"The Yellow Wallpaper" - Charlotte Gilman

Analysis-

"The Yellow Wallpaper" seems to have a gothic feel to it. The protagnist is the wife, it never says her name. The antagonist is the husband, John. He's is the antagonist cause he never quite believes that there is something wrong with her. The setting is this old colonial style manison with the tall hedges, walls, gates, and garden. The main room that the story is about is a room that they believe once was a nursery or child's play room. The yellow wallpaper is torn in several places. The bed is nailed to the floor and there's wide windows. It is completely worn down. Social conditions were when the women were suppose to listen completely to their husbands. In the introduction, she talks about feeling off and her husband tells her she has a nervous condition. He tells her to rest as much as possible. The rising action is when she starts to tell the reader that there is a woman creeping behind the wallpaper. There really isn't an exact climax except maybe when she locks herself in the room, so that she can creep freely. The falling action is when she tells him where the key is and he goes to get it. Denoument is when John finally unlocks the room and sees what she has done. And I believe it says he faints when he realizes what has happened. The conflict would definitely be psychological. She is obviously depressed or unstable and then starts to believe that there is a woman creeping behind the wallpaper at night. Then the point of view is 1st person stream of consciousness.

Response-

I enjoyed the gothic feeling of this story, but I did not enjoy the sudden change of mind frames. I did my report on Charlotte Gilman and the lady in this story reminded me a lot of her. Charlotte had her own battle with depression and that seems to be what is happening to this character. I thought it was interesting how she became so possesive over the woman in the wallpaper. For example, when Jennie had made a comment about wishing she could tear down the wallpaper and the narrator said, "But I am here, and no person touches this paper but Me - not alive!" I would like to read more stories by Charlotte Gilman, like the one "Concerning Children" where she discusses professional child-care.