Feminist dribble and inane ramblings
I had the misfortune of having to read this book as part of my A-level studies whilst at school and as many school children in England in the early 1990s will agree it was 'the' worst book to force young minds to read. The main character is so tediously dull that I did have a miniscule amount of empathy for her to end it all, but my desire was based more upon the fact that it would mean the end of the very dull story. It's yellow wallpaper for goodness sakes. Don't read into it that this is something deep and meaningful, because it isn't. If you're like me you won't care about the character's, you'll just wish that you were not reading about them. This is the 19th century version of MTV, you will be left feeling empty, like you just wasted a few hours of your life on something not worthy of it. do yourselves a favour, if you get anything from this book it's this. Write a load of mindless drivel, leave it to some socially challenged critics to make something out of nothing and you'll be on to a winner. In 100 years time kids will be forced to read it in schools and they'll probably hate you for it, but you won't care because you'll be long gone. As should be the case with the book!
The (yellow) walls are closing in...
I found this story to be both very disturbing and at the same time wonderful in its skill of disturbance. The suspense of what would happen to the narrator was as omnipresent and looming as the wall-paper which surrounded the narrator herself.
The tale contains evidence of the romantic era (a speaker who suffers and a seeming element of the supernatural), but provides even more substance rooted in the realistic realm: excessively fine details, objects that become symbolic (none more clearly prominent than the imprisoning wall-paper itself), and graphic descriptions that provide a sharp edge to the narrator's plight as she succumbs to insanity.
Ingenious clues were also placed through the story, occasionally leading the reader to momentarily doubt his or her own mental dexterity at following the course of events (such as John's sister's name going from Mary to Jennie to Jane).
However, it is the descriptions of the wall-paper itself which give such a vivid and real impact to the story (such as "the sprawling outlines run off in great slanting waves of optic horror, like a lot of wallowing sea-weeds in full chase," or "the outside pattern is a florid arabesque, reminding one of a fungus").
Gilman's assertive style is also noteworthy for the period it precluded: that of the empowerment of women, both in literature and in society.
The Yellow Wallpaper Review
The book is a classic. Yet, you need a certain taste for certain types of knowledge. Such as women and gender studies. As well as you certainly need to enjoy reading professional opinions.
A Celebrated Chintz
Elaine Hedges provides an excellent and useful introduction to the life and work of Charlotte Perkins Gilman in this affordable, and scrupulously edited, edition of what is now her most famous work. She positions this story in the trajectory of Gilman's wrought personal and effusive literary lives and reveals its importance to late-twentieth-century feminism.
Jason Rosenfeld
Imaginative tale of a descent into madness
This short story, based upon the author's own experiences, is a powerful tale of one intelligent woman's struggle with madness, the role of (married) women in society and family in the late 1800s, and how she copes with well-meaning but misguided relatives and their ideas of a woman's nature and abilities. Many consider it an early feminist novel, and I agree, although I would extend the author's message to any group that finds itself severely restricted by society's notions of appropriate behavior, goals, and the nature of the group.
The narrator of the story is, from a modern point of view, a normal, young, married woman who also has a desire to write. However, bound by Victorian mores and restrictions, this desire to write is deemed inappropriate at best and casts questions about her not fulfilling her (only) role as wife (and mother). She was only to focus her attention on "domestic" concerns (house, husband, children) and anything remotely intellectual was considered a threat to her sanity and her physical health. When she refuses to bow to society's (and her husband's) ideas of womanhood, she is confined to a room for COMPLETE rest (meaning NO mental stimulation of any kind, no reading, no writing). What makes matters worse is that her husband (a doctor) is also her jailer, and instead of truly understanding his wife as a human being, opts to follow society's standards instead of doing what is in the best interest of his wife (and her health, both physical and mental). Not surprisingly, she rebels a bit, and continues to write her thoughts in a journal, hiding the journal and pencil from her husband. When her deception is discovered, she is even more strictly confined than before, and denied contact with her children.
It is at this point that she begins her descent into madness--not from the desire to write and express her creativity, but from being denied an outlet for that creativity. She was not mad before she was prescribed complete rest, but rather the complete rest which caused her madness. She begins to imagine things (shapes, objects, animals, people) in the yellow wallpaper which covers the walls of the room to which she is confined. As more restrictions and controls are placed upon her, her imagination grows, until finally she strips the wallpaper to reach the figures, and is found by her husband, surely and completely mad.
I liked this story very much because the author conveyed the kind of dead lives many talented, creative women must have been forced to lead due to society's ideas of women and their abilities while fully backed by the medical profession. She clearly illustrates that in this instance, doctors and husbands do not know best, and that their very best intentions had the precise effect of bringing about the madness that they sought to cure. As I read the story, I wondered why her husband (and the doctor) were so blind as to the causes of her "nervous condition". It obviously was not working, and rather than demonstrating their intelligence by trying something else or, God forbid, asking her what she needed (a couple hours per day to devote to writing, a small thing indeed), continued along the same methods of treatment, only with more restrictions! The social commentary and the commentary on the status of women in society and in their own families is handled in an effective way by the author, not only in her prose but in the development of the characters and the storyline. It is a most persuasive plea of the basic idea of feminism--that women are people too, with talents and abilities outside of their roles as wives and mothers that deserve an opportunity to be developed. In reading this story, I am amazed by how far we as a society have come in changing our views of women, and yet by how much further we have to go. I highly recommend this book.
This book was also made into a show that aired on PBS' Masterpiece Theatre in the late 1980s. I have not been able to find a copy of the program, but remember that it was well-produced and faithful to the story.
