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The Yellow Wallpaper - story (1892)

by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Other authors: See the other authors section.

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingConversations / Mentions
3,1741464,185 (4.06)1 / 399
"If a physician of high standing, and one's own husband assures friends and family that there really is nothing the matter with one but temporary nervous depression - a slight hysterical tendency - what is one to do?" This is the story of a young woman whose husband rents a summer home to enable her to recuperate after childbirth. However, what should be a relaxing getaway dissolves into a haunting psychological battle that sees her confined to an attic, drained, depressed and slowly losing her sanity. This semi-autobiographical story was published in 1892, and immediately denounced in the press. Charlotte Perkins, a sociologist and utopian feminist, provides a startling insight into women's oppression in marriage, madness, postpartum depression, and the ignorance surrounding mental illness. Women's issues, especially as regards mental illness, were often dismissed as hysterics or out rightly ignored. And it's sadly no different today. Perkin's work is now regarded as feminist literature for its adept portrayal of society's attitude towards the mental health of women. But it doesn't just do that. Written over a century ago, it offers insight today into society's treatment and ignorance of mental health. It's a must read for everyone, especially for people with friends or relatives who struggle with mental health issues.… (more)
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    Nickelini: Maggie O'Farrell says that The Yellow Wallpaper was a major influence in writng The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox
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    sturlington: The Widow's House makes several allusions to "The Yellow Wallpaper."
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    MissBrangwen: Although they were written in different periods of time, both texts reminded me of each other because of their dealing with the female experience of confinement.
1890s (16)
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» See also 399 mentions

English (138)  Spanish (2)  French (1)  German (1)  All languages (142)
Showing 1-5 of 138 (next | show all)
Solid three star rating. Writing was well done, Gothic tale that grabbed my interest, and something worth reading. The story makes me want to read more from this author. If it wasn’t for the TBR game I created, I probably wouldn’t never have picked this book up because I would not have known about it. Looking forward to reading more. ( )
  mybookloveobsession | Mar 12, 2024 |
Despite the short length of "The Yellow Wallpaper", every time I read it there is another little detail to discover or a moment that sits with me differently than the time before. ( )
  deborahee | Feb 23, 2024 |
A creepy short story written in 1892 about a woman with mental health issues, and her doctor husband thinks the cure is to keep her locked up in her bedroom. The she starts seeing things and then really goes mad. I saw this recommended around Halloween amongst the BookTok'ers on TikTok, as the creepiest story ever. Not sure if it goes at the top of the list, but its definitely up there. ( )
  mahsdad | Feb 10, 2024 |
I remember liking this when I read it in school. Time to return. ( )
  Jenniferforjoy | Jan 29, 2024 |
Book Description: "Narrated in the first person, the story is a collection of journal entries written by a woman whose physician husband has rented an old mansion for the summer. As a form of treatment, the unnamed woman is forbidden from working or writing, and is encouraged to eat well and get plenty of air, so she can recuperate from what he calls a "temporary nervous depression – a slight hysterical tendency", a diagnosis common to women during that period. The narrator devotes many journal entries to describing the wallpaper in the room and how the longer one stays in the bedroom, the more the wallpaper appears to mutate, especially in the moonlight. With no stimulus other than the wallpaper, the pattern and designs become increasingly intriguing to the narrator. She soon begins to see a figure in the design and eventually comes to believe that a woman is creeping on all fours behind the pattern. Believing she must free the woman in the wallpaper, the woman begins to strip the remaining paper off the wall. When her husband arrives home, the narrator refuses to unlock her door. When he returns with the key, he finds her creeping around the room, rubbing against the wallpaper, and exclaiming "I've got out at last... in spite of you." He faints, but she continues to circle the room, creeping over his inert body each time she passes it, believing herself to have become the woman trapped behind the yellow wallpaper."

This story is nothing but a ridiculous piece of inflated propaganda. The author admits it's much more extreme than her own experience with a "nervous condition"---exaggerated to make her argument against the popular rest cures of the day. Her claims that the story caused her former doctor to repent are unsubstantiated and even argued as false by another researcher. The idea that a week or two without stimulation would put her into that kind of psychosis either proves she really did need help or it's as stupid as her husband fainting at the sight of her. Pure Victorian melodrama at it's best...

I don't think we need to immediately jump to the conclusion that the male doctors of the 19th century were purposefully trying to oppress women. They were obviously ignorant of the differences in the ways most women respond to life's challenges compared to how most men do, but that's probably been the case since the beginning of time! And, they weren't far off with their "rest cure" ideas. What do we hear nowadays about many of our ailments being caused or at least exacerbated by stress? It's a thing. We need rest and regular breaks from overstimulation. Could it be that innocent and true compassion motivated these male doctors? Heaven forbid! That would annihilate our Feminist arguments! Many men lost their wives early in those days---maybe some of them tried crazy treatments purely from fear and compassion.

From page 19: "And dear John gathered me up in his arms, and just carried me upstairs and laid me on the bed, and sat by me and read to me till it tired my head. He said I was his darling and his comfort and all he had, and that I must take care of myself for his sake, and keep well. He says no one but myself can help me out of it, that I must use my will and self-control and not let any silly fancies run away with me." Now I might just be an uneducated barefoot and perpetually pregnant housewife, but doesn't it sound like he is 1---encouraging her to access her own strength of character, 2---providing her with stimulation by reading to her, 3---speaking with love and kindness, even to the point of showing his emotional vulnerability? Oh you poor, oppressed, dominated woman! Try stepping out across town to a slum where a real abused woman lives battered and used by a drunken, lazy loser excuse for a husband. Please.

I have times when my husband is insistent about something out of concern for me and I know it's not necessary---so I tell him so and do my own thing. He rolls his eyes and does his own thing. In the mass majority of cases, this is likely what went on behind closed doors. People of those days aren't that different from people of these days---regardless of "society's" expectations. Women of those days should have been more angry at the other women around them for helping to perpetuate such a stupid code of conduct as women were encouraged to display. Very few men are or ever have been overbearing beasts to their women. It's in their God-given nature to protect and, in that same vein, it's the God-given nature to submit and be a helpmeet that these women are really fighting against. The women (like this character, like the author) who freely submitted to treatments that their own common sense told them were ridiculous are the ones to blame for not standing up for themselves lest they be labeled impolite by society.

Here's a challenge: go find something that's NOT obvious Feminist propaganda literature and really pay attention to the male characters. The 19th and early 20th centuries' obsession with male dominance and womanly simpering was just as much a fault of the women of society dictating what was "proper" for other women as anything else. Take Pride and Prejudice for example. Look at the relationship between Mr. and Mrs. Bennet. Mr. Bennet has to put up with a ranting, complaining, opinionated wife and his only responses are sly sarcasm and quiet time alone in his library. Mr. Bingley is nothing but kind and mild mannered toward every woman in the story. Mr. Darcy is supposed to be arrogant but he still is every bit a gentleman and we later find his behavior is merely a mask for his own insecurities. The only male character in the story that has the slightest bit of derogatory attitudes toward women is Mr. Collins and he is known for being a pig---by both women AND men. Who rules the roost in P&P? Mrs. Bennet, Lady Catherine, all the Bennet girls. Which woman is looked down on? Charlotte---the one who sells out out of desperation to have what society tells her will make her a real woman. Everybody knows Jane Austen wrote about the society around her. Old news propaganda aside, anyone who is well read in literature of the last 300 years can see that in the VAST majority of cases, western civilization has been equally dominated by both male and female. It is in surviving literature, written without an agenda, that we can truly see how society functions. ( )
  classyhomemaker | Dec 11, 2023 |
Showing 1-5 of 138 (next | show all)
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» Add other authors (29 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Gilman, Charlotte Perkinsprimary authorall editionsconfirmed
Barkat, SaraIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Hedges, Elaine R.Afterwordsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
O'Farrell, MaggieIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Potter, KirstenNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed

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Epigraph
Dedication
to my mother, who encourages me [by Sara Barkat, illustrator of the unabridged graphic novel edition]
First words
It is very seldom that mere ordinary people like John and myself secure ancestral halls for the summer.
Quotations
There are things in that paper that nobody knows but me, or ever will.
It is the same woman, I know, for she is always creeping, and most women do not creep by daylight.
Personally, I believe that congenial work, with excitement and change, would do me good.
He is very careful and loving, and hardly lets me stir without special direction.
The color is repellent, almost revolting; a smouldering unclean yellow, strangely faded by the slow-turning sunlight.
Last words
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
Disambiguation notice
This is the short story, including the Feminist Press Reprint No. 3 edition (1973) and Virago Modern Classic No. 50 (1981). Please do NOT combine with collections of Charlotte Perkins Gilman's works of similar titles or anthologies, but only with other editions confirmed as having the same contents. Thank you.
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Wikipedia in English (2)

"If a physician of high standing, and one's own husband assures friends and family that there really is nothing the matter with one but temporary nervous depression - a slight hysterical tendency - what is one to do?" This is the story of a young woman whose husband rents a summer home to enable her to recuperate after childbirth. However, what should be a relaxing getaway dissolves into a haunting psychological battle that sees her confined to an attic, drained, depressed and slowly losing her sanity. This semi-autobiographical story was published in 1892, and immediately denounced in the press. Charlotte Perkins, a sociologist and utopian feminist, provides a startling insight into women's oppression in marriage, madness, postpartum depression, and the ignorance surrounding mental illness. Women's issues, especially as regards mental illness, were often dismissed as hysterics or out rightly ignored. And it's sadly no different today. Perkin's work is now regarded as feminist literature for its adept portrayal of society's attitude towards the mental health of women. But it doesn't just do that. Written over a century ago, it offers insight today into society's treatment and ignorance of mental health. It's a must read for everyone, especially for people with friends or relatives who struggle with mental health issues.

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Book description
"The Yellow Wallpaper" is about a woman who suffers from mental illness after three months of being trapped within her home staring at the same revolting yellow wall paper. Charlotte Perkins Gilman wrote this story to change people's minds about the role of women in her society, illustrating how women's lack of autonomy is detrimental to their mental, emotional, and even physical well being. The narrator in "The Yellow Wallpaper" must do as her husband and male doctor demand, though the treatment they prescribe to her contrasts directly with what she truly needs--mental stimulation, and the freedom to escape the monotony of the room to which she is confined. "The Yellow Wallpaper" was essentially a response to the doctor who tried to cure Charlotte Perkins Gilman of post-partum depression through a "rest cure," Dr. S. Weir Mitchell, and she sent him a copy of the story. Although "The Yellow Wallpaper" is not the first or longest of her works, it is without question Gilman's most famous piece and became a best-seller of the Feminist Press.
A woman and her husband rent a summer house, but what should be a restful getaway turns into a suffocating psychological battle. This chilling account of postpartum depression and a husband’s controlling behavior in the guise of treatment will leave you breathless.
This Inwood Commons Modern Edition updates Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s classic so that it’s as easy to read and as relevant as if it was written today. The book also includes the author’s argument to Congress for women’s voting rights, her reasons for writing The Yellow Wallpaper, two essays from modern scholars, and the original unedited versions in appendices.
Haiku summary
She makes her own friends
to escape her depression.
Fall into madness.
(DeusXMachina)

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