Name: The Yellow Wallpaper
Rating: 4.037290715372907 (657 reviews)
ISBN: 9780941720892

Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Chuck Taylor

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The Yellow Wallpaper

'The color is hideous enough, and unreliable enough, and infuriating enough, but the pattern is torturing.' Written with barely controlled fury after she was confined to her room for 'nerves' and forbidden to write, Gilman's pioneering feminist horror story scandalized nineteenth-century readers with its portrayal of a woman who loses her mind because she has literally nothing to do. Introducing Little Black Classics: 80 books for Penguin's 80th birthday. Little Black Classics celebrate the huge range and diversity of Penguin Classics, with books from around the world and across many centuries. They take us from a balloon ride over Victorian London to a garden of blossom in Japan, from Tierra del Fuego to 16th-century California and the Russian steppe. Here are stories lyrical and savage; poems epic and intimate; essays satirical and inspirational; and ideas that have shaped the lives of millions. Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860-1935). Gilman's work is available in Penguin Classics in The Yellow Wall-Paper, Herland and Selected Writings.

The Yellow Wall-Paper

har nå lest ferdig så tenkte å rapportere tilbake. Kvinnen under tapetet er henne selv (som antatt), men dette er ikke bare en representasjon av hennes syke. Det viser seg å være henne selv? Eller novellen ender i hvertfall med at hun river opp alt av tapetet. Når mannen hennes fortvilet spørr hva hun gjør, sier hun at endelig kom seg løs og at hun har revet det opp sånn at han aldri kan putte henne under tapetet igjen.

Jeg tror avslutningen er ment til å være en advarsel om farene ved å overse og bagitalisere psykisk helse, hvordan dette kan utvikle seg og måten de ignorerte helsa hennes gjorde henne gal. Samtidig så er det noe tilfredsstillende med at hun i hvertfall ble fri, selv om hun kanskje ble gal i prosessen.

Robin Qvale-Seterelv

har nå lest ferdig så tenkte å rapportere tilbake. Kvinnen under tapetet er henne selv (som antatt), men dette er ikke bare en representasjon av hennes syke. Det viser seg å være henne selv? Eller novellen ender i hvertfall med at hun river opp alt av tapetet. Når mannen hennes fortvilet spørr hva hun gjør, sier hun at endelig kom seg løs og at hun har revet det opp sånn at han aldri kan putte henne under tapetet igjen.

Jeg tror avslutningen er ment til å være en advarsel om farene ved å overse og bagitalisere psykisk helse, hvordan dette kan utvikle seg og måten de ignorerte helsa hennes gjorde henne gal. Samtidig så er det noe tilfredsstillende med at hun i hvertfall ble fri, selv om hun kanskje ble gal i prosessen.

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

So interesting and fascinating. A fast read but still very impactful. The other two stories included in the book are also insanely well-written. 

Valentina

The Yellow Wallpaper ("The Yellow Wall-paper. A Story") is a short story by the American writer Charlotte Perkins Gilman, first published in January 1892 in The New England Magazine. It 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.

Short stories in the middle of a shift just hits different! Such an interesting read, thought provoking and timeless. It's open for interpretation, not a closed ending but definitely worth the quick read.

Larissa Campos

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.

This was so quick to read, but so thought provoking. My mind is full of endless theories to what could have happened, what all the symbols mean, why these things happened. I really am looking forward to reading different theories and interpretations of this. Well worth the read, especially if you are stuck in a reading slump. Its so fascinating to me.

Marz 

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

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.

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 ✨

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.

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! 

ayoni

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!

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 

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.

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

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