The Yellow Wallpaper

I read the story before I listened to the podcast, and I assumed that Charlotte Perkins Gilman was using a fictional story of a woman being locked in a nursery to make a commentary on domesticity and a sense of being controlled by a mother’s societal role and expectations.  Although these things are true for the story, I was really surprised that Gilman was actually writing about her lived experience of being forced into solitude and a life of domesticity to “heal” from a mental illness. My initial analysis of the story aligns with Professor Bezio’s bonus step for close reading: I attached a new meaning onto Gilman’s writing that mattered and made sense to me. Reading this story from the context of 2021, when mental health is no longer treated as being crazy, especially for women, I was able to look at The Yellow Wallpaper through a different lens. However, as the podcast explained, in the context of the 19th century, women who read The Yelllow Wallpaper understood Gilman’s experience, and those in similar positions were able to use the lessons they got out of it to enhance their own lives. One woman who was in solitude for a medical condition even faked being crazy, like the woman in the story, to break free from her bed rest and, unsurprisingly, was able to live a normal life outside of her bondage.

4 thoughts on “The Yellow Wallpaper

  1. Sofie Martinez

    I can’t even imagine the amount of women who suffered the same fate as Gilman at some point in their life. Your commentary reminded me of the fact that prior to Roe v. Wade, some women had to fake insanity in order to obtain a medical abortion. My friend’s grandmother, who had already had 7 children, knew that she could not take care of an 8th, and had to act mentally unstable for her to receive the reproductive care she needed! And the craziest part of this is, this was less than 60 years ago. People think that women have reached a state of social equality, when in reality we have just begun the process of gaining basic human rights (like making medical decisions for your body. IMAGINE if men had to get the approval of their wives before being prescribed Viagra…)

  2. Judith Witke Mele

    I liked that you mentioned the context of mental health today. While I read the story my mind was closed enough to only think about the domestic life women lived when this story was written.

  3. Madelyn Grassi

    I also like the way you talk about reading this story in the particular context of the time period and how mental health is treated very differently today than it was when Gilman was alive. The same goes for so many other things too — sexuality, religion, etc. Along with this, there are people in places throughout the country and world (in their own homes or in their communities) who still feel like their feelings are not valid, and it is important that we recognize context not only in time period but also in geography.

  4. Laura Roldan

    Referencing the mental health element of the story is very important. In Gilman’s life, mental illness, especially for women was not treated as an illness but rather called “hysteria.” Women’s mental health was not taken seriously and women were perceived as being overdramatic. However, as you point out, Gilman outlines what can occur when a woman’s mental health is disregarded.

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