The Yellow Wallpaper
Mustard-hued wall decoration
A short story by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, published in 1892, about a woman confined to a room during a "rest cure" for nervous illness who becomes obsessed with the patterns in the wallpaper.
The story is a landmark of feminist literature, depicting how medical paternalism and domestic confinement can drive women to madness: We read The Yellow Wallpaper in my women's studies class.
- madnessMental derangement or folly
- mental breakdownAcute psychological crisis
- confinementState of being restricted
- behind barsIn jail
- creepingMoving slowly, stealthily
pattern · asylum · postpartum · women's health · hysteria · nervous exhaustion · rest cure · nursery · bars · trapped · journal · forbidden · unreliable narrator · writing · Victorian · attic · woman · crawling
- Short StoriesThe Tell-Tale Heart, The Lottery, The Black Cat, Rip Van Winkle, The Queen of Spades
- 1900s LiteratureThe Time Machine, War of the Worlds, Heart of Darkness, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Dorian Gray
- NovellasThe Metamorphosis, Heart of Darkness, A Christmas Carol, Billy Budd, Animal Farm
- women's writingVirginia Woolf, Jane Austen, Margaret Atwood, Toni Morrison, Sylvia Plath
- Gothic FictionDracula, Frankenstein, Carmilla
- Women's Reformsuffrage movement, women's suffrage, women's rights, feminism, suffragist
The Yellow WallpaperJane Eyre
The Yellow Wallpaperdomestic comedy
Humor about household life
Anne of Green Gables · drawing room comedy · The Secret Garden · Pollyanna
The Yellow Wallpaperpatient-centered care
Healthcare respecting individual priorities
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