The Yellow Wallpaper

A detailed Summary of The Yellow Wallpaper

Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper is a short story that deals with many different issues that woman in the 19th century had to deal with on a daily basis. In general the mistreatment of women was so commonplace that most of the time it wasn't even noticed.

The two main characters of the story, taking place during the 19th century, are the narrator and her husband, John. Life for the two is like most other marriages in this time period, except for the fact that the narrator is not like most other wives. Her hobby of writing is not a normal one for a woman of her time. Traditionally, in this era, the man was responsible for taking care of the woman both financially and emotionally, so there should be no reason for her to want to write.

The story begins with the husband and wife moving into a rented summer home right after having their first child. The wife has a funny feeling about it stating that there is "something queer about it", but John thinks that she is being too suspicious. She is sick and is suffering from depression, but John, being a physician that only deals with aliments of the body, thinks that she is fine and that she just needs rest. The room that they move into is what used to be a nurse

The wallpaper was used by Gilman as a symbol of the constraints that were placed upon women in the 19th century. The narrator's life echo's both Gilman's life and the lives of the rest of the women of the nineteenth century. It was a long struggle but once they were free they could not be put back.

It is obvious at this point that the narrator is slowly losing her mind, courtesy of her fascination with the wallpaper in her bedroom. Her senses are being constantly crowded with thoughts of the wallpaper and she is subconsciously trying to free herself from it. As this breakdown is nearing, she starts tearing the wallpaper off of the wall and locks her husband out of the room. Soon John comes home and finds the door locked. He begs her to open it and she tells him "The key is down by the front door under a plantain leaf!" When he comes back and opens the door, he sees her ripping the rest of the paper off the wall, with the rope tied around her and he faints. This is when John realizes that his wife has reached the point of hysteria and is insane. But, the narrator sees it differently. She declares that she is now free by saying: "I've got out at last,..in spite of you and Jane! And I've pulled off most of the paper, so you can't put me back!"

Some common words found in the essay are:
John Life, Soon John, Yellow Wallpaper, Jane I've, 19th century, women nineteenth century, nineteenth century, women nineteenth, story begins,

Approximate Word count = 848
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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The Yellow Wallpaper

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