Yellow Wallpaper as a moderately young person, when I was more concerned with being a young quasi-socialite than actually dissecting literature to learn something about how to best live my life as an intelligent person. I thought of school as the time between weekends, and the class-to-class routine as an overly respite for afternoon fun. I found, upon re-reading, that this story can teach me about how we can choose our own perception. Somewhere between moving into the former ch...moreI first read the Yellow Wallpaper as a moderately young person, when I was more concerned with being a young quasi-socialite than actually dissecting literature to learn something about how to best live my life as an intelligent person. I thought of school as the time between weekends, and the class-to-class routine as an overly respite for afternoon fun. I found, upon re-reading, that this story can teach me about how we can choose our own perception. Somewhere between moving into the former children's nursery for better air circulation and being called 'my little pet' as a term of endearment, our dear protagonist developed a case of 'the nerves' that meant she can't keep reality and dream separate. Much like my desire (still!) to live for the weekends, our narrator lives for the darkness, when her newfound reality comes alive and tantalizes her senses. The night time, and the curiosity surrounding what was hidden in the wallpaper gave her an outlet for her imagination where her daytime identity would not. During the day, she despised that paper as much as she was fascinated at night. This woman was suffering before she arrived at this country home because she had no mode of expression!! I find it interesting how women, in general, can have love-hate relationships with so much in their lives- their hips, mothers, tan lines, career opportunities, our intelligence- and so often we direct that loathing towards ourselves and become unable to progress towards our better selves. The same facets of our lives that we agonize over and dwell on endlessly will command our attention as soon as our guard is down. This book encapsulates that compulsion to me. Rather than deny that attention during the waking hours, I seek fulfill the urge to follow my heart, regardless of the time of day. I am trying to learn, from this story, that rather than carry on like a stifled corseted housewife in a Victorian attic, I should seek to be full of wanderlust, curiosity and expression all the time, not only during the weekends. (less)

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Sep 28, 2007

Lori rated it

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Like anyone who's ever taken a Womens' Studies course, I read The Yellow Wallpaper for a class. I felt completely insane during the time I was reading it.

Then I came across "Why I Wrote the Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gillman, and she says this "But the best result is this. Many years later I was told that the great specialist had admitted to friends of his that he had altered his treatment of neurasthenia since reading The Yellow Wallpaper. It was not inte...more

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Jan 23, 2012

Jeanette rated it

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Shelves: all-fiction, classics, four-star-fiction, four-star-nonfiction, journalism-essays, short-stories

Perkins was a bold, outspoken, extremely intelligent early feminist. We really do stand on the shoulders of these courageous women. This is a collection of short stories, excerpts from her novel, and excerpts from some of her nonfiction feminist social commentary.
I didn't care much for The Yellow Wallpaper story, but everything else in the book is excellent. I know The Yellow Wallpaper is considered some sort of classic, but I really wasn't impressed. It's only 18 pages, so worth the re...more

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Sep 07, 2009

Madeline rated it

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Shelves: assigned-reading, the-list

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Aug 06, 2011

Gloria Mundi rated it

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Shelves: gender, creeptastic, depression-insanity-suicide, 1001-books, unreliable-narrator, 19th-century

This is a short story about a woman's descent into madness and I have just the t-shirt slogan for the protagonist:

EXCUSE ME. I HAVE TO GO AND MAKE A SCENE.

Because that's what I wanted her to do throughout, but we cannot really expect that from a genteel 19th century lady and that is when the story was written. So does that mean that it is now outdated and irrelevant to us emancipated 21st century women?

Personally, I have gone through a period in my life when I...more

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Sep 20, 2011

Punya H. rated it

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Shelves: classics-fiction-poetry, favorites

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This review is not exactly a ‘review’ in that sense, rather my analysis from my MA dissertation on The Yellow Wallpaper (only). I loved it; it made me sad and depressed, still I loved it. CPG was an extraordinary writer. I hope to read more of her works soon. I've mentioned the page numbers of the lines I’ve quoted/referred to. I used this same edition from Bantam so they should be the same. The reference to Conrad Shumaker’s ‘colored belief’ is taken from his journal “Too Terribly Good to Be Pr...more

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Feb 27, 2011

Fiona rated it

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Shelves: american-literature, classic-fiction, female-writers-fiction, feminist-reads, short-stories, 52-book-challenge-for-2011

Inspired. Chilling. Alarmingly realistic. Witty. Devastating. Dark. Empowering. Radical. Outstanding. Classic.

Although I read and reviewed the novella Herland during the autumn of last year it was indeed the title story in this collection which led me to the literary door of Charlotte Perkins Gilman.

I am not really very sure whether I would have prefered to have read these works first. I was beginning to feel a little ashamed at just how long The Yellow Wallpaper ...more

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Jan 09, 2009

Stephanie Watson rated it

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Recommends it for: Fans of the author, Sylvia Plath fans, etc

Recommended to Stephanie by: A university Lecturer.

The Yellow Wallpaper has just the depressing and demented atmoshphere that sparks curiosity in me, I found the story extremely interesting and effective; though I do find myself cringing at the idea of 'femminism' I do enjoy certain peices of feminist literature, especially if the very idea annoys me - you know when a story is effective when you find yourself actually bothering to go 'oh for fuck's sake' and the theme or any of the characters. I am however going off track saying that as I didn't...moreThe Yellow Wallpaper has just the depressing and demented atmoshphere that sparks curiosity in me, I found the story extremely interesting and effective; though I do find myself cringing at the idea of 'femminism' I do enjoy certain peices of feminist literature, especially if the very idea annoys me - you know when a story is effective when you find yourself actually bothering to go 'oh for fuck's sake' and the theme or any of the characters. I am however going off track saying that as I didn't find this annoying, I just thought it was worth mentioning as many people seem to be annoyed by this story, I just think there is more to it than its main theme.
It had the level of symbolism that I really like, almost all of it seemed to mean more than one thing, it was enchanting.
Something I like about femminist literature are the symbols that many English Literature studies asign to the category; The stainy yellow colour of the wallpaper with the foul smell was supposed to stand for the patriarchal side to life, the glowing moon symbolised the strength of women - these symbols interest me very much, and yes I may have got the 'definitive' meanings of those examples wrong but there are different interperations thats all.
Getting to the plot of the story I enjoyed trying to interperate what the hell it all meant, and what happned before and after the story itself.
On a personal level I related to the main character's writing problem, feeling the need to write - even if it's just a journal entry to feel healthier, and there was a time where I felt oppressed on many levels, though obviously it's not the same.
I also like the way that this story is very semi-autobiographical, the mention of the baby that she cannot be with anymore, the oppression obviously and other details - it really sparked curiosity of the author as well as the fictional character.
This story is great for studying I find, the amount of notes you could make is rediculous.
Anyway I loved this short story, I'd recomend it to anyone who wants to widen thier eyes in a lil' bit of shock.(less)

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Jan 03, 2008

Steven rated it

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Shelves: 1001, womenareamystery

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I was initially exposed to this book from goodreads 1001 books to read forum highlighting quick reads on that list. I read this book in one quick sitting and I was frankly astounded. The book is told from a first person narrative where a Victorian era woman likely suffering from post-partum depression is prescribed bed rest. She grows slowly insane focusing on the yellow wallpaper in her room where she is convinced she sees in the wallpaper a pattern of a woman stuck behind bars. Great ideas...more

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Aug 30, 2007

Tamara rated it

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The author leads the reader into this story by setting a tone of madness. The narrater is describing the house that she and her husband have rented for the summer as an ancestral mansion that maybe haunted and definitely spooks her a bit. “Still I would proudly declare there is something queer about it” (725). This bit of information may lead the reader to believe that the woman was made from the start. But I believe that it was being cooped up in a bedroom for three months with nothing to do th...moreThe author leads the reader into this story by setting a tone of madness. The narrater is describing the house that she and her husband have rented for the summer as an ancestral mansion that maybe haunted and definitely spooks her a bit. “Still I would proudly declare there is something queer about it” (725). This bit of information may lead the reader to believe that the woman was made from the start. But I believe that it was being cooped up in a bedroom for three months with nothing to do that drove her mad. I think that upon seeing the house, she had a feeling that something bad would happen to her if she stayed in it. She tried to tell her husband that but he just laughs at her. “John laughs at me, of course, but one expects that in marriage” (725). This was written in a time when women were to “obey” their husbands and did as they were told. I think there is a moral to this story and that is to not listen to what anyone says what is best for you except yourself.
At points in the story, she suspects her husband of trying to make her ill. “John is a physician and perhaps…that is one reason I don not get well faster” (726). She does not come out directly and say this, though she says that her husband doesn’t believe that she is sick. He believes it’s just her nerves. But then why doesn’t he let her do anything besides lie in bed in that depressing room? She even says she doesn’t agree with the ideas of her husband and brother about how to make her well: “Personally, I disagree with their ideas” (726). It seems that for her to get well she should be allowed to do what she thinks best. But her husband forbids her to work, which is what she wants to do. “Personally, I believe that congenial work with excitement and change would do me good (726). I believe that her illness is simply depression from not being allowed to do as she pleases. “I did not write for a while in spite of them; but it does exhaust me a good deal – having to be so sly about it, or else met with heavy opposition,” (726). I should think that anyone would become depressed if a loved one forbids him or her to do as they pleased. It’s like the first step of breaking someone’s spirit, taking away from him or her simple pleasures.
From a combination of not being allowed to do the things she wishes to do and from being cooped up in her rented bedroom for three months, she goes insane. In today’s society one might wonder if her husband did this to her intentionally. Maybe he was having an affair and needed an easy way to get rid of his wife. Since divorce probably wasn’t too popular back then if he drove her insane he could then have her committed and would be rid of her. But from the way the story ends that theory of mine was blown. If he had been trying to drive her mad he most likely would not have fainted when seeing that she had gone crazy. “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!” (737). This image that the author presents to the reader of the woman creeping around the room tight to the wall is done very well. I could picture the woman actually doing this and wonder if this might have been written about a real person. The way the story is written the reader feels as if they are stealing a glimpse of the narrator’s diary. The descriptions given go from being rather normal into a dream state or hallucination state where the readers find themselves questioning what really happened. It is a frightening tale of a woman who slowly goes insane, and whose husband does nothing to save her.(less)

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Nov 20, 2008

Kristin rated it

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"Charlotte Perkins Gilman (July 3, 1860 – August 17, 1935) was a prominent American novelist, writer of short stories, poetry, and non fiction, and a lecturer for social reform. She was a utopian feminist during a time when her accomplishments were exceptional for women, and she served as a role model for future generations of feminists because of her unorthodox concepts and lifestyle. Her best remembered work today is her semi-autobiographical short story, "The Yellow Wallpaper",...more

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Aug 05, 2011

Emily O rated it

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Recommended to Emily by: ENG 252 (American Lit Post-1800s)

Shelves: american-lit, feminism-and-politics, short-stories, women-authors, college

This story is amazing in every sense of the word. Gilman did a great job with characterization. The narrator has a very distinct voice and feels very real from the beginning. The epistolary format of the story actually helps both with the characterization and with the pacing of the story. Since the narrator's voice is the only voice we get, we get to know her very well. But, the one-sided story also leaves many questions, especially because our narrator is nowhere near reliable. Poe himself cou...more

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Feb 02, 2008

Crystal rated it

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Shelves: read-it

I have actually read this story on more than one occasion, finding something new each time.

This is supposedly a true story, telling how Charlotte Perkins Gilman went crazy due to being confined in the typical manner a woman was kept in her time. She was moved away from family and friends to a country house where they thought the air would help her. She was forbidden to write or do anything not seen as "womanly duties" so started seeing bars on the walls in her bedroom and...more

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Mar 24, 2007

Wyatt rated it

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Recommends it for: feminists

As a collection, I had to keep reminding myself that she wrote this in the 1890's, when feminism was pretty revolutionary. Without that time frame it comes off as preachy and predictable. It reads less like a series of short stories and more like an instruction manual: this is how a strong woman should act, this is how a decent guy should act, this is how women should react to adversity. One cool part is a lot of the stories use houses as a main character. The sense of the home has a lot to do w...more

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Apr 22, 2009

Cheryl apple rated it

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This is a story of a woman going mad, it's pretty interesting how she describes her thoughts, mainly about the "yellow wallpaper" that seems to come alive to her! Really a good, quick, read.

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Jan 22, 2009

Holly rated it

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Shelves: dailylit

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Nov 19, 2008

justme rated it

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A definite classic for any noir fiction fan. This short story follows a woman's descent into madness and also sheds some light on the relationship and treatment of women and illness during that century.

The story is written in first person, in what reads like a personal diary of sorts, by a woman who has been locked up in an old nursery on the top floor of her home by the advice of her doctor husband, who insists that she isn't sick but needs rest and is just being "silly." ...more

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Dec 13, 2011

Cheryl rated it

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Shelves: allegory

A representative of an idea, principle or meaning which can be presented in literary form...an allegory.

THE YELLOW WALLPAPER, published in 1892, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is the simple story of one women's descent into madness OR...
An indictment of rationality over creativity OR...
The horrendous inequality of marriage OR...
How doctors viewed women's emotional states OR...
The societal pressures placed on women OR...
Living an incomplete life when submission is ...more

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Dec 07, 2011

Lyz rated it

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Shelves: my-ebooks

I hear a lot of people saying this story is about feminism and the oppression of women and all that, and I can't disagree that it can certainly be said that it is an undertone in the writing--it is an undertone in the time that is was written. But, I really think this is more about displaying psychological issues, namely depression, than any sort of underlying social issue.

The correlation between the woman in the room being trapped but not realising it at first (under the guise of remo...more

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Oct 26, 2011

Baker rated it

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The Yellow Wallpaper, written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, was a short story describing the trials and tribulations of a woman being confined to her home after a bout of post-partum depression. She was totally subservient to her husband. During this time she was facing a depression and was expected to just basically spend her days confined to her home. In her bedroom, however there was the most dreadful yellow wallpaper that she had to stare at day in and day out. This paper drove her utterly in...more

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Apr 12, 2011

Vincent added it · review of another edition

Sequestered to Her Own Study
Reflecting on her own case and treatment of depression, Charlotte Perkins Gilman pens a tale of the detrimental effects of the imposed therapy of “perfect rest”, confinement, lack of social interaction and relinquished control of one’s own life (434). In “The Yellow Wall-Paper,” the narrator has to hide the fact that she is writing when alone in her restricted living quarters because the men in her life, who are doctors, say her imagination and thoughts are ...moreSequestered to Her Own Study
Reflecting on her own case and treatment of depression, Charlotte Perkins Gilman pens a tale of the detrimental effects of the imposed therapy of “perfect rest”, confinement, lack of social interaction and relinquished control of one’s own life (434). In “The Yellow Wall-Paper,” the narrator has to hide the fact that she is writing when alone in her restricted living quarters because the men in her life, who are doctors, say her imagination and thoughts are the problem. I think that because all control is taken away from the narrator, her days focus on her solitary surrounding and obsession grows with the yellow wall-paper, which I see as a metaphor for her jailor. Gilman addresses issues of women of the late nineteenth century, their lack sovereignty over their own destiny, treatment and even thoughts, with this eerie short story of a woman driven mad by the imprisonment of her own life.
Her husband John, the good physician has dominion over his wife, doesn’t give credence to what she says and patronizes her throughout the story calling her a “blessed little goose” and tells her “that nothing [is] worse for a nervous patient than to give way to such fancies” (435). Besides restricting her movement and social interaction he also forbids her to do the one thing she loves, which is to write and the thing that brings her “such a relief” (438).
She is left with nothing to do and her postpartum depression, along with her therapeutic impedimenta capitulates to obsession of her cloister. I enjoyed how the story, written as secret journal entries describe the narrator’s surroundings: the house with “walls and gates that lock”, the room with “barred windows” and “there are rings and things in the wall” and a “gate at the head of the stairs”, all bringing images to mind of a dungeon, even the bedstead is nailed to the floor (434-435).
The journal entries evolve from descriptions of the narrator’s surrounding to her describing a jail of sorts. The yellow wall-paper’s pattern “becomes bars” and the narrator realizes “[she is] quite sure it is a woman” behind the wall-paper “and she is all the time trying to climb through”, to be freed as is the narrator (440). For me, it became obvious that the trapped woman is the sequestered narrator and her need to get the paper off is another metaphor for the narrator having to be freed of her constrictions. There is one point that I am still questioning and it lies within: “In spite of you and Jane. And I’ve pulled off most of the paper, so you can’t put me back” (444). I am lead to believe that Jane is our narrator and her mind has spilt from self.
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Nov 30, 2010

Bruce rated it

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The first person narrator of this story describes the “vacation” house as haunted, queer, and seems delighted to find it so. Heightening the intensity of the narrative, she tells the story in the present tense. Her husband John is a rationalist, a physician, who does not believe his wife is sick but has a nervous condition. The narrator seems resigned to his disbelief: “But what can one do?” The narrator presents herself as a child, is treated like one and views herself as one. She seems t...moreThe first person narrator of this story describes the “vacation” house as haunted, queer, and seems delighted to find it so. Heightening the intensity of the narrative, she tells the story in the present tense. Her husband John is a rationalist, a physician, who does not believe his wife is sick but has a nervous condition. The narrator seems resigned to his disbelief: “But what can one do?” The narrator presents herself as a child, is treated like one and views herself as one. She seems to be in a prison, and her husband is her jailor. But all this is said circumspectly, as if for her own good as, even as she believes that his advice is erroneous, she defers to his judgment. The situation is one of complete infantilization and passive compliance, the narrator apparently having no will of her own. Not only is she given no freedom, she justifies her restrictions even as she chafes against them. Her bedroom in the new house, pointedly, is the nursery; consistent with her restrictions, it has barred windows and rings and “things” on the walls. The wallpaper is hideous, lurid orange and sickly sulphur, worn and torn and repugnant.

She spends no time with her baby - it makes her too nervous. Has she a post-partum depression? She is apparently kept sequestered much of the time in her room, rarely going out, and her thoughts keep returning to the hideous wallpaper that she thinks contains eyes and malevolent figures. She increasingly perseverates on it, seeing more and more details, the figures becoming more and more ominous and distinct. Seeing a woman in the pattern, behind bars, shaking the bars to try to get out, she also sees the same woman from her window, creeping around the grounds of the house and hiding in the bushes. And the narrator confesses that she herself has begun creeping around her room during the daytime. Finally, she begins surreptitiously and then frantically to peel the wallpaper off the walls. The denouement is as horrible as it is predictable.

It this an exploration of the subservient position of women at the time it was written, in 1892? Is it simply a description of the descent into madness? An indictment of the treatment at the time of psychotic depression? An allegory regarding a feminist struggle for freedom and autonomy? What a disturbing and haunting story, very effectively told.
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Apr 22, 2010

Blandine rated it

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Shelves: english

Charlotte Perkins Gilman's stories about women are sad at times, empowering at others.

The Yellow Wallpaper is a moving autobiographic journey through post-partum depression. The heroine is obsessed with the pattern and colour of the wallpaper of the rented house's bedroom where she spends the summer. Unable to fight her mental illness, her physician husband decided that it would be best for her to rest in order to improve her health. He is clearly underestimating his wife's illness,...more

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May 11, 2009

gaby rated it

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Shelves: philosophy, gender-studies

I really loved this short collection of stories, each of which is an empowering snapshot into a handful of turn of the century women's lives made better through effort, creativity, and finally independence.

As I read these stories, I couldn't help but feel something akin to 'guilty pleasure' -- which, upon reflection, is absolutely horrifying. Why should reading stories about women succeeding together and alone, and always despite oppression, feel like such a rare treat? Surely it'...more

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Sep 26, 2011

Paul rated it

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Shelves: short-stories

Interesting set of short stories about the role of women. Charlotte Perkins Gilman was a feminist writing in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. The stories vary greatly in quality and some are formulaic, although they make a point that needed to be made again and again; women are perfectly capable and independent and tend to be held back by domineering and thoughtless men. The gothic stories are excellent, especially the title story about a descent into madness. The Yellow Wallpape...more

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About Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Charlotte Perkins Gilman was a prominent American sociologist, novelist, writer of short stories, poetry, and non fiction, and a lecturer for social reform. She was a utopian feminist during a time when her accomplishments were exceptional for women, and she served as a role model for future generations of feminists because of her unorthodox concepts and lifestyle. Her best remembered work today i...more

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“I'm sure I never used to be so sensitive. I think it is due to this nervous condition.” — 16 people liked it

“It is the same woman, I know, for she is always creeping, and most women do not creep by daylight.” — 9 people liked it

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