The Yellow Wallpaper Charlotte Perkins Gilman Meaning

Charlotte perkins gilman s classic short story the yellow wallpaper tells the story of a young woman s gradual descent into psychosis.

The yellow wallpaper charlotte perkins gilman meaning. The house seems to have something queer about it. Accordingly the wallpaper develops its symbolism throughout the story. Catherine sustana ph d is a fiction writer and a former professor of english at hawaii pacific university. The yellow wallpaper is a short story by american writer charlotte perkins gilman first published in january 1892 in the new england magazine.

First published in 1892 the story takes the form of secret journal entries written by a woman who is supposed to be recovering from what her husband a physician calls a nervous condition. Like kate chopin s the story of an hour charlotte perkins gilman s the yellow wallpaper is a mainstay of feminist literary study. Narrated in the first person the story is a collection of journal entries written by a woman whose physician husband has rented an old mansion for the summer. The worst part is the ostensibly formless pattern which fascinates the narrator as she attempts to figure out how it is organized.

The yellow wallpaper is often cited as an early feminist work that predates a woman s right to vote in the united states. Analysis of the yellow wallpaper by c. At first it seems merely unpleasant. This critical analysis of the yellow wallpaper by charlotte perkins gilman 1892 highlights a long short story or short novella considered a feminist literary classic.

Set during the late 1890s the story shows the mental and emotional results of the typical rest cure prescribed during that era and the narrator s reaction to this course of treatment. This story starts with a mystery. It is ripped soiled and an unclean yellow. It is regarded as an important early work of american feminist literature due to its illustration of the attitudes towards mental and physical health of women in the 19th century.