The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

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• The Yellow Wallpaper
  In "The Yellow Wallpaper," what is seen from the 4 views from the windows upstairs, and what is the emotional quality of those views?  
  Since the narrator is cooped up in this room for most of her day and all night, the views out the window are one of the few things that she has to look at. Other than the wallpaper, which...

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• The Yellow Wallpaper
  Who sees? Who is blind? Why? Compare one character’s insight to another character’s lack of understanding, either in the same text or through a comparative reading. What thematic purpose is served...
  The narrator and her husband would make an excellent duo for this question. The narrator likely suffers from postpartum depression, as evidenced by the baby who is also in the household and by her...

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• The Yellow Wallpaper
  What do the narrator’s husband and brother think is wrong with her?
  Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” is told in the first-person point of view from an unnamed narrator, a young woman suffering from an illness that no one in her...

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• The Yellow Wallpaper
  The narrator sees women creeping about and, in the final descent into madness, she is crawling around the baseboards. What is this symbolic of?
  The narrator of the story initially suffers from postpartum depression, which transforms into psychosis as a result of the unhealthy "rest cure." The narrator's husband does not recognize that the...

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• The Yellow Wallpaper
  In "The Yellow Wallpaper," is the narrator reliable or unreliable? Can we believe everything that she says? Why or why not?
  This is a deliciously beefy question! Thanks for asking! The answer is a tripartite combination of perspectives. Through the eyes of the main character, the first perspective, the argument is...

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• The Yellow Wallpaper
  Why is the speaker’s bed nailed down?
  The speaker's bed is nailed down because she is not staying in the nursery of an old house, as she believes, but because she is staying in a room used to treat women who are suffering from...

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• The Yellow Wallpaper
  What did the speaker do with the key to her room?
  On the day before the narrator moves out of the country estate, she begins tearing the yellow wallpaper from the walls in an attempt to free the trapped woman behind. At this point in the story,...

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• The Yellow Wallpaper
  What does the woman behind the wallpaper represent, and why does the narrator come to identify with her in "The Yellow Wallpaper"?
  The narrator sees the woman in the wallpaper as a prisoner, just like she is a prisoner in her room. She can't do anything that her husband and sister-in-law don't approve of, nor can the woman in...

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• The Yellow Wallpaper
  Could it be argued that Gilman intentionally uses a gothic setting to mask the true feminist themes/intention of the story "The Yellow Wallpaper" due to fear of criticism and backlash amidst the first...
  I don't think Gilman was trying to mask a feminist message under the Gothic genre. I believe this for several reasons. First, Gilman was not shy about expressing or living out her beliefs and was a...

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• The Yellow Wallpaper
  What causes the illness in "The Yellow Wallpaper"?
  The narrator is initially suffering from postpartum depression, which typically includes mood swings, increased anxiety, and difficulty sleeping after a woman gives birth. However, the narrator's...

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• The Yellow Wallpaper
  How does the description of the wallpaper change over time?
  As the main character in “The Yellow Wallpaper” transforms mentally, so does her description of the wallpaper in the room. As the story is clearly about her deteriorating mental and emotional...

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• The Yellow Wallpaper
  I would like to know how Gilman uses irony—both dramatic and situational irony—in order to explore the oppressive nature of gender roles in the Victorian Era in "The Yellow Wallpaper." I'm looking...
  Situational irony occurs when a situation or outcome is different from what a character (or characters) in a work of literature think it is or will be. Dramatic irony occurs when the audience knows...

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• The Yellow Wallpaper
  How exactly does Gilman go about using an epistolary story to make the point that denying women their rights and humanity is dangerous to society, family life, and women?
  Gilman's use of the epistolary form means that the narrator is a first-person subjective one. The protagonist, a woman being treated for what we would now likely call postpartum depression, is...

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• The Yellow Wallpaper
  What does the ending of the story "The Yellow Wallpaper" suggest about the woman behind the wallpaper?
  The ending of the short story, "The Yellow Wallpaper," suggests that the woman has, in her mind, become the woman in the wallpaper. When she cannot fully remove the wallpaper from the wall and set...

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• The Yellow Wallpaper
  Explain how the setting contributes to the woman's decline to insanity.
  The setting of "The Yellow Wallpaper" both reflects the narrator's mental isolation and plunges her further into her own world of mental struggles. Consider how the house's physical isolation is...

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• The Yellow Wallpaper
  Who else supports John's diagnosis?
  The narrator's husband, John, is a respected physician. So if he says that his wife is sick, then who is she to challenge his professional opinion? Although the narrator reveals a slight degree of...

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• The Yellow Wallpaper
  How and why does mental illness function in “The Yellow Wallpaper”?
  When one analyzes The Yellow Wallpaper, there is often immense focus given to the period in which the story is set and its treatment of women. Without such a focus on the feminist aspect of the...

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• The Yellow Wallpaper
  How does mental illness function in “The Yellow Wallpaper,” and why does it function that way?
  Mental illness is a driving force in Charlotte Perkins Gilman's story in terms of both character and plot. Because it is a psychological study, these two aspects are closely interrelated. The...

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• The Yellow Wallpaper
  "Mental illness in the story serves several functions: the first being a more historical insight into the way people with mental illness were treated in the time. The second is the way women with...
  Gilman mentions a noted real neurologist (who we might call a psychiatrist) of the time, Weir Mitchell, in her short story. In general, she wanted to critique his notion of a rest cure, an accepted...

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• The Yellow Wallpaper
  What are the nature of motivations that direct the narrators course of action in "The Yellow Wallpaper"? What is the course of action?
  The narrator of this story is motivated by a belief that she is ill, that she is neither believed nor trusted either to express her own condition or participate in her treatment, and that the...

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• The Yellow Wallpaper
  Give a description of John in "The Yellow Wallpaper." Why does the heroine say that his profession is "perhaps...one reason I do not get well faster?" How does the narrator view her husband? Does she...
  The narrator of Charlotte Perkins Gilman's story wants to believe in her husband's educated medical opinion. The reader meets John only through his wife's eyes. He seems genuinely concerned with...

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• The Yellow Wallpaper
  What is the theme of "The Yellow Wallpaper"?
  Stories tend to have multiple themes, and "The Yellow Wallpaper" is no exception. I would say that this short story largely revolves around two major themes which are intertwined together: it's an...

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• The Yellow Wallpaper
  Describe the character of John in "The Yellow Wallpaper." Does the narrator's view of him change over the course of the story? Explain.
  John is an esteemed physician and the narrator's husband who is an avid supporter of the "rest cure," which was designed to minimize distressing stimulation and promote physical health for women...

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• The Yellow Wallpaper
  Provide an argument for how "The Yellow Wallpaper" should be interpreted. Include quotes.
  In Gilman’s story, the narrator confesses and repeatedly refers to the fact that her writing is a sort of forbidden journal—one which the narrator’s husband views as a “vicious influence”...

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• The Yellow Wallpaper
  Do you think that the narrator is mentally ill to begin with, or has something else caused her to become mentally ill in "The Yellow Wallpaper"?
  In the beginning of the narrative of "The Yellow Wallpaper," the narrator is suffering from what is now referred to as postpartum depression. This develops because of hormonal changes in women...

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• The Yellow Wallpaper
  What symbolism is used in the story "The Yellow Wallpaper"?
  In "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman symbolism permeates the atmosphere, setting, and even the mood of the main character, mainly due to the fact that the woman has no other option...

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• The Yellow Wallpaper
  What kind of environment and experience does John seem to want to provide for the narrator? What kinds of restrictions does he apply to her activities?
  John is trying to completely isolate his wife. This is achieved first by bringing her to the estate in the first place, a decision she feels uncomfortable about, and then by choosing an upstairs...

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• The Yellow Wallpaper
  Identify the narrative style of "The Yellow Wallpaper." What is the effect of this style of narrative in developing the main character? How does it influence how the reader understands the main...
  Charlotte Perkins Gilman wrote "The Yellow Wallpaper" in a narrative style known as epistolary fiction. This type of fiction unfolds via the writings of one or more characters. In this case, the...

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• The Yellow Wallpaper
  What is wrong with the narrator in "The Yellow Wallpaper"?
  The nameless narrator and protagonist in Charlotte Perkins Gilman's short story "The Yellow Wallpaper" is a woman who has recently given birth to a first child and is suffering what seems to be an...

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• The Yellow Wallpaper
  I need a thesis statement for "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Gilman.
  A thesis statement should be both arguable and specific. To be arguable, the thesis has to state an opinion and defend it by using quotes from the story as evidence. To determine an opinion about...

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• The Yellow Wallpaper
  What is one example of direct characterization and one example of indirect characterization in "The Yellow Wallpaper"?
  With Charlotte Perkins Gilman's unreliable narrator, the depiction of the other characters involved in the narrative of "The Yellow Wallpaper" are, of course, tinted by her perspective. 1. Direct...

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• The Yellow Wallpaper
  How does Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" reflect Marxist theory?
  The best way to approach "The Yellow Wallpaper" in terms of Marxist theory is by relating it to socialist feminism. Mostly, the story explores the oppressiveness of class relations felt by women in...

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• The Yellow Wallpaper
  Why does Jane creep around her husband in "The Yellow Wallpaper"?
  Jane's husband is portrayed as an authoritative physician who is narrow-minded and a staunch proponent of Dr. Silas Weir Mitchell's "rest cure," which was designed to minimize distressing...

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• The Yellow Wallpaper
  What is it about the house, the grounds, and her room that upsets the narrator?
  The house upsets the narrator because it is someone else's ancestral hall, and she believes it to be "a haunted house." She thinks there is "something queer" about the house, though she cannot...

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• The Yellow Wallpaper
  Why can’t the speaker be with her baby?
  In "The Yellow Wallpaper," the narrator is a nameless woman who suffers from some kind of a mental illness, presumably depression. The author does not specify what kind of illness; all we know is...

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• The Yellow Wallpaper
  Describe the characterization of John in "The Yellow Wallpaper."
  John's quite an ambiguous character, and this is what makes him so intriguing. As the narrator's husband and doctor, he thinks he's doing what's best for her. In actual fact, however, he's doing...

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• The Yellow Wallpaper
  In "The Yellow Wallpaper," what is the signifcance of the woman behind the yellow wallpaper?
  In "The Yellow Wallpaper," the unnamed woman narrating the short story is virtually a prisoner in a small yellow room with horrendous yellow wallpaper. She is staying at this small summer house...

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• The Yellow Wallpaper
  What is the main idea of the story "The Yellow Wallpaper"?
  At heart, "The Yellow Wallpaper" is a critique of women's position in nineteenth-century society. The narrator of the story suffers from what seems like post-partum depression, and she is...

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• The Yellow Wallpaper
  What can you infer about the narrator and her ideas about marriage based on her remarks?
  The narrator is trapped in a patriarchal marriage, in which her physician husband makes all the decisions for her and calls her a "silly goose" when she complains. However, we can infer that she...

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• The Yellow Wallpaper
  In the story "The Yellow Wallpaper," in what ways is John to blame for his wife's descent into madness?  
  The unnamed narrator's husband John is to blame for his wife's breakdown because he has repressed his wife, and he lacks any understanding of her feelings. John has accepted the medical theories of...

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• The Yellow Wallpaper
  In "The Yellow Wallpaper" why are they living in this colonial mansion? What is its history? Does the heroine feel comfortable in the house?
  The narrator had just had a baby, and afterwards, had been feeling down and depressed. Today, we know this as post-partum depression; in her day, it was labelled as an unknown "temporary nervous...

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• The Yellow Wallpaper
  What is the symbolism in "The Yellow Wallpaper"?
  The most significant symbol in "The Yellow Wallpaper" is contained within the title itself. As the story progresses, the wallpaper becomes a symbol of the narrator's mental illness. She strongly...

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• The Yellow Wallpaper
  Is "The Yellow Wallpaper" an example of cultural modernism?
  As the "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman was published in 1892, it was written before the beginning of "high modernism", but it is within a transition period between the Victorian...

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• The Yellow Wallpaper
  Why does the narrator of "The Yellow Wallpaper" say John’s profession is “perhaps . . . one reason I do not get well faster"? Who else supports John’s diagnosis?
  The narrator’s husband, John, is a physician. He is utterly committed to the supremacy of science. His evaluation of his wife’s condition as a slight hysteria or temporary depression fails to...

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• The Yellow Wallpaper
  How is irony used in this story? How is the wallpaper used as a symbol for the life of the narrator? Responding requires active mental engagement: exploring ideas, forming conclusions and, ultimately,...
  An assignment such as this requires you to think very carefully about what you pull away from the text and how you interpret its meaning. There are a variety of directions you can go with this kind...

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• The Yellow Wallpaper
  Reading response: How is irony used in this story? How is the wallpaper used as a symbol for the life of the narrator?
  To write this one-page analysis, you should first choose a question from the suggested topics that you find most interesting. I will discuss how you might formulate a thesis and discuss each of the...

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• The Yellow Wallpaper
  In Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper," who are the intended readers? 
  Charlotte Perkins Gilman wrote "The Yellow Wallpaper" based upon her own personal experience with postpartum depression (PPD). Gilman married Charles Walter Stetson, and after giving birth to their...

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• The Yellow Wallpaper
  Where does it show that the narrator is an unreliable narrator in "The Yellow Wallpaper"? 
  The term "unreliable narrator" refers to a narrator who is disturbed or too sujective to be completely credible. This narrator's recount of events is so distorted that it departs from the true...

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• The Yellow Wallpaper
  Explain feminism and clarify how Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper," Tillie Olsen's "I Stand Here Ironing," and Alice Walker's "Everyday Use" are literary representations of feminism....
  Feminism is a movement which involves the idea that women are equal to men and should be given the same freedoms, respect, and opportunities. Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" concerns a woman who is...

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• The Yellow Wallpaper
  What are the similarities between the stories "The Yellow Wallpaper and "The Cask of Amontillado"?
  For starters, both narrators are considerably unwell. They are classic examples of unreliable narrators since we see the world through only their eyes/perception.The Yellow Wallpaper narrator is...

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