I read “The Yellow Wallpaper” in a class in my junior year of high school, so it was interesting to read again three years later, and I enjoyed getting to close read it again and see how my perspective has changed and what stands out to me now. One part of “The Yellow Wallpaper” that I found really interesting was the following quote as Gilman talks about the bedroom in the story: “If we had not used it, that blessed child would have! What a fortunate escape! Why, I wouldn’t have a child of mine, an impressionable little thing, live in such a room for worlds” (652). After learning about Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s postpartum, this context provides a powerful insight into her experience. In this quote, the woman shows that she cares for her child, as she would not have wanted the child to experience the wallpaper the way she is, however, at the same time, is very detached in how she speaks about her child. The context becomes important to close reading Gilman’s work.<\/p>\n
This passage is a prime example of Dr. Bezio’s discussion of close reading, in particular Step 4 and looking at context.\u00a0 Much of the story has a universal context related to themes of first wave feminism and the treatment of women, specifically white women, in the early eighteenth century, and this piece is no exception. This quote provides some insight into the experience of postpartum depression, especially when it goes undiagnosed or even considered real. However, it also a very specific context related to Gilman’s personal experience. Knowing this context allows for a deeper understanding of the story and the role of external information in how close reading requires the reader to put together an array of signs, symbols, and words to create a narrative that requires complex thinking and interpretation. Context demonstrates how this element of postpartum depression is both applicable to a more universal experience of white women and mothers in the early 18t century, and to the unique and particular experience of Charlotte Perkins Gilman.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I read “The Yellow Wallpaper” in a class in my junior year of high school, so it was interesting to read again three years later, and I enjoyed getting to close read it again and see how my perspective has changed and what stands out to me now. One part of “The Yellow Wallpaper” that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4601,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41194],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reading-responses"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/criticalthinking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/criticalthinking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/criticalthinking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/criticalthinking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4601"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/criticalthinking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7324"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/criticalthinking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7324\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7334,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/criticalthinking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7324\/revisions\/7334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/criticalthinking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/criticalthinking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/criticalthinking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}