“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.
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