The Yellow Wallpaper By Charlotte Perkins Gilman

My chosen story is the yellow wallpaper. Charlotte Perkins Gilman wrote this short story, and although it is a fictional story, it is said to be written from Gilman's own experience with hysteria and a ‘Rest Cure.’ This stories genre would be horror, as it is truly a horrific short story. Gilman's story follows the life of a woman that has recently given birth. It follows the mothers downward spiral of depression and her loss of control. The story is written as an epistolary novel from the point of view of the mother, meaning it is written as if the author of the story is the mother. Since she is having a challenging time recovering from having her child, her husband John, who is a physician, prescribes her a rest cure. Rest cures were strictly

Because of this, we get a clear insight of the narrator's mind. Our protagonist is the wife to John, a physician. She is experiencing a ‘nervous depression’ after giving birth, and throughout the story her husband makes it his goal to take charge of her ‘illness.’ John is written as quite a basic physician of the 1800s. He believes that there are logical reasons behind everything, and that matters of the mind are not something to be concerned with. He displays this mindset when his wife is regaining her strength. She attempts to communicate that it is only in body that she is recovering, while her mind is in turmoil. He quickly dismisses this, claiming she should never let those thoughts penetrate her mind. He dismisses her concerns, therefore frightening his wife to not speak of the matter again. As already stated, they have a child together. Throughout the short story, the baby is not spoken of very often, as the child is not staying in the mansion with the couple and is only a distant supporting character. Though when the narrator does speak of the new-born, it is only in a sense of relief, relief that she does not need to care for it. It is an on-going theory among other readers, that once the narrator went insane, she killed the child. It is up for interpretation, as the child was not mentioned more than twice. Another character we get introduced to early on is John's sister,

Because of this, the theme of the story is one of horror, sorrow, and confusion. It is important to understand this, as nearing the end of the story, when the protagonist loses her wit, the story could be perceived as completely different. Not only a different theme, but an entirely different story. (Find a transition word) the protagonist's hallucinations began in her childhood. Our protagonist explains that while growing she would lie awake in excitement and terror of the inanimate objects that surrounded her. And now, she claims that she can see so much expression in the yellow wallpaper, as she begins to imagine faces, heads, and unblinking eyes across the paper. Later in the story, these hallucinations change to just one thing. A woman. This woman is believed to be herself, escaping from the wallpaper. The wallpaper that symbolises gender expectations of the time, and the confinement of her imagination and true self. At the end of the story, the narrator rips off all the wallpaper, with help from the woman ‘in the wallpaper’ who had escaped. As previously mentioned, this woman represents our main character, and her name is believed to be Jane. When John comes home and enters the nursery, he is greeted by his wife who has visibly lost her mind.