Charlotte Perkins Gilman

The Yellow Wallpaper Charlotte Perkins Gilman

summary, study guide, character list, Glossary are included as bonus. Charlotte Perkins Gilman's short story "The Yellow Wallpaper" is written as a series of entries in a secret diary. Through this intimate medium the narrator describes her three-month stay in an estate. The first entry details the circumstances under which she and her husband have come to the estate. The narrator's husband, John, has diagnosed her with "a slight hysterical tendency" following the birth of their baby boy, and he takes full responsibility for her care. Her symptoms are unclear, but John is adamant that nothing is really wrong with her. Because John is a respected physician, the narrator does not question his authority. She takes supplements, adheres to a strict daily schedule, and avoids mental stimulation and "work." She is forbidden to write. John dismisses the narrator's feeling that there is "something strange" about the house. Though she wants to stay in a room on the ground floor with "roses all over the window," he insists that they share the renovated nursery on the top floor of the house. The room is large and airy, but it has bars on the windows and ugly yellow wallpaper that has been "stripped off" around the head of the bed and bottom of the facing wall. The narrator is disgusted by the wallpaper's color and pattern, describing them with vivid and often violent image