“When a character in short fiction experiences a dramatic moment so intense that it cannot be avoided or ignored, what happens to the character? What happens when that character adapts or does not change at all? Write an essay about a character from one of the stories on the reading list, delving into the problem of how a character faces a potentially life-altering event. Show why the character is put in the presence of that event and who or what forces the character into that position. In the environment of an academic setting, what can we say we are trying to work out for ourselves by reading fiction. The Yellow Wallpaper
“The Yellow Wallpaper”- Charlotte Perkins Gilman. To read the full fictional story
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The Yellow Wallpaper
The Yellow Wallpaper is a story authored by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Gilman wrote it
in 1890 and published the story later in 1892. Gilman suffered from serious postpartum
depression after giving birth to her daughter in 1888. This paper will discuss something that I
liked reading the most in the “The Yellow Wallpaper” story.
Which reading did you like the most?
I enjoyed reading the section where John, the physician realized that his wife Gilman has
a mental illness. This is because the narrator does not realize that she is sick and needs to adhere
to the instructions given by her personal doctor and husband, John. As a physician, John thought
that giving her a rest treatment would go a long way in helping her heal. Therefore, he booked a
beautiful estate in summer to help Gilman overcome nervous depression. Not knowing why John
rented the space, Gilman said that “It is very seldom that mere ordinary people like John and
myself secure ancestral hall s for the summer” (Stetson p 647). By this time, Gilman had just
delivered but the baby was in the hands of John’s sister Mary who served as the house help and
the author’s nurse. Gilman does not realize this and says “It is fortunate Mary is so good with the
baby. Such a dear baby! And yet I cannot be with him, it makes me so nervous” (Stetson p 649).
Did you find a hidden meaning of some kind within the essay?
The “The Yellow Wallpaper” story has a hidden meaning. This is seen when Gilman
noted something strange in the house, the yellow wall-paper. She says to John, “I don't like our
room a bit” (Stetson p 648). She describes the yellow wall-paper and says “the paint and paper
look as if a boys' school had used it. It is stripped off the paper – in great patches all around the
head of my bed, about as far as I can reach, and in a great place on the other side of the room low
down. I never saw a worse paper in my life”. (Stetson p 648). Additionally, Gilman likes to write
and read novels but her husband has forbidden her from doing any of them but she continues to
do them secretly. She says “I did write for a while in spite of them; but it does exhaust me a good
deal-having to be so sly about it, or else meet with heavy opposition” (Stetson p 648). When
Gilman realized that John was almost making his way to the house, she hid all her writing
materials and had to pretend that nothing was going on. In all these things, she is trying to reveal
how the domestic life hinder women from reaching their desired goals.
Did something make you curious?
A lot of things in the story made me curious. One of them is the situation when Gilman
tells John “you’ve got out at last," said I, " in spite of you and Jane? And I’ve pulled off most of the
paper, so you can’t put me back! "(Stetson p 656). On hearing this, John fainted and the narrator
kept on creeping over him every time. This is because I wonder, what happened after John
fainted? Did the narrator’s condition continue to deteriorate or did she recover?
The message that the author is trying to convey
The author of “The Yellow Wallpaper” educates her readers on matters women’s health,
mental illnesses, and motherhood. They are all a true reflection of how life was for women in the
late 19 th century America.