Customer Reviews

The Yellow Wallpaper (Feminist Press Reprint No. 3)

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Gilman's novel is even more relevant today than when it was first printed. More than merely a narrative of female intellectual oppression or a critique of late 19th century social mores, "The Yellow Wallpaper" documents a practice that was common among the middle and upper class. Known as the "rest cure," women who displayed signs of depression or anxiety were committed to lie in bed for weeks at a time, and allowed no more than twenty minutes of intellectual exertion a day. Believing that intellectual activity would overwhelm the fragile female mind, "rest cure" refers to the prevention of women from thinking, relying on the assumption that the natural state of the female mind was one of emptiness. Seeing as how the women were confined to empty rooms with no exercise or stimulation of any kind, the obvious consequence was that the women became still more anxious, which reinforced the convictions of the doctors and husbands that their wives needed further rest.

The "rest cure" was prescribed most commonly to women who had recently given birth. Suffering from what we now know is post-partem depression (caused by hormonal fluctuations of seratonin that result from the female body adjusting to not having a fetus to delivering hormones to), women were locked up and kept from seeing their newly born children.

Gilman's book, therefore, is not only an American literary classic, but it also provides insight into America's social history; a history which will not be forgotten as long as people continue to carefully read this psychologically wrought story.

This book consists of a gem of a story and a mediocre afterward. The afterward includes a useful biography of the author and a short analysis of the story; my bias is always to allow the story to stand on its own and print literary criticism in books of literary criticism - Elaine Hedges bears the brunt of my bias by simply pointing out the obvious with regards to the wall-paper as symbol.

The story itself is very interesting - it is difficult to remember you are reading fiction rather than an excerpt from a diary - the author is superb at writing in a style that seems to be uncensored thoughts. Within this framework, Gilman manages to have the narrator's changing perceptions of the wall-paper pattern reflect the narrator's descent into insanity. There is a didactic content built into the actions and words of the characters other than the narrator - the very rational husband-doctor, the sister-in-law who efficiently keeps the house going as its "mistress" deteriorates.

A slim volume, this story gives excellent insight into the culture and individuals who spurred the "first" women's movement.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman, an American short story author, writes "The Yellow Wallpaper." In this literary work Gilman illustrates the unfortunate injustices women are forced to accept. Gilman portrays a woman who needs to escape societies pressures, yet seeking her true identity she finds only insanity. This is a sad story that outlines the repression of the women in the late 1800's due to male supremacy. Furthermore, Gilman expresses these three over arching themes: gender, struggle for identity, and survival. These three issues question the position and role of women in a male dominated society. For many years Gilman suffered from a severe and continuous nervous breakdown tending to Melancholia. In stir of hope she sought the best specialist in nervous disease, Dr. S. Weir Mitchell. He applied a "rest cure" treatment at once; this treatment involves total bed rest, isolation and confinement. Unfortunately his directions of bed rest, two hours of intellectual life a day and not touching a pen again, led Gilman to the border line of total mental breakdown. Using her remnants of intelligence she discontinued this treatment. She was so inspired by her escape and regained enough power to write "The Yellow Wallpaper." This piece was not only controversial, but helped stop other women from being driven to insanity themselves. The narrator in the story is also diagnosed as having a temporary nervous depression, which is later know as postpartum depression--a depression caused by a hormonal imbalance after giving birth. The narrator's husband, John, prescribes the same "rest cure" treatment Gilman was subjected to. Obviously the narrator loves her husband and trusts him but she too has some underlying feeling that maybe his prescription of total bed rest is not working for her. Gender segregation is completely outlined within this short story. The men, seen through the eyes of the narrator, are capable and stable. For example the narrator writes, "John is practical in the extreme. He has no patience with faith, an intense horror of superstition, and he scoffs openly at any talk of things not to be felt and seen and put down in figures." Here she is clearly portraying the male chauvinism and unreasoning within this male character. Her husband's role also plays a big part in her spiritual suicide. Although she may disagree with John and her brother she still states, "But what is one to do" (726). This clearly portrays that women, although they held an opinion, must learn to keep it to themselves. Even though, John had his wife placed in a big airy room the room did not help her much. Instead the yellow wallpapered room subjected her to total loneliness and tormented her with this distinct odor and a hideous view. While the men are perceived one way the women are perceived as the weak sex, that depend on men for strength. For example Mary, her sister-in-law, is the expected ideal woman of the 1800's. For instance, she writes, "She is a perfect and enthusiastic housekeeper, and hopes for no better profession" (729). So one can see how women are displayed in the Victorian period. The narrator is also treated like a child or as having the same mentality of a child. For example John say's, "What is it, little girl...Don't go walking about like that you'll get cold" (732). It is clear throughout the short story that women are looked upon as illiterate children, not adults. The men clearly think women are to irrational to make dissuasions of their own, which means they are not even close to being at the same level as men. A common misrepresentation at that time. The second theme portrayed is search for identity. This is when the narrator starts to question her position in a male dominated world. Although she has yet to figure it out she knows there is a hidden motive in the wallpaper that may be a link to her true identity. For example; the narrator, with absolutely nothing else to do, is reduced to staring endlessly at a pattern in a wallpaper, thus creating some image that she feels is necessary to find out. The narrator says, "I didn't realize for a long time what the thing was that showed behind, that dim sub-pattern, but now I am quite sure it is a woman" (733). Once the narrator determines that the image is in fact a woman struggling to become free, she some how aligns herself with the woman. She continues to persue this project of getting the woman out. This woman becomes her sanity and that's the only one thing in her life she can control. The narrator soon develops this burst of curiosity, because the wallpaper becomes even more and more mysterious. She tells how the women tries to get through, but the pattern seems to strangle her and hold her back (735). The narrator finds herself reflected in this picture. It is as though she's letting herself know that she is not the only one trapped in a dominating world. She begins to tear off the layers of the wallpaper in order to help the women escape, just as she too would love to escape. Throughout the short story the narrator slowly starts to fit parts of her controlled life together and form a voice of her own. The third theme, survival, shows the narrator reaching out and setting an end to this miserable repeating female reformatory. She now realizes her place in this society and decides she to wants to escape. But although she's ready to move on, she is still to terrified to let go of reality altogether. For example she writes, "But here I can creep smoothly on the floor, and my shoulder just fits in that long smooch around the wall, so I cannot lose my way" (737). And although she is scared she still finds enough strength to begin her new freedom. She exemplifies this by saying, "And then I said it again, several times, very gently and slowly, and said it so often that he had to go and see, and he got it of course, and came in" (737). Although she had to repeat herself, John had no choice but to listen to her. And even when he fainted she continued to go over him in her circle, but never did she once stop for him. She even went on to say, "I've got out at last...in spite of you and Jane...And I've pulled off most of the paper, so you can't put me back in" (737). Ironically it took insanity for a woman to finally gain courage and learn how to survive off of it. John laying on the floor symbolizes male dominance; and the narrator going over her husband symbolizes female's overcoming this male prevalence. Without a doubt, Charlotte Perkins Gilman makes it hard for the reader not to not understand the "young wife" passing from a slight mental unbalancement to a deranged lunacy in "The Yellow Wallpaper." She supports her aggression thoroughly by the conclusion of the narrators search for the truth and the discovery that the injustice is reality. To begin, gender is portrayed through the eyes of the narrator. She sets a role most women can relate with, a need to escape from a male dominated world. Secondly, through a search for identity, the narrator is able to depict the clues that significantly relate to the narrators role's in society and justify them to her standards. Lastly, survival helps the narrator depict the difference between realism and fallacy and learn how to survive off of this new knowledge. Gilman literally acknowledged a bias many women were to intimidated to approach. This short story clearly confronted the sexual politics of the male-female, husband-wife relationship. Although it raised controversy it did help change the woman-man relationship there after.

The Yellow Wallpaper and other stories by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a wonderful compilation of feminist short stories. The first story, The Yellow Wallpaper reminds us, even today, that a woman who allows herself to become dominated to the point where her talents are suppresed can made herself a prisoner of her own creativity. The protagonist,much like Gilman, has a "nervous disorder." Unlike Gilman, who wrote her way out of the "disorder" the "wife" is not allowed to write and thus must sneak her writing, much like an alcoholic. Eventually, the wallpaper invades her space to the point of madness. Other stories point up other women's issues, such as Three Thanksgivings, in which the women save themselves via a business adventure, which is similar to Making a Change, in which a mother's anxiety and depression are alleviated by following her true creative urges and an older woman's losses are alleviated by her ability to nurture. The Cottagette was a light-hearted romp into the problems women create for themselves and how a too-good-to-be-true suitor helps out his beloved. Turned is an interesting story of what happens when a man makes a wrong move in the presence of a strong woman! Last but not least, Mr. Peebles Heart is an interesting story of a fiftyish shopkeeper. For $1.00, this book is a highly recommended find for those that enjoy feminist literature. I happen to be one of those so I have given it a "10."END

This short story, based upon the author's own experiences, is a powerful tale of one intelligent woman's struggle with madness, the role of (married) women in society and family in the late 1800s, and how she copes with well-meaning but misguided relatives and their ideas of a woman's nature and abilities. Many consider it an early feminist novel, and I agree, although I would extend the author's message to any group that finds itself severely restricted by society's notions of appropriate behavior, goals, and the nature of the group.
The narrator of the story is, from a modern point of view, a normal, young, married woman who also has a desire to write. However, bound by Victorian mores and restrictions, this desire to write is deemed inappropriate at best and casts questions about her not fulfilling her (only) role as wife (and mother). She was only to focus her attention on "domestic" concerns (house, husband, children) and anything remotely intellectual was considered a threat to her sanity and her physical health. When she refuses to bow to society's (and her husband's) ideas of womanhood, she is confined to a room for COMPLETE rest (meaning NO mental stimulation of any kind, no reading, no writing). What makes matters worse is that her husband (a doctor) is also her jailer, and instead of truly understanding his wife as a human being, opts to follow society's standards instead of doing what is in the best interest of his wife (and her health, both physical and mental). Not surprisingly, she rebels a bit, and continues to write her thoughts in a journal, hiding the journal and pencil from her husband. When her deception is discovered, she is even more strictly confined than before, and denied contact with her children.
It is at this point that she begins her descent into madness--not from the desire to write and express her creativity, but from being denied an outlet for that creativity. She was not mad before she was prescribed complete rest, but rather the complete rest which caused her madness. She begins to imagine things (shapes, objects, animals, people) in the yellow wallpaper which covers the walls of the room to which she is confined. As more restrictions and controls are placed upon her, her imagination grows, until finally she strips the wallpaper to reach the figures, and is found by her husband, surely and completely mad.
I liked this story very much because the author conveyed the kind of dead lives many talented, creative women must have been forced to lead due to society's ideas of women and their abilities while fully backed by the medical profession. She clearly illustrates that in this instance, doctors and husbands do not know best, and that their very best intentions had the precise effect of bringing about the madness that they sought to cure. As I read the story, I wondered why her husband (and the doctor) were so blind as to the causes of her "nervous condition". It obviously was not working, and rather than demonstrating their intelligence by trying something else or, God forbid, asking her what she needed (a couple hours per day to devote to writing, a small thing indeed), continued along the same methods of treatment, only with more restrictions! The social commentary and the commentary on the status of women in society and in their own families is handled in an effective way by the author, not only in her prose but in the development of the characters and the storyline. It is a most persuasive plea of the basic idea of feminism--that women are people too, with talents and abilities outside of their roles as wives and mothers that deserve an opportunity to be developed. In reading this story, I am amazed by how far we as a society have come in changing our views of women, and yet by how much further we have to go. I highly recommend this book.
This book was also made into a show that aired on PBS' Masterpiece Theatre in the late 1980s. I have not been able to find a copy of the program, but remember that it was well-produced and faithful to the story.

The Yellow Paper by Charlotte Perkins Gillman is one of the most fascinating short reads ever. I was assigned to read this classic gem in my literature class in College and I couldn't believe how well this short story was written. The book is in first person, it feels like a diary, very personal, intimate, and scary all at the same time. The ending is bone-chilling and brilliant. Gillman is some writer, why haven't I heard about this amazing book before? Wonderful, insightful quick read, a must have for literary fans.

Filled to the brim with symbolism and bizarre allusions, The Yellow Wallpaper is truly a satisfying read for anyone willing to put their mind to work. Though the initial reading and comprehension of the story may seem choppy at first, don't let it throw you off. Stick with it and toss it around in your head for awhile. Re-read it and the symbolism becomes strikingly vivid. A wonderful read for anyone wishing to challenge their imagination, I highly recommend this story.

I first ran into Charlotte Perkins Gilman because of the title story in this collection, "The Yellow Wallpaper" which she wrote originally as a sort of cautionary tale--don't let this happen to you! It is an unsettling story which stays with the reader. A woman ordered to take the "rest cure" finally dives over the edge into insanity.

Gilman's stories are most often didactic, that is, they have a clear message. She is a first rate story teller. These are fascinating tales about real human beings, like a well-traveled great aunt might have told about traveling across the plains in a covered wagon.

Town gossips sit around sharing scandal with the new lady school teacher in "The Unnatural Mother." The reader is in on the irony almost immediately, that the mother in question is a heroine, a woman well ahead of her time in her child-raising practices and her willingness to sacrifice for the public good. To the locals she's plain unnatural.

These stories are great fun... quirky, ironic, satirical. They were way ahead of their time politically and socially, promoting family relationships, childcare, and responsibility in a non-preachy and dramatic (and often funny) manner. Perhaps that's why they don't feel dated. Gilman might be happy with the way things have gone in the 20th century; her stories still speak to the modern reader.

Although feminists seem to own "The Yellow Wallpaper", this short and semi-autobiographical plot is more about the control the medical profession holds over our health and well being than it is about oppression of women in general. Once the story's protagonist falls under the permanent control of her physician husband, her life becomes one obsessive-compulsive act after another until the climax. Post partum depression is the primary diagnosis presented in this rapidly moving plot. Perhaps this gem of a story would be better reviewed as medical literature and made required reading- it's short, after all- for students and professors who study physician-patient communications.

I was 15 when I first read this book. I was awkward and unhappy. The book hit something inside of me and wrenched sympathy from me. It was unbelievable how much oppressed women writers were in the 19th century. The central character in the Yellow wallpaper was trapped behind a cage of propriety, carefully manufactured and sold by society. Her writings were "destructive" and were dangerous to the accepted norm. When she couldn't write, she couldn't live. Her madness was a direct reaction against her entrapment. She was someone who simply couldn't live without writing. I would highly recommend this book to any reader. It is tragic, beautiful and maddening.