The Yellow Wallpaper

By Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Presented in the first person, the story is a collection of journal entries written by a woman whose physician husband (John) has rented an old mansion for the summer and the couple moves into the upstairs nursery. As a form of treatment, she is forbidden from working, but encouraged to eat well and get plenty of exercise and air, so she can recuperate from what he calls a temporary nervous depression - a slight hysterical tendency, a diagnosis common to women in that period. She hides her journal from her husband and his sister the housekeeper, fearful of being reproached for overworking herself. With nothing to stimulate her, she becomes obsessed by the pattern and color of the wallpaper, descending slowly into psychosis.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dreamscape Media
• Release date: Mar 28, 2017
• ISBN: 9781520077260

Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860-1935), author of the celebrated short story "The Yellow Wallpaper," is regarded by many as a leading intellectual in the women's movement in the United States during the first two decades of the twentieth century. Michael Kimmel is Distinguished Professor of Sociology at SUNY, Stony Brook, and the author of Manhood in America: A Cultural History. Amy Aronson is a professor of Journalism and Media Studies at Fordham University.

Book preview

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Reviews for The Yellow Wallpaper

[moniquesnyman-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A creepy psychological horror with subtle feminism undertones. I truly enjoyed this one, because it showed how helpless women of the past were in certain situations, governed by their fathers, husbands, and brothers.

[readingover50 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Read this short story in 1 sitting. It is the story of a woman's descent into madness following the birth of her child and the subsequent enforced rest. She is taken to a country house to recover and spends most of her time confined to a room with horrid yellow wallpaper. The description of the room makes me think what happens to the woman has happened in the past. A creepy, thought provoking read.

[norabelle414 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A woman and her husband and young child rent a house for a few months while their house is being renovated. They stay in an attic bedroom with confusingly-patterned yellow wallpaper. The woman, already dealing with mental health problems, slowly becomes delusional due to her husband keeping her in the room with nothing to do but stare at the wallpaper every day.I was expecting this story to speak to me much more than it actually did. I know what the generally accepted interpretation of this story is - the woman's husband is controlling and abusive and she projects that feeling on to the wallpaper as she goes crazy. However, if the reader is seeing things only from the woman's perspective, and the woman is definitely delusional by the end, and thus an unreliable narrator, who are we to say when exactly she turned delusional? I'm certainly among the first to point out when a man is too controlling of a woman, but I think if the woman was delusional and paranoid from before the narration begins this story would look exactly the same.The downside of listening to this story as an audiobook is that I had no sense of time passing. There were no dates or noticeable breaks in the narration, so one minute they are moving into the house for 3 months and the next minute they are a couple days from moving back home. The lack of sense of time might have had something to do with my interpretation. I did listen to it twice but that did not seem to help.

[stephlaymon · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The Yellow Wall-Paper was one of the first short novels that I read. I made the exception because of its status on the list of 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. I am glad that I read it. It is the perfect length for a cup of tea and the price is right. It is a part of Project Gutenberg, and an eBook can be obtained free of charge.
The story is a series of journal entries told in first person by the narrator, a nameless woman who is locked in a room, after being diagnosed as ‘nervously depressed’ by her physician husband, John. I believe that John acts out of love, although questionable at times. His treatment of his wife is so oppressive, that it seems that the woman may have created her own sense of freedom, although it is seen as psychotic.
The journal entries describe the woman’s descent into psychosis with the wallpaper in the room where she is locked in her own thoughts. The ending of the story has an odd, but feminist triumph of sorts. I can see that there are many ways that this story, albeit short, could be interpreted. The bottom line is that there is a lot of punch in this short little ditty.

[deborahj2016 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Amazing, painful, frightening. TV Tropes even refers to this short story from 1892... (especially in the "Room Full of Crazy" trope...)

[m.belljackson · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

With still so many unresolved questions, The Yellow Wallpaper keeps its power.Was the doctor husband totally without bad intentions?If no, why did he not respond to his wife's simple request NOT to stay in the upstairs nursery with the awful peeling wallpaper?Did her writing actually cause her to become more upset? or was this a thing he just wanted to control?If she could make it outside for daily walks, why does she keep insisting that her husband would not allow her to DO anything?She could have gardened! fed birds! found a pet! followed the wildlife! dug a pond!So this descent into madness felt more like the choices of an unstable mind rather than an intent by her husband and his sister to drive her insane.

[thebookjunky · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I doubt I will ever read again such powerful descriptions of wallpaper. What vivid writing!

[elise920 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I feel like a cheater for counting this as a book; it is more like a short story. The story is only about 30 pages, and the afterword is as long as the story itself. As one of the few feminist pieces from the 19th century, The Yellow Wallpaper is a chilling psychological account of what both physical and mental isolation and imprisonment could do to a woman. The novel describes vividly the power structure and dynamics of the typical husband-wife relationship at that time and how they attribute to female depression and madness. A powerful piece of literature and social commentary.

[ralphlagana · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

If you've any appreciation for short stories that stand the test of time, then you're sure to like this one.

Gilman's story of woman in a room with yellow wallpaper sounds about as dry and bland as one can imagine, which is precisely why one needs to read it to see how dangerous preconceived ideas can be.

Gilman's narrator is bubbly and energetic initially, then changes begin to settle in -changes which leave her state of mind on the precipice of ruination. Does she manage to hold herself together? Or, does she slip into horrifying madness?

[nospi-2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Interesting story told in journal fashion of a woman compelled to take a rest cure by her p hysician hu s band and the result forced inactivity has on her mind.

[dreesie-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It starts so simply...a couple is on vacation. She is ill and taking a rest in the country. But is that true? She is scared, and trapped, and not allowed to leave. Her fear is palpable. Or, maybe, she is an extremely unreliable narrator?

[jewelknits · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A journalized descent into a woman's madness . . . brought on yellow wallpaper.A quick, rather creepy sort of read.

[kristelh_15 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The Yellow Wallpaper is a short story written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, first published in January 1892 in The New England Magazine can be found on the internet and read in about thirty minutes. It is considered an example of early feminist literature. The protagonist, a woman married to a physician who may have just had a baby is being kept in a home to rest because she is suffering from nervous hysteria. She is being kept in a room with a yellow wallpaper. The reader is given a picture of her descent into madness. At first the pattern is just annoying and irritating but then it becomes sinister. The woman wants to write but is forbidden by her husband so she is writing in her journal secretly. She wants to visit with lively friends but he husband tells her it will be too much for her. In the end she is more paranoid and no longer feels safe leaving the room.

[dste_2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I think that The Yellow Wallpaper is a really good short story. The way that the plot unravels on it's way to the ending is really skillful. I'm also impressed by the fact that the author went through a similar situation and was able to find her way out of it! Knowing that the author wrote from experience added a lot of credibility to the story as a whole.

[sturlington_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A woman, confined to an upper-story bedroom in a creepy house for a "rest cure" following a mental breakdown, becomes obsessed with the hideous yellow wallpaper.I have read this story a few times and I always forget how creepy and chilling it is, especially the final image. Gilman has a knack of pointing out the horrific things that society does to women. In this story, depriving the narrator of her means of expressing herself and stimulating her brain is just as terrifying as confining her to her room. I believe the narrator was suffering from undiagnosed postpartum depression.Reread in 2015.

[elizajane_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Brilliant story of madness! Fascinating piece for its historical value as Ms. Gilman is protesting the common treatment at the time the story was written given to women who were suffering "nervous" disorders. A cautionary tale but extremely frightening because of its reality.

[theeccentriclady · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Interesting read from a different era. Not sure how I really feel even after 2 months. I like dark and books about insanity but this one was a bit out there.

[michael8xolotl · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Even as short as it is, still too long. It would be more compelling as a paragraph or two. Probably as highly rated as it is because of its position within feminist literature, which is fine and understandable (and moderately interesting); I just didn't care for it--I found it more comical than anything else.

[sullwyn · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was shorter than I expected.. But interesting.. I loved the visuals I got from her description of the creeping woman behind the pattern in the wallpaper... And to learn ultimately that it was herself she saw trapped behind it.. Creepy.. And sad.. I enjoyed it!

[amydross · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Never read this as a kid, realized I probably should. An interesting perspective on interior decorating.

[rumpeltje · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Although this is a short story it is very powerful. You pick up on the slow deterioration of the main character, but like with the wallpaper it isn't that clear in the beginning.

What the attic room has been used for in the past is also up for discussion. I personally believe that although it might once have been used as nursery its previous function might be totally different.

[frozenplums · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

One of my favorite short stories of all time! Beautifully haunting psychological thriller!

[anawkwardreader · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

On the surface, it's a creepy, intriguing story about a woman and the wallpaper in her room, but it goes so much deeper to address how women were treated by their husbands and by doctors at the time. It's partially autobiographical and appalling and groundbreaking, especially for 1892, yet not as unrecognizable as one would hope for being well over 100 years old, which added to the disturbance level of this story for me.

It's in the public domain and a really quick read, but I liked this edition for its introduction and afterword that set the historical context and gave a lot of information about Charlotte Perkins Gilman and her own experiences with the "rest cure." But the afterword does spoil "The Awakening" and "The House of Mirth," just FYI.

[trayceetee · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I had picked this book up on a whim, largely due to how slim it was, but also because the little synopsis on the back of the book sounded interesting. Before I could start it, someone posted something on Facebook about how they'd read this book ages ago, and it had always stayed with them. I thought, "Huh. And I've never even heard of it...."
I read it in one sitting, less than an hour's time. For me, that's VERY fast. I can see, now, why they said it always stayed with them. I don't know that I would have appreciated it if I'd read this when I was in my teens or twenties, or even in my thirties.... but at this exact point in my life, it DEFINITELY spoke to me!!!
Another one I'll re-read again and again!!!

[msaucier818 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This was a short story told from the point of view of a woman who was suffering what we would today call postpartum depression. Her husband and family force her to stay on bed rest in a strange room where she slowly loses her mind based on her surroundings - especially the wallpaper in the room. While short, the story does a nice job making the reader feel for the main character, and gives us a glimpse of what it might be like to suffer from that type of depression.

[musecure · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Wow! How is it I've never run across this before? Gilman's writing and characterization is superb. This is definitely one to go back to again and again.

[darthdeverell · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In The Yellow Wallpaper, Charlotte Perkins Gilman explores the rest cure through a story in which her unreliable narrator slowly unravels like the wallpaper on which she fixates. The tale begins with the narrator entering a gothic manse fallen on hard times as part of her physician husband John's prescription, "absolutely forbidden to 'work' until" she is well (pg. 3). Locked in a room with only the curling patterns on yellow wallpaper to occupy herself, she slowly begins imagining that they move and ascribing personalities to the patterns. The narrator looks out the window and offers insight into her life, but this fades as the wallpaper comes to dominate her world, until she must climb inside it. The story offers useful historical insight into the rest cure while also serving as a good example of nineteenth century gothic fiction.

[ajbraithwaite_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Wow, this is a great short story. Creepy, sinister and unbearably sad.

[pepperwings · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It's fascinating and also mystifying how people handled mental stress, or mental disorders years ago, what things helped some people, and drove others further into madness. From what I understand, this story is partially true, based on the author's experience and hallucinations, and the frustration from people who largely had good intentions. Of course, from a feminist point of view, it's terrible how little people listened to what she wanted, or worked to truly understand and help.

[kikiunhinged · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Brilliant work and I love how disturbing people thought it was when she wrote it. As if one would have to be insane to be able to write that brilliantly. Loved it and will read it again.