The Yellow Wallpaper, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

I planned on reading the extremely short story by Charlotte Perkins Gilman for months now because of the positive reactions from other respected bloggers. I downloaded it onto my Nook, and once I read The Victorian Chaise-Longue by Marghanita Laski, I knew that The Yellow Wallpaper had to be next. But I took my time, and when Chrisbookarama peer-pressured recently urged others to read it, I thought, "Seriously, it's only fifteen pages, what have I been waiting for?"

I read it in a flash last night. And was sufficiently freaked out.

An unreliable narrator is married to John, a doctor, and they have a baby. Recently, they've moved to a small rental home and while she would prefer that she and her husband take a downstairs room that is pretty and airy, her husband decides that the upstairs room is the one they should stay in. Considering he prescribed rest to cure her from her recent ills (postpartum depression), it seems extremely bizarre that he should select the room for her daily containment to be one that was once a children's nursery, has ripped and aging wallpaper in it that is a ghastly yellow, and the windows have bars on them. When she begins to see the wallpaper moving and then starts to see a woman trapped in the wallpaper trying to get out, she does everything she can to figure it out and to help the woman escape. But it slowly becomes a murky undertaking for the reader to decipher what is real and what isn't. Is something sinister truly happening, or is it madness? Which is more frightening?

It doesn't help that her husband and sister-in-law are skeptical of our narrator's health, but then are seen scowling at the wallpaper. At least, this is again according to the narrator as she writes her thoughts in her journal... so who to believe?

Written in the first person, Charlotte Perkins Gilman has easily mastered the craft of a creepy and haunting story with frighteningly vivid descriptions, and has also successfully preyed upon a reader's eagerness and natural inclination to believe that the narrator is always right. When that is questioned in any way, it becomes uncomfortable and harrowing. With whom should you place your trust?

Those who enjoyed The Victorian Chaise-Longue by Marghanita Laski will enjoy this short story.

Favorite passages from The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman:

You see, he does not believe I am sick! And what can one do? If a physician of high standing, and one's own husband, assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing the matter with one but temporary nervous depression - a slight hysterical tendency-what is one to do? 

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There are things in that paper that nobody knows but me, or ever will. Behind that outside pattern the dim shapes get clearer every day. It is always the same shape, only very numerous. And it is like a woman stooping down and creeping about behind that pattern. I don't like it a bit. 

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The History I Should Know More About

(Generally gathered from Wikipedia, The Science Museum of the UK, and The Literature Network)

Silas Weir Mitchell, creator of the "rest cure," was an American neurologist. The rest cure was a treatment for hysteria and other nervous conditions, including neurasthenia, which Charlotte Perkins Gilman "suffered" from. Although it is no longer included as a diagnosis today, at one time (mid 1800s) neurasthenia was identified as a condition associated with "fatigue, anxiety, headache, neuralgia, and depressed mood." 

The "rest cure" was a common prescription for women more so than men during the Victorian era. Charlotte Perkins Gilman and even Virginia Woolf were advised to use the rest cure, and Perkins Gilman's interaction with institutions and doctors at that time contributed to the creation of this phenomenal story. 

Want to read more? Click here for The Science Museum (UK) and the University of Virginia has additional information that questions the negative perception he received after Charlotte Perkins Gilman's short story became popular in the 1970s.

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About the Author

(Wikipedia) Charlotte Perkins Gilman was a prominent American sociologist, novelist, writer of short stories, poetry, and non-fiction, and a lecturer for social reform. She was a Utopian feminist during a time when her accomplishments were exceptional for women, and she served as a role model for future generations of feminists because of her unorthodox concepts and lifestyle.

After the birth of her first child, she had a nervous breakdown and was prescribed the "rest cure," in which she was advised to not write at all during this period. This exposure and treatment contributed to her writing The Yellow Wallpaper.

Want to read more? Click here for more biographical information and click here for a list of her work (she is also known for Herland). Click here for the BBC dramatization of her life. I haven't seen it, although it sounds interesting.

Note to me... I have finally contributed to two challenges. The E-book Challenge hosted by Ladybug Reads and the Victorian Literature Challenge hosted by Subtle Melodrama (words, words, words).