"The Yellow Wallpaper"--Reader Response

Overall The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is an interesting insight into the mind of a mentally unstable woman presumably of the past. I found it difficult to pinpoint a setting for the novel but from my best estimation is happened in the sixties. I am assuming this because the book was copyrighted in 1973 and John, the narrator's husband, treats his wife in a very old fashioned manner.

The narrator is obviously in an unhappy marriage. John is described as kindly, but he is extraordinarily patronizing to his unhealthy wife. Such a husband who won't let his wife write obviously has some control issues which are not explicitly stated in the book. I felt as if the narrator was often trying to convince herself that John was a great husband when he actually wasn't. For example, the narrator writes "I did write for a while in spite of them; but it does exhaust me a good deal--having to be so sly about it, or else meet with heavy opposition" (10). This shows that John is restraining his wife in a manner which she is not happy with and in silly ways which do not help her. But the quote also shows some details which puzzled me. Why does she say she "did" write? Obviously she still writes and she has remarked this earlier by saying the paper will hold her secrets because it is dead.

Another question occurred to me when I read "John is a physician, and perhaps...that is one reason I do not get well faster" (9-10). While reading I wondered if this meant that she did not get well because her husband's constant flow of remedies did not work, or perhaps she did not get well because he gave her attention when she was ill that she would not have otherwise received. Alternatively, it has also occurred to me that she could be mentally ill just to spite the man she has built up resentment for. "He knows there is no reason to suffer and that satisfies him...It does weigh on me so not to do my duty in any way" (14)! She never explains what duty she cannot fulfill, but as I read on I find that it is a sense of purposefulness. A mother and wife who seems to only receive disdain and second-hand care from her husband and can't even bear to be with her child obviously has some issues that are not explained easily on paper.

The famous wallpaper after which the book is titled makes its first appears on early on. It is not mentioned thereafter for some time, but as the novel progresses the wallpaper is mentioned more and more frequently. Later the narrator declares she sees a woman in the paper and later reveals that the woman is behind bars at night. Even later the narrator also declares "The fact is I'm getting a little afraid of John" (26). She then goes on to talk about Jennie being queer as well. A feeling of paranoia crept over me as I read deeper into these pages. The woman behind the bars in the wall paper is most certainly the narrator herself. The narrator also feels that the pattern in the paper could be broken to release the woman, but the most perplexing part of this to me was that she wouldn't allow anyone else to help her: "But I knew she [Jennie] was studying that pattern, and I am determined -- that nobody shall find it but myself" (27)! I wonder if the narrator feels that only she can save herself from her own insanity, or that she just doesn't want to save herself.

"I think that woman gets out in the daytime! And I'll tell you why--privately--I've seen her" (30)! This part confused me. The storyteller had mentioned before that she goes outside during the day, but if the woman behind the bars can be out "creeping" during the day, why is she imprisoned at night?

"I have found out another funny thing, but I shan't tell it this time! It does not do to trust people too much" (page 31). I found this quote very intriguing because the beginning of the novel the wife was able to tell her secrets to the paper on which she writes, but that paper has turned into a living being that she can no longer trust. This not only enhances the feeling of paranoia but also distances the reader from the narrator and gives the foreboding feeling that inexplicable things are about to happen.

At the end of the story the narrator has combined herself with the woman in the paper and states "'I've got it 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'" (36). The insanity has reached it peak and the poor woman feels as though she has pushed off her shackles but still can't tear herself away from the wall. I translated this to partially mean that she had found safety and support behind the bars in the paper she had imagined. Presumably safety from the man she neither trusted nor loved. She says the woman is only in bars at night and that seems to be the only time John is around. During the day she is free to creep around but is never truly happy because of her daunting marriage. I'm curious where the discussion of this book will go.