Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wall-paper" is set in the late 1800s in a "colonial mansion"(1657). The mansion sits back from the road, surrounded by "hedges and walls and gates that lock" (1658). It is also bordered by separate houses made for gardeners and other servants, a garden brimming with grapes, and greenhouses, which have been long forgotten (1658). It seems to be a beautiful old place, a perfect place to get away from the world and relax. Gilman may have chosen this particular setting because it was familiar to her. Gilman herself suffered with bouts of depression and was persuaded to see Dr. S. Weir Mitchell, whom she mentions in her story, for treatment. He was known for prescribing a "rest cure", which is what brought Gilman to write "Th
The atmosphere that Gilman creates for "The Yellow Wall-paper" is at the same time sunny and depressing. While she tells us that the nursery has many windows and is often filled with sunlight, we are depressed because we know that she is slowly going mad. Each entry in the story becomes darker, going from "air and sunshine galore" (1659) to "a week of fog and rain"(1666). This is representative of her downward spiral into madness.
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