Understanding “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins’ Gillman Why does “The Yellow Wallpaper” make such a strong impact and realization about how different postpartum depression was thought about in the past? The Yellow Wallpaper can make a huge impact on someone reading it that is not aware of how different society was in that time period and can really open their eyes to it. The view of depression in women in the late 1800’s was much different than we know it today. In “The Yellow Wallpaper” this is obvious and shows that that story could be seen in a number of families not just the one in the story. The struggles by the lady in this short story really can make an impact of today’s civilization and really put in prospective the differences …show more content…
During this time period all major social roles, including doctors, were held by men and little was known about depression in women. Hysteria disorder, temporary nervous depression, or postpartum depression as we know it now, was where a women would go into a depressive time after the birth of a child. Often the treatment for this disorder was to be cut off from the world and be put in an environment where there was no burden and she could rest with little to no physical or mental stimulation, this was known as the rest cure that Dr. S. Weir Mitchell developed. “During the first week, the patient was not allowed to sit up or feed themselves. They were not allowed to sew, read, or write. A nurse took care of their needs and provided gentle massage for their muscles. Their food was a simple diet and did not include any of the potent medicines (often stimulants or narcotics) that were common at the time.” (Nespor, 2014) After the first few weeks normal activities were gradually introduced. The author of “The Yellow Wallpaper” Charlotte Gilman Perkins was actually a patient of this doctor and went through this treatment herself in 1887. With this information we can truly start to understand the story “The Yellow