"The Yellow Wallpaper" Analysis

Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1892)

Story Link: Read "The Yellow Wallpaper" at Project Gutenberg

Historical Background

One of the main themes of "The Yellow Wallpaper" is nervousness. In the 1890s, it was widely believed by psychologists and sociologists that modern life was so stressful that it overloaded the nervous system and caused people to break down. Often these ideas were gendered; it was assumed that women had more fragile nervous systems and became neurotic more easily.

Gilman was arguing against the "rest cure," which required anxious or depressed women to be cooped up all day and do as little as possible in order to "calm their nerves." Gilman knew from personal experience that this "cure" only increased a person's nervousness. In her own time, Gilman was known better as an economic thinker than as a storyteller. Her work was focused on the way in which women were barred from participating in public activities (activities that took place outside of the house, like careers and politics).

She believed that nervousness in middle class women (there are a lot of outdated psychological terms for this, like neurasthenia and hysteria) was caused by a lack of opportunity for these women to do out and do things and use up this energy. If a person is stuck at home, Gilman argued, this excess energy will always find something to latch onto, and the nervous person can become unhealthily fixated or obsessed with something; in Gilman's story, this 'something' is the pattern on the wallpaper in the room that she is not allowed to leave.

1)
How does the choice to write "The Yellow Wallpaper" as a series of diary entries support Gilman's goals to show the negative effects of the rest cure? What kind of evidence is she trying to present, and what makes diary entries a good example of this form of evidence?
(3-4 sentences)
2)
What elements of the horror and gothic genres does "The Yellow Wallpaper" borrow?
(bulleted list)
3)
Gilman's narrator uses the word "creep" a lot to describe the actions of the women in the wallpaper. Why do you think she chose this word in particular?
(1-2 sentences)
4)
How does the narrator's writing style change as the diary progresses? Demonstrate your point using at least two specific quotes. Describe how the style reflects her state of mind.
(3-4 sentences)
5)
What emotional effect do you think this story is supposed to have on the audience as they're reading it?
(1-2 sentences)
6)
What role does the concept of repetition play in "The Yellow Wallpaper?"
(2-3 sentences)
7)
Charlotte Perkins Gilman's writing was largely forgotten until the 1970s, when literary critics started studying it again. What does this say about the construction of literary canons? What art and literature from today do you think will stand the test of time, and what do you think will be forgotten? Do you have any predictions about what people in 2093 will care about?
(2-3 sentences)