The Yellow Wall-Paper - Charlotte Perkins Gilman - ★★★★

AUTHOR: Charlotte Perkins Gilman

GENRE: Short Story, Classic.

RATING: 4 stars.

In a Nutshell: A short story much beyond its time. A quick read that won’t leave you quickly.

Story Synopsis:

The unnamed narrator is living in a new rental colonial house, along with her husband (a physician), her baby, and her sister-in-law. After her husband diagnoses her with a “temporary nervous depression—a slight hysterical tendency”, he asks her to be confined to her room and rest without doing any work. However, the chosen room is an old nursery, because of which it has barred windows and a bright yellow wallpaper. The narrator hates the wallpaper because of its shifting patterns that seem to hint at a woman creeping in the design. With nothing else to invest her time in, she grows more and more obsessed with the wallpaper, until her mania crosses a dangerous boundary.

Written in the first person of the narrator, the story comes to us through her journal entries.

This classic short story won’t take you more than 30 minutes to read, but it encapsulates such brilliant themes that you will get far more to ponder upon. It incorporates intense topics such as feminism, post-partum depression, and women’s subservience to men without being pretentious in its approach. It also highlights the importance of open communication from both parties in marital relationships, and the dangers of hearing only the words without listening to what is said between the lines.

Keep in mind that this story was first published in 1892 in ‘The New England Magazine’. I am sure it would have been revolutionary at that time for a woman writer to explore such radical themes.

The story details the woman’s descent into madness, but doesn’t provide any direct explanation. As such, it lends itself wonderfully to a discussion. Was the woman merely suffering from post-partum depression? Was her psychosis a result of her being confined to her room? Did the room exacerbate her illness, or did her illness exaggerate the dreariness of the wallpaper? Was a subconscious part of her revolting at her feelings not being taken into consideration by her husband? The wallpaper of those days used to contain arsenic; did this factor also have a role to play in her mental degradation?

It’s easy to point fingers at her husband as the villain of her life, but again, his actual role is subject to interpretation. Was he ‘gaslighting’ his wife? Was he genuinely concerned for her and just following the typical medical advice of that era for hysteria – rest until recuperation? Did he love her, or was he trying to get rid of her? Is he an exception or a typical specimen of his times?

The plot itself comes to us only through the journal entries of a woman whose mind had spiralled into chaos. Can the journal be considered an accurate representation of the truth? Is the story just indicative of the social mores in 1892? How much of it is relevant even today? When a person gaslights someone without being aware of it, is he/she to be blamed, or the society?

So many questions; no easy answers.

The abrupt ending doesn’t help us gain any solutions. I was caught so unawares by that ending that I went back to the start and read the whole story again.

To a certain extent, this story reminded me of Sylvia Plath’s ‘The Bell Jar’. In both cases, we see the narrator going down a dangerous path of self-destruction but can’t do anything except read helplessly and in growing horror. Both stories end on a morbid note that intensifies their effect.

Another ironic coincidence is that both stories are based on their authors’ actual experiences and are thus semi-autobiographical. In 1884, at the age of 25, Gilman bore her only child. Soon after the birth, she suffered from a serious bout of what today would be diagnosed as post-partum depression. She opted for the “Rest Cure”, and after a month, was sent home with the prescription to live as domestically as possible, keep her child with her at all times, lie down for one hour after each meal, and to never touch a pen, brush, or pencil for the rest of her life. Her depression returned, and soon after coming home Gilman separated from her husband of four years—such separation being a rare event in the 19th century. As she later remarked, “It was not a choice between going and staying, but between going, sane, and staying, insane.” (Information courtesy https://connecticuthistory.org/charlotte-perkins-gilman/)

A much-recommended read to all classic short lovers. Simultaneously weird and wonderful.

As this story is in the public domain, you can read it free of cost on various sites online. I read it using this link.