Charlotte Perkins Gilman

The Yellow Wall-Paper

Doctor's orders confine a woman suffering from anxiety and depression to her bedroom, in an effort to prevent mental stimulation of any sort. Despite her forced "rest cure," she continues to write in her journal when her husband isn't looking. Her entries record her terrible and growing fascination with the hideous yellow wallpaper that dominates the room, documenting her slow descent into madness. This work by American author Charlotte Perkins Gilman was based on the author's own experiences. She knew firsthand that the nineteenth-century medical establishment often had dangerously misguided ideas about women's mental and physical health. It is considered to be a seminal feminist work by some, a prime example of Gothic horror by others. First published in 1892, this is an unabridged version of Gilman's controversial short story.

The Yellow Wallpaper

It is the strangest yellow, that wall-paper!

In 1892 a furious Charlotte Perkins Gilman put pen to paper and created the avant-garde feminist work The Yellow Wallpaper as a warning - in this haunting Gothic tale, a woman is confined to a room and forbidden to do anything interesting - and she loses her mind.In 1887, following a severe nervous breakdown, Gilman had been sent to a leading neurologist, she explains in 'Why I Wrote The Yellow Wallpaper', also included in this volume. He was a 'wise man' who 'put me to bed and applied the rest cure? and sent me home with solemn advice to "live as domestic a life as far as possible"? and "never to touch pen, brush or pencil again" as long as I lived. I went home and obeyed those directions for some three months, and came so near the borderline of utter mental ruin that I could see over.'The Yellow Wallpaper is both a haunting illustration of the treatment of mental health and a chilling Gothic tale, and this new edition makes it ready to enchant another generation of readers.

Nica

I think sometimes that if I were only well enough to write a little it would relieve the press of ideas and rest me. But I find I get pretty tired when I try. It is so discouraging not to have any advice and companionship about my work.

This horrifying, semi-autobiographical feminist story of imprisonment and madness scandalized nineteenth-century society.

she's just like me when i got mad about stuff not moving.

This bed will not move! I tried to lift and push it until I was lame, and then I got so angry I bit off a little piece at one corner - but it hurt my teeth.

ayoni

I think sometimes that if I were only well enough to write a little it would relieve the press of ideas and rest me.

But I find I get pretty tired when I try.

It is so discouraging not to have any advice and companionship about my work.

2018 Reprint of 1892 Edition. This short story is regarded as an important early work of American feminist literature, illustrating attitudes in the 19th century toward women's health, both physical and mental. Presented in the first person, the story is a collection of journal entries written by a woman whose physician husband (John) has rented an old mansion for the summer. Forgoing other rooms in the house, the couple moves into the upstairs nursery. As a form of treatment, the unnamed woman is forbidden from working, and is encouraged to eat well and get plenty of exercise and air, so she can recuperate from what he calls a "temporary nervous depression - a slight hysterical tendency", a diagnosis common to women in that period. Gilman used her writing to explore the role of women in America at the time. She explored issues such as the lack of a life outside the home and the oppressive forces of the patriarchal society. Through her work Gilman paved the way for writers such as Alice Walker and Sylvia Plath.

anne caroline

“But I MUST say what I feel and think in some way — it is such a relief! But the effort is getting to be greater than the relief.”

“I cry at nothing, and cry most of the time.”

“Nobody would believe what an effort it is to do what little I am able, - to dress and entertain, and order things”

I found it an interesting short read. Not a bad story but not overly amazing. I think personally it would do really well for an anthology horror series. It does have this sort of atmospheric horror that I do enjoy.

Leila Jade

It captures a lot for a 22 pages book. Loved it and though was confused at the ending, I understood that she overcame her illness and got out of her toxic marriage.

The yellow wall-paper

This short novel was confusing to say the least, don't get me wrong I liked it, but I found the ending a bit confusing since it doesn't really make sense to me. But the imagery in the book is facinatig

Ester Waclavova

Moral of the story: don’t get yourself a husband

Alisha

Despite being written at the tail-end of the 1800s, this story continues to hold up as an introspective look into the patriarchy and the disastrous consequences of it. The narrator is suffering at the hands of her society, and it’s a cautionary tale about the dangers of a society ruled by men. What happens when you have no agency? I loved this story when I read it in high school, and I love it just the same now. Justice for my girl!

Nik ✨

(i read this over a year ago, ignore this)

Stas

carolina

Une lecture parfaitement horrifique et oppressante, bien que très courte cette histoire sait parfaitement installer une atmosphère angoissante.

Evan

Charlotte Perkins Gilman sure knew how to get a lot out of a little. You hear about the wallpaper so much yet each description stands out on its own, a new insane vision of the same boring object.
 
The narrator's husband is an asshole and I'm guessing the way he treats his wife, especially as a doctor, isn't super unusual for the time period. He seems to genuinely want her to get better, but only as long as she recovers in the way he deems fit. Which is, of course, an absurd set of rules.
 
What I found most interesting about this very short story was the usage of "delirium tremens" in something this old. I also admired Gilman's way of describing the "women" she saw outside the windows as she spun around fast; these are clearly her addled mind reacting to small visual stimuli and imagining it into larger things. I think we've all had this happen before: you think you see a dot on the wall, you look away, your mind says "That's a spider!", yet you turn back and it's either just a dot or maybe nothing at all. Gilman also does a good job of making this "peaceful" environment, one that's beautifully described, into a hostile one.
 
A short, good read.

hot girls read the yellow wallpaper and weirdly relate to the narrator

Megan Christensen

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Suyash Goylit

Too much symbolism, not as obscure as portrayed.

very fun style of writing! shortest story i've ever read but one of the deepest. it is about the neglect in women's mental health and freedom, being controlled by a husband (men). the wallpaper symbolizes her being trapped in hysteria due to mistreatment. i loved every bit! 

Cait🪼

Absolutely breathtaking. 
The sheer detail, the electrifying imagery...it's everything I could want in a novel and more. It's hard to believe this book is merely 63 pages, for every word breathes life into the story.

lexie

yaya

me anytime the husband spoke: OH BROTHER THIS GUY STINKS!

marta 

Meagan Fischer 

Mysterious, fun, and historically educational.

I did not expect that... I feel like John was the obvious villain in the story, even though he wasn't entirely evil. He does, however, belittle his wife, calling her names like little girl, goose etc. He also does not take into regards anything his wife feels and says and acts as if he knows what's best for her. This only deteriorates her mental health at a fast pace, as she becomes more obsessed with the wallpaper. 

Jovana Gjekanovikj 

kaitlan

C. J. Daley 

This was suggested to me by Mark Holloway, author of The Soul’s Aspect, which is tremendous, so how could I ignore him…I ordered it immediately. 

Known for being a very early feminist work, the short story focuses on the way women’s physical and mental health was viewed in the 19th century. While written well, it’s written quite plainly in a way that could still be picked up and read today as a more modern piece if you were unawares, and that tracks well for me, especially when people still throw around the word “hysterical” about people as if it holds weight. 

For me this was surprisingly atmospheric, claustrophobic, and paranoiac. I feel like I may have had to read this during schooling, but it definitely was beyond me at the time. The writer feels that she needs the exact opposite of what her husband (and doctor) believes is best for her, going so far as to even say what he wanted was making her worse. There’s something to be said for the first person perspective and their self awareness that perhaps mentally they are losing it, or perhaps the others are. It lends credence to both sides of the argument while still being firm that she’s misdiagnosed. 

And all this through that godforsaken yellow, orange, green patterned wallpaper. Personally a 4/5* for me. A great short story

splendid: the writing, the stories, the girlbossing.

Lauri

i had the most phenomenal experience reading this short story and another two short stories included in this edition which was 'the rocking chair' and 'old water'.

firstly, i read the yellow wall-paper in a dark room only lit by a single table lamp. i could sense and feel the descriptions of the wall-paper made by the narrator as if i were in the same room. i could feel for her insanity growing day by day. i could feel for her fear and deteriorating nature that only herself can understand and no one else. not even her husband, not even her own brother. i could feel for her need to conceal her mental illness just because the people around her, per se her own husband that dismisses her own mental illness as in there is nothing to worry about. she also had to conceal her ambitions of writing.

this book was all about the societal views on women and the patriarchy of the nineteenth century. charlotte perkins gilman did an excellent job in depicting the story with symbolisms of a room, of a furniture, of a view from the room, of every walkway as to symbolise something in order to expose the problems of the society of how they entrap women in their cages and expect them to be cured by imprisoning them and concealing it with a so-called treatment even though it resulted the contrary.

maia

i had the most phenomenal experience reading this short story and another two short stories included in this edition which was 'the rocking chair' and 'old water'.

firstly, i read the yellow wall-paper in a dark room only lit by a single table lamp. i could sense and feel the descriptions of the wall-paper made by the narrator as if i were in the same room. i could feel for her insanity growing day by day. i could feel for her fear and deteriorating nature that only herself can understand and no one else. not even her husband, not even her own brother. i could feel for her need to conceal her mental illness just because the people around her, per se her own husband that dismisses her own mental illness as in there is nothing to worry about. she also had to conceal her ambitions of writing.

this book was all about the societal views on women and the patriarchy of the nineteenth century. charlotte perkins gilman did an excellent job in depicting the story with symbolisms of a room, of a furniture, of a view from the room, of every walkway as to symbolise something in order to expose the problems of the society of how they entrap women in their cages and expect them to be cured by imprisoning them and concealing it with a so-called treatment even though it resulted the contrary.

The Yellow Wall-Paper

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