Dale M. Bauer

There's an uncomfortable quality to knowing that Gilman's own experiences of marriage, motherhood, and post-partum depression informed this story of a woman whose physician husband and physician brother both, predictably, diagnose her illness as "hysteria" and prescribe involuntary confinement, and absolute rest without any sort of stimulation at all, particularly intellectual stimulation. For a writer, it has to have been hellish.

The protagonist goes slowly mad, confined to a room with yellow wallpaper that seems to move and shift, as though there is something behind it. She comes to believe that there's a woman there, behind the horrible yellow wallpaper, which gives off a horrible yellow smell. The woman is trying desperately to get out which is why the paper moves. (I trust I don't need to explain this, right?)

The story was written as a direct response to her own experiences at the hands of her husband, and the doctor who had prescribed a rest cure for her severe illness after her daughter's birth. She needed stimulation, she got solitary confinement. She actually sent a copy of The Yellow Wallpaper to her doctor. I wonder if he ever understood why.… (más)

The Yellow Wallpaper is a short story by author Charlotte Perkins Gilman. First published in 1892, it has been described variously as gothic, horror, and feminist literature. Gilman, herself, saw it as an indictment of the treatment of women by the medical profession. A woman, who is suffering from depression after the birth of her child, is brought by her husband to an isolated mansion for a ‘rest cure’. She is forbidden any activity including writing. As she sinks slowly into insanity, she becomes obsessed with the yellow wallpaper in one of the rooms. In a very few pages, Perkins manages to convey the treatment of women in the 19th c. not only in terms of mental illness but in their position in the professional as well as domestic life. Most of all, though, The Yellow Wallpaper may be the most chilling depiction of the descent into madness ever written.… (más)

"The Yellow Wall-Paper"

Just imagine being in a house out in the hilly country around the 1800’s. Seems fine right? Well for this woman this is a horrible place to be. This is how “The Yellow Wall-paper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman in 1891 begins. A man named John is trying to help his wife who has a mental illness. She feels that she is fine and doesn’t need to be at the house where she is being kept for her illness. Her sister, Jennie, comes by some days to check on her. The woman wants to desperately go outside but John refuses to let her. John refuses to let her to go outside because he says that she needs to stay inside to get better. She has to be locked up for three months in a room that is plain, dull, and boring. She starts to see things appear such as a woman. She desperately wants to go outside to see the woman. She can’t see the woman in person because John told her she can’t. The woman inside the room goes berzerk.
Charlotte was an American writer of short stories, novelist, poet, and an American feminist. She was born on July 3rd, 1860 in Hartford, CT and died on August 17th, 1935 in Pasadena, CA. Charlotte Perkins Gilman released her story, “The Yellow Wall-paper,” in 1891 to a New England magazine. A Physician from Kansas told her, “It was the best description of insanity that I have ever read.” Charlotte wrote this story because she had a nervous breakdown before. She based this short story on herself, because she was told not to work for three months. She wrote, “The Yellow Wall-paper”, not to drive people crazy, but to keep people from driving crazy.”
I liked the story because it explains how women were treated back in the 1800’s and how people go insane if they are not allowed to be a part of the world and to explore new things. The men were looked at as the main dominance and women were treated disrespectfully. People need to explore new things in the world so they won’t go insane. This story could be looked at as a mystery book. I usually don’t like to read mystery books, but I enjoyed this one because you have to read this precisely. This requires some thinking to understand the story and the text. The text is written in the 1800’s so the english is different than today’s english. The reader must read the story slowly.
I would encourage others to read this story because it’s very interesting to read although at times the story can be confusing. Some people who like mysteries or confusing books may like “The Yellow Wall-paper.” You learn about how women were treated back in the 1800’s. This book is meant for young adults to adults. I think the older people would like this story more because some people may have known someone such as a grandma or great grandma during that time where they were treated poorly. The older adults would be the better audience for this story because they could possibly relate to this and/or understand what the author is telling them.… (más)