BookTalk.org

The Yellow Wallpaper

This is a short story by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and I find it to be just a tad, well, creepy. I was wondering if anyone had read it (or wanted to read it) and wanted to discuss it a bit.

Hello Krys:

I have reccently read this, I agree, it is very creepy. It's funny you mention this one, I'm in the midst of a research essay on it. It is autobiographical, and it shows how women were perceived in the 1800's.

I think this would make a good sugesstion for the next dark side discussion.

Krysondra wrote:This is a short story by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and I find it to be just a tad, well, creepy. I was wondering if anyone had read it (or wanted to read it) and wanted to discuss it a bit.

The Yellow Wallpaper is in an anthology I own called: Haunted Women: The Best Supernatural Tales by American Women Writers. So, what the hell, I'll read it. I like the way this thread is going.

I have read it twice and found it very creepy.

A good choice of feminist literature. I read that short story and the part where it showed the stains on the wall, Stephen King guessed that was from the drool on the main character as she started walking and going mad and ending it with her crawling on the floor, against the walls.

What is really interesting is that this actually happened to Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the "rest cure" I mean. She was treated by Dr. Weir Mitchell who develped the "rest cure". This cure was designed to treat a nervous condition known as neurasthenia. It affected women who were considered wealthy and elite. This treatment is described as total bedrest, 24 hours a day. This could go on for months at a time. A nurse would be asigned to the "patient" and would give meals, and bed pans, etc. Gilman was told by Dr. Mitchell that she should never pick up a paint brush, or a pen ever again and that she was not allowed to use her mind in anything that would put a strain on her. She was not even allowed to read.

This story was written during the "cult of womanhood". Also, the doctrine of "feme convert" was practised during this time. This doctrine states, that once a woman is married, the household becomes one person, of course that one would be the husband. Even if the wife did something criminal, the husband was responsible. All wages and labor from the wife belonged to the husband. Actually, I believe the law finally changed, where a wife would automatically inherit the family home after the husband's death in May of 1980. Before this, the home went to the husband's next of kin, which would be children. If there were no children, the home would go to a brother.

Also, what I find interesting, is the practise of a woman taking on the husband's name. This is smbolic for the wife becoming "one" with her husband, to actually "belong" to the husband.

Another interesting factoid, off topic, but relating to marriages. Has anyone seen the movie "Brave Heart"? In the movie, the "best men" from the King were allowed to rape the bride on the wedding night. This is the origin of today's, best man at weddings. The best man gets to take the garter off the bride at modern weddings. This symbolizes the "deflowering" of the bride.

Interesting post. Thanks, Suzanne.

I personally think that the "rest cure" would be enough to drive anyone crazy. It wasn't really used with the working class women because they were thought to be sturdier and more stable than the women of the upper class who could easily develop "hysterics" or other "feminine diseases".

I read that women were encouraged not to even roll over during their rest cure and that some women may have been restrained at the beginning of their rest cure in order to enforce it.

What's your thesis for your paper, Suzanne, if you don't mind me asking?

Patrick, that is just really, really creepy. That it would be her drool makes me shiver.

I read the story last night and was definitely creeped out, especially by the ending.

Spoiler

I can totally see the narrator crawling along the perimeter of the room, believing herself to be inside the wallpaper. Priceless.

I also love how she looks out the window and believes she sees the woman from the wallpaper. 'It is the same woman, I know, for she is always creeping, and most women do not creep by daylight.'

and . . .

'I often wonder if I could see her out of all the windows at once. But, turn, fast as I can, I can only see out of one at a time.'

Thanks again for all of the information about the bedrest cure. I was not aware of this at all and I don't think I would have found this story very compelling or believable without this background.

It's telling when her doctor-husband, John, calls his wife, "little girl" and when she pleads with him to leave and says she is not getting better, he says:

"'Bless her little heart!' said he with a big hug. 'She shall be as sick as she pleases.'"

How condescending! There are also several references to the fact that both her husband and her brother are doctors and, therefore, know what's best for her.

By the way, the book, Haunted Women: The Best Supernatural Tales by American Women Writers was edited by Alfred Bendixen, who says this about The Yellow Wallpaper:

The story, which was based on Gilman's own experience as a patient of Dr. S. Weir Mitchell, has often been hailed as a classic horror story and praised for its chillingly accurate account of a mind on the verge of madness.

It's odd for Bendixen to include this particular story because I don't see it as supernatural at all. I guess the woman in the wallpaper can be seen as a ghost of sorts.

W-O-W. I just read it and it sure was a chiller.

And I'd also like to thank Suzanne for informing us on the rest-cure thing. It sure boggles the mind