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The Yellow Wallpaper

            The Yellow Wallpaper: A Woman's Struggle Pregnancy and childbirth are very emotional times in a woman's life and many women suffer from the "baby blues." The innocent nickname for postpartum depression is deceptive because it down plays the severity of this condition. Although she was not formally diagnosed with postpartum depression, Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860-1935) developed a severe depression after the birth of her only child (Kennedy et. al. 424). Unfortunately, she was treated by Dr. S. Weir Mitchell, who forbade her to write and prescribed only bed rest and quiet for recovery (Kennedy et al. 424). Her condition only worsened and ultimately resulted in divorce (Kennedy and Gioia 424). Gilman's literary indictment of Dr. Mitchell's ineffective treatment came to life in the story "The Yellow Wallpaper." On the surface, this gothic tale seems only to relate one woman's struggle with mental illness, but because Guilman was a prominent feminist and social thinker she incorporated themes of women's rights and the poor relationships between husbands and wives (Kennedy and Gioia 424). Guilman cleverly manipulates the setting to support her themes and set the eerie mood. Upon first reading "The Yellow Wallpaper," the reader may see the relationship between the narrator and her husband John as caring, but with examination one will find that the narrator is repeatedly belittled and demeaned by her husband. On first arriving at the vacation home John chooses the old attic nursery against his wife's wishes and laughs at her when she complains about the wallpaper (Kennedy et al. 424,425). In Charlotte Bronte's novel }{plain ul Jane Eyre}{plain , Mr. Rodchester uses his attic to keep his insane wife hidden from the rest of the world. John's actions can easily be interpreted with the same malice. The narrator's insistence that John is a caring and loving husband draws special attention to the true meanings behind his word's and actions.


Essays Related to The Yellow Wallpaper

1. the yellow wallpaper

Charlotte Perkins Gilman, in "The Yellow Wallpaper," recounts the story of a young mother who travels to a summer home to "rest" from her nervous condition. Her bedroom is an old nursery covered with ugly, yellow wallpaper. ... In "The Yellow Wallpaper," Charlotte Perkins Gilman uses setting and symbolism to suggest that imprisoning oppression causes a type of loneliness (in women) which can lead to a deadly form of insanity. ... Setting and symbolism are the literary techniques that Charlotte Perkins Gilman uses in "The Yellow Wallpaper" to suggest that a type of loneliness (in women) caused ...

  • Word Count: 775
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Grade Level: High School

2. The Yellow Wallpaper: How The

The Yellow Wallpaper: How The Power of Insanity Frees The Soul In the short story "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Gilman, the young wife seems to become a victim of her society's attitude towards women. ... In "The Yellow Wallpaper", the young wife seems to become a victim of her surroundings, a victim of her husband, and a victim of isolation. To begin, the surroundings in "The Yellow Wallpaper" are very important in understanding the young wife's feelings of being a victim and creating the setting of the story. ... In "The Yellow Wallpaper" the young wife and her...

  • Word Count: 830
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Grade Level: High School

3. Miscommunication in The Yellow Wallpaper

Charlotte Perkin Gilman's famous short story, "The Yellow Wallpaper", starts out with the protagonist speaking in first person about her husband's profession as a physician. ... She is frantic and unorganized with her thoughts and soon after, highly obsessed with the yellow wallpaper in her room. ... He is also away most days and leaves her to herself which gives her more time to ponder upon the yellow wallpaper which she is so caught up on. ... "The Yellow Wallpaper" reveals the importance of communication especially in a marriage which the couple lacked. ... He...

  • Word Count: 1134
  • Approx Pages: 5
  • Grade Level: High School

4. Yellow Paper

On my first reading of Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper", I found the short story extremely well done and the author, successful at getting her idea across. ... The wallpaper itself, so marvelously described, becomes our storyteller's best enemy and best friend. More like a mirror, this yellow consuming wallpaper reflects what our main character is really going through and feeling and the woman that stirs and creeps within the wall is literally herself which is found out by us, the readers, when the housekeeper mentions the yellow stains on all of her clothes. She...

  • Word Count: 750
  • Approx Pages: 3

5. The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

"The Yellow Wallpaper,"" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, is about a women battling postpartum depression during the late 19th century. ... This is seen in her constant analysis of the wallpaper while lying down (Yellow 491). ... In the story, the woman sees images in the wallpaper that are committing suicide and other images that are being hung with their eyes bulging from their sockets. She speaks of being angry and desperate and wanting to jump out the window (Yellow 496). ... She is told that if her condition does not improve, she will be moved and put under the care of Weir Mitchell (Yel...

  • Word Count: 889
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

6. The Yellow Wallpaper

However, in "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Gilman, the doctor, John, does not identify his wife's fall into madness. ... However, she eventually feels the nursery will suit her the best with the exception of the horrid, musty, yellow wallpaper. ... In fact, she stares at the yellow wallpaper so much that it becomes her obsession. ... She has grown accustomed and even is attracted to the yellow wallpaper, declaring it her sole happiness. ... Though she locks herself in the room with the yellow wallpaper she ripped off, she has become the woman within the wallpaper, creeping around the...

  • Word Count: 950
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Grade Level: High School

7. The Yellow Wallpaper

Literary Interpretation of "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Gilman "I did not intend to drive people crazy, but to save people from being driven crazy- said Charlotte Perkins Gilman, author or "The Yellow Wallpaper." ... Gilman and those of the narrator of "The Yellow Wallpaper" (including a cameo appearance by Dr. ... She does this by publishing a semi autobiographical account of the disastrous effects of "Mitchell's Cure," known as "The Yellow Wallpaper." ... The narrator increasingly focuses her attention on the yellow wallpaper, the primary symbol in the story. ... Like the i...

  • Word Count: 542
  • Approx Pages: 2
  • Grade Level: High School

8. The Yellow Wallpaper

In "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman the unnamed protagonist is obsessed with the yellow wallpaper because it represents the insanity in her life that snowballs from post pardum depression to a serious nervous disorder. ... It is this location where she comes in contact with the yellow wallpaper. Automatically when the narrator views the yellow wallpaper of the room, she is appalled at the way it looks. ... The yellow wallpaper depicts her deteriorating condition throughout the story, as well as the motives inside her mind that otherwise would not have come out in the sto...

  • Word Count: 739
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Grade Level: High School

9. The Yellow Wallpaper

The Story Behind "The Yellow Wallpaper" "The Yellow Wallpaper" is a vivid, autobiographical short story of clinical depression and the struggle for selfhood, written by an early feminist, Charlotte Perkins Gilman. ... Gilman writes "The Yellow Wallpaper" in hopes of showing S. ... Gilman obsesses about the yellow wallpaper on the walls in her room. ... Gilman writes "The Yellow Wallpaper" in hopes that she can inform Mitchell of the error in his ways. ... Gilman also wrote an essay entitled "Why I Wrote The Yellow Wallpaper", in which she explains her reason for writing the story. ...

  • Word Count: 564
  • Approx Pages: 2
  • Grade Level: High School

10. The Yellow Wallpaper

The Yellow Wallpaper, written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, is a short story symbolizing the oppression of women in society. ... The Yellow Wallpaper is filled with symbols representing the protagonists fight for freedom. ... As she endlessly stares at the atrocious yellow wallpaper, her sanity comes into question. ... As she grows more and more upset about the figure in the yellow wallpaper, her suspiscion of her husband and his sister grows to what seems to be irrational hatred. In the end she tears all of the repugnant wallpaper off the wall in an attempt to free the woman, and herself of...

  • Word Count: 455
  • Approx Pages: 2

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