“The Yellow Wallpaper”

Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Some Background on Mrs. CPK

• 1887: Went to see someone about her nervous breakdowns following the birth of her child (suffered from post-partum)

• Prescribed the “rest cure”—no more than 2 hours of intellectual activity a day

• After 3 months CPK claimed she was near total mental ruin• “TYW” is more of a Gothic horror story that reads like a very

scary memoir• “TYK” is a now seen as an example of how women were

treated both mentally and emotionally by a male dominated society

• Remember during this time a woman’s closest male relative OR her husband controlled her life.

Some Background on “TYW”• Starts with a woman whose husband has rented a very

scary house for the summer—we learn very quickly that the husband controls the wife (our narrator).

• The woman expresses her desire to socialize & write, but her husband refuses her “request” and demands that she “rest.”

• The woman becomes obsessed & terrified of the wallpaper—she begins to “see” a woman trapped in the wallpaper.

• From here a cyclone of events propels us to the strange and tormented ending—no spoilers!

While you are reading…

• Read the questions FIRST—this is a GOOD reading strategy—you have to know what to “look” for while you are reading.

• As you read the text, write down any questions (in your notes) that you have about the text—what don’t you understand? What needs clarified?

• Specifically respond to all of the questions—trust me, you will need this in the near future.