The Yellow Wallpaper

1
The Yellow Wallpaper

• Ashley Kessie
• Crystal Castleberry
• Jessica Randolph

2
Synopsis

• The story is about a woman who moves into this
  house along with her husband, sister-in-law and
  son. They will only be staying in the house for
  three months until there other house is finished.
  And her husband thought that the fresh air would
  be good for his wifes health. The woman
  believes that she is sick and her husband has
  given her a diagnosis of having a temporary
  nervous depression. The woman likes everything
  about the house except the yellow wallpaper in
  the room where her and her husband sleep. Due to
  her condition her husband monitors her health and
  insists that she get a lot of rest. The woman
  due to the amount of time is confined to her
  room. She studies the woman the wallpaper and
  comes to the conclusion that there is a woman
  stuck in the wallpaper and she's trying to get
  out. After a while the woman keeps trying to
  figure out more about the wallpaper and starts
  seeing the woman creeping around the yard and
  garden. On the last night, in the house the
  woman is determined to help the woman get out of
  the wall and then trap her. So the woman locks
  herself in the house and then the husband comes
  home and founds himself unable to get into the
  house and yells for someone to open the door.
  The wife who has started creeping around the
  house goes down stairs and tells her husband
  where the key is and he finally gets into the
  house. The woman creepily replies, Ive got out
  at lastin spite of you and Jane . And Ive
  pulled of most of the paper and you cant put me
  back! (74). The husband faints and falls in the
  path of the creeping woman and she now has to
  creep over him.

The Yellow Wallpaper. Charlotte Perkins Gilman,
p74
3
Character Sketch

• Jane- suffers from nervous depression, weak
  mental state, narrator and wife of John.
• John- physician, brother of Jennie, no patience
  with faith and has an intense horror of
  superstition.
• Jennie- sister of John and housekeeper.

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• What is the significance of the title?
• The title is significant because the story
  revolved around the woman studying the wall.
• How is the story told? Who is the narrator? What
  perspective is used? What is the tone of the
  language? Is the narrator reliable?
• The story is told in first person point of view.
  The narrator is Jane. The tone of language was a
  first light-hearted and changed into a somewhat
  dark and mysterious type of story. She didnt
  seem to be a reliable narrator because of her
  mental state.

5

• What does the author and narrator focus on?
• The narrator and author focus on how Jane reacts
  towards the wallpaper.
• How does the character transform in the story?
• The woman transforms from being in a state of
  mind that she is not really sick but acts
  helpless and/or weak.
• What is the major theme of the story? Are there
  any minor themes?
• The major theme of this story is that the yellow
  wallpaper was confusing to the eye and she seemed
  to be confused about what normalcy was.

6

• Are there any allusions in the story that could
  add meaning to your interpretation?
• The designs in the wallpaper if you followed them
  with your eye they committed suicide, which
  foreshadows Jane wanting to jump out of the
  window.
• What are the symbols or other figurative elements
  in the story?
• Flamboyant designs, the bars on the windows, the
  door, the straggled heads and the lady in the
  wallpaper.

7

• What seems to be the authors primary
  goals/purpose in writing this short story?
• The authors goal was to show how mentally ill
  people where treated and dealt with their
  illness, and the gender roles during that time.
  She witnessed it first hand, because she worked
  with mentally ill people, and her own husband was
  a doctor.
• What is your reaction to this story? Is it the
  intended reaction? Does the author fail to
  achieve her goal?
• Our reaction to the story was that maybe Jane
  wasnt crazy at all, that the story was
  confusing, creepy, and informative. The story
  caused us to wonder about the story behind the
  wallpaper.
• Yes, this could have possibly been the reaction
  the author was going for.
• No, she clearly created a story that informed us
  about mentally ill people and the gender roles
  during this time period.