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    The Yellow Wallpaper
    The Yellow Wallpaper
    The Yellow Wallpaper
    Ebook28 pages24 minutes

    The Yellow Wallpaper

    By Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Mint Editions

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    About this ebook

    First appearing in 1892 The Yellow Wallpaper is a searing vision of a distinctively feminine form of madness and commands attention as an arresting tale of horror and a moving look into a woman’s mind.

    The story uncompromisingly thrusts the reader into the mind of the narrator. She is a woman forced, ostensibly for her own good, into a ‘rest cure’, a psychological straitjacket so constricting that she begins to unravel. Her mental dissolution is described with such fierce immediacy that The Yellow Wallpaper has been read and anthologized as a chilling horror tale. While it can easily be appreciated for its disorienting thrills, the story’s true resonance comes from its matter-of-fact portrayal of a woman pushed to the rim of sanity by society’s demands and her family’s utter inability to conceive of the fact that she cannot fit within their strictures. Shot through with unforgettable images of the yellow wallpaper, its shadowy depths and what seems to lurk there, The Yellow Wallpaper builds to a climax that combines the narrative impact of an Edgar Allan Poe story with a wrenching protest of the treatment of women. Unique and genre-bending, Gilman’s story was unrivaled in its era and its power endures undiminished today.

    With an eye-catching new cover, and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of The Yellow Wallpaper is both modern and readable.

    Since our inception in 2020, Mint Editions has kept sustainability and innovation at the forefront of our mission. Each and every Mint Edition title gets a fresh, professionally typeset manuscript and a dazzling new cover, all while maintaining the integrity of the original book.

    With thousands of titles in our collection, we aim to spotlight diverse public domain works to help them find modern audiences. Mint Editions celebrates a breadth of literary works, curated from both canonical and overlooked classics from writers around the globe.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMint Editions
    Release dateOct 8, 2020
    ISBN9781513265261
    Author

    Charlotte Perkins Gilman

    Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860–1935) was a prominent American author, writing poetry, short stories, novels and non-fiction. She was a feminist and a campaigner for social reform. She is best remembered today for her partly autobiographic short story The Yellow Wallpaper, a very vivid account of a woman’s experience of psychosis.

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    Reviews for The Yellow Wallpaper

    4/5

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    • 5/5

      Sep 20, 2022

      I hadn’t any previous experience of this author. When reading the story I felt that it was the most horrifying piece of writing I had ever read, though when looking through it I didn’t feel that it was so bad. Reputedly, the story was based on the author’s own experience of her psychosis We’re not given the name of the woman recounting her experience, and I will call her the protagonist, or the P. Two of the first things that meet the eye are the protagonist’s negative comments about marriage, that the P’s husband John laughs at her (which is to be expected in marriage) and also negative comments about doctors. The P remarks that one reason she is not getting well faster may be because her husband is a physician. He does not believe she is “sick””, and what can one do? Both her husband and brother are doctors “of high standing” and both think there is nothing the matter with her except “a temporary nervous depression” or “slight hysterical tendency”. Perhaps at some level, then, the P feels obliged to prove them both wrong, that there really is something wrong with her; thus the need and “satisfaction” at some level to develop a full-blown psychosis. She is forbidden to work or write; but she is a woman with her own opinions and she herself feels that congenial work would do her good. She feels that if she had less “opposition” and “more society and stimulus”, she would feel better. We’re warned from the start that strange things are about to happen; she feels there is something queer, something strange, about the house. And otherwise, how had they been able to rent it so cheaply, and why would it have “"stood so long untenanted”? John is “very careful and loving” but he does not listen to his wife’s objections to the room he has chosen for them to sleep in. John is absolutely controlling; he chooses the house and the bedroom they’ve to sleep in and dictates what the P is permitted to do. When the P tells her left-brained husband what she feels about the house, he has so little understanding of what she’s talking about that he claims what she felt was a draught! She would have preferred to use as a bedroom a downstairs room with roses all over the window, but John wouldn’t hear of it. John has a “schedule prescription” for each hour in the day – the utnost control. Is this a general criticism of the control of all, or most, husbands of the times? At least the P is permitted to eat that which her appetite dictates, at any rate, “somewhat”. The room John chose for the bedroom was the former nursery that had bars on the windows. This is metaphoric for the P’s feeling of imprisonment when confined to the room. She had never seen worse wall-paper in her life. The colour of the wall-paper is a “smoldering unclean yellow”. John hates her to have to write a word. The P tells us that she is suffering, whereas logical John says there is no reason to suffer. (This is his subjective opinion.) She says her baby is “so dear” but she cannot be with him since it makes her so nervous. She supposes John was never nervous in his life. I will not cite any more details but will talk in a general manner. The author discloses in a gradual and subtle manner the start of the psychosis. First, she becomes convinced there is a woman or several women behind bars in the wall-paper, trying to get out. Later, she fails to distinguish between herself and the woman/women. She begins to display a slight paranoia, in that she gets a little afraid of John and Jennie (John’s sister), and feels they both give her strange looks. She projects her own problems onto John, and she thinks that he is getting queer now. She doesn’t like the look in John’s eyes and feels he is only pretending to be loving and kind. Now she. sees many creeping women outside, creeping so fast. Finally, she talks about she herself having to get back behind the pattern. She thinks she is the woman or one of the women behind the pattern. Eventually, John comes in the room and sees her creeping on the floor, realizes something is very wrong and faints. To sum up, I felt this to be an excellent and superbly written story and may read some of the author’s other stories.
    • 5/5

      Sep 25, 2020

      ... how do I even review something like this.

      First of all, it's a masterpiece.

      Secondly, it chilled me to my core.

      Charlotte Perkins-Gilman wrote a feminist psychological thriller and horror story. Perhaps one of the first. And one of the greatest.

      The thing that I admire about this story is that it was able to terrify me on two levels. It has layers of social implications and it's very complex.

      I'll have to read it again some day, when it doesn't terrify me so much.

      I don't think I can say with any conviction, how much this book affected me, but it'll stay with me for the rest of my life.
    • 3/5

      Sep 25, 2020

      Interesting read from a different era. Not sure how I really feel even after 2 months. I like dark and books about insanity but this one was a bit out there.
    • 4/5

      Sep 25, 2020

      A woman, confined to an upper-story bedroom in a creepy house for a "rest cure" following a mental breakdown, becomes obsessed with the hideous yellow wallpaper.I have read this story a few times and I always forget how creepy and chilling it is, especially the final image. Gilman has a knack of pointing out the horrific things that society does to women. In this story, depriving the narrator of her means of expressing herself and stimulating her brain is just as terrifying as confining her to her room. I believe the narrator was suffering from undiagnosed postpartum depression.Reread in 2015.
    • 3/5

      Sep 25, 2020

      Never read this as a kid, realized I probably should. An interesting perspective on interior decorating.
    • 4/5

      Sep 25, 2020

      A journalized descent into a woman's madness . . . brought on yellow wallpaper.A quick, rather creepy sort of read.
    • 4/5

      Sep 25, 2020

      Brilliant story of madness! Fascinating piece for its historical value as Ms. Gilman is protesting the common treatment at the time the story was written given to women who were suffering "nervous" disorders. A cautionary tale but extremely frightening because of its reality.
    • 5/5

      Sep 25, 2020

      Short and über creepy, this story is told from the point-of-view of a woman staying in the country with her husband. She’s recovering from an unnamed illness (possibly post-partum depression) and her husband has set her up in a room by herself. The walls are covered with an ugly yellow wallpaper and as the story progresses she becomes obsessed with it. She begins to believe she can see a woman lurking behind the designs in the wallpaper. The longer she remains confined to the room the deeper she descends into her madness, taking the reader along for the ride. The story was published in 1892 and is often called one of the first pieces of feminist literature. It’s a chilling look at the “treatment” women were often given and the lack of freedom they were permitted in these situations. It’s also just a great scary story, so there’s something for everyone.
    • 4/5

      Sep 25, 2020

      I feel like a cheater for counting this as a book; it is more like a short story. The story is only about 30 pages, and the afterword is as long as the story itself. As one of the few feminist pieces from the 19th century, The Yellow Wallpaper is a chilling psychological account of what both physical and mental isolation and imprisonment could do to a woman. The novel describes vividly the power structure and dynamics of the typical husband-wife relationship at that time and how they attribute to female depression and madness. A powerful piece of literature and social commentary.
    • 4/5

      Sep 25, 2020

      Originally published in 1899, the slight, 30-odd page story is one of the creepiest glimpses into the process of a mental breakdown I have ever read. Republished by The Feminist Press in 1973, the afterword of the edition I read spoke of the author’s prolific career as a writer, poet, publisher, and academic. She wrote several textbooks, opened her own school, and for several years of her life wrote, published, and edited her own magazine, which amounted to about 21,000 words per month. (Hedges, Afterword to the 1973 Feminist Press edition, 38.) In other words, Gilman was a total badass. However, the short story captures the prisoner-like aspects of the submissive role that many women lived at the time of publication, both in terms of marriage and societal expectations overall. The protagonist of the story is left in a room, with little to no social contact and no medical treatment. As the story progresses her mental condition worsens and those around her coddle her but do nothing proactive to alleviate her situation. It is scary, realistic, and her lack of choices and the guilt she is made to feel are heart-wrenching. Gilman's writing draws you right into the story and right down the slide of sanity in a way I will never forget. I absolutely recommend this work to anyone who enjoys short stories, people who like to read about mental illness, and anyone interested in 19th century feminism.
    • 5/5

      Sep 25, 2020

      Excitingly creepy in every way.
    • 4/5

      Sep 25, 2020

      A short story chronicling one woman's descent into madness, poorly understood by those around her, and tormented by the ghastly yellow wallpaper in her bedroom. Very well told. I only wish it were longer.
    • 5/5

      Sep 25, 2020

      The Yellow Wallpaper is a dark and powerfully written tale, first published in 1892, about a woman's descent into madness. Her psychosis is brought on by the social restrictions of the time, a controlling husband and the deteriorating yellow wallpaper that covers their bedroom.
    • 4/5

      Sep 25, 2020

      This is an interesting short story about the psychological disintegration of a woman, seeing images in the eponymous object around her as she lays in her sickbed. Too short to exert a really powerful impact, though, for me. 3.5/5
    • 3/5

      Sep 25, 2020

      The Yellow Wallpaper is a short story written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, first published in January 1892 in The New England Magazine can be found on the internet and read in about thirty minutes. It is considered an example of early feminist literature. The protagonist, a woman married to a physician who may have just had a baby is being kept in a home to rest because she is suffering from nervous hysteria. She is being kept in a room with a yellow wallpaper. The reader is given a picture of her descent into madness. At first the pattern is just annoying and irritating but then it becomes sinister. The woman wants to write but is forbidden by her husband so she is writing in her journal secretly. She wants to visit with lively friends but he husband tells her it will be too much for her. In the end she is more paranoid and no longer feels safe leaving the room.
    • 5/5

      Sep 25, 2020

      First published in 1892, The Yellow Wallpaper is a short story of choppy sentences that punctuate the rambling thoughts of a woman going mad. The narrator is an obedient wife and mother, sexually restrained and socially isolated. Her husband and brother, both physicians, confine her to an attic nursery in order to calm her nerves. Instead, she is tormented by a woman trapped inside the wallpaper “where the pattern lolls like a broken neck and two bulbous eyes stare at you upside down.”
    • 5/5

      Sep 25, 2020

      I think that The Yellow Wallpaper is a really good short story. The way that the plot unravels on it's way to the ending is really skillful. I'm also impressed by the fact that the author went through a similar situation and was able to find her way out of it! Knowing that the author wrote from experience added a lot of credibility to the story as a whole.
    • 4/5

      Sep 25, 2020

      It starts so simply...a couple is on vacation. She is ill and taking a rest in the country. But is that true? She is scared, and trapped, and not allowed to leave. Her fear is palpable. Or, maybe, she is an extremely unreliable narrator?
    • 5/5

      Sep 25, 2020

      A re-read of a classic. ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ is a spooky-as-hell ghost story which maintains a nice ambiguity all the way through – but it’s also a raw, effective protest against the infantilization of women and even a call to arms regarding awareness of mental illness. Gilman is great at leaving what doesn’t need to be said unsaid. There are no ‘morals’ stated here, but her stance is clear.
      (And was that room ever a ‘playroom’ or ‘gymnasium’? Oh hell no.)
    • 5/5

      Sep 25, 2020

      I doubt I will ever read again such powerful descriptions of wallpaper. What vivid writing!
    • 4/5

      Sep 25, 2020

      Interesting story told in journal fashion of a woman compelled to take a rest cure by her p hysician hu s band and the result forced inactivity has on her mind.
    • 5/5

      Sep 25, 2020

      If you've any appreciation for short stories that stand the test of time, then you're sure to like this one.

      Gilman's story of woman in a room with yellow wallpaper sounds about as dry and bland as one can imagine, which is precisely why one needs to read it to see how dangerous preconceived ideas can be.

      Gilman's narrator is bubbly and energetic initially, then changes begin to settle in -changes which leave her state of mind on the precipice of ruination. Does she manage to hold herself together? Or, does she slip into horrifying madness?
    • 3/5

      Sep 25, 2020

      This story was difficult for me to decide how I felt on it. I tend to not get very in-depth about what books my symbolize. From what I've read by reviewers and internet sleuthing, this book is rife with symbolism. Since that's not my area of expertise, I will not be basing my review on it.

      The story is very short but very telling. By the end of it, I was almost cheering on her insanity as it was when she seemed the happiest. I was enthralled by her stories of the woman in the wallpaper and there is a part of me that wished it was a bit longer -- more of a beginning and more of an end.

      I don't feel as if I wasted my time on the story and would recommend it to people but I can't say I was swept up in the hype around it. Perhaps, because of my lack of knowledge surrounding symbolism..
    • 4/5

      Sep 25, 2020

      “Yellow Wall-Paper” Review“ It is a dull yet lurid orange in some places, a sticky sulphur tint in others.” This quote, from the “Yellow Wall-Paper”, written by Charlotte Gilman in 1891, describes the wallpaper in Jane's room. John and Jane are a married couple and are renting an isolated country house. Jane is mentally ill, and she is locked up in her room for most of the day. John is a doctor and he thinks this is the best way for her to recover. While she sits in her room, she becomes insane. She is confused about the wallpaper, and eventually she gets the idea that a woman is trapped inside of the wallpaper. Jane’s condition is continually becoming worse. John denies it, and tells her she is improving. If you wish to learn more you should read this story. Charlotte Gilman was born on July 3, 1860 in Hartford, Connecticut. She died August 17, 1935 at the age of 75. When Charlotte was five years old, she taught herself to read because her mother was ill. Her father left her and her mom when she was young. “ For many years I suffered from a severe and continuous nervous breakdown tending to melancholia.” After writing the book, Charlotte said, “ It was not intended to drive people crazy, but to save people from being driven crazy, and it worked.” This quote from Charlotte explains why she wrote this short story. I liked reading this story, but it was very confusing. “ I’ve got out at last, in spite of you and Jane? And I’ve pulled off most of the paper, so you can’t put me back.” This is one quote that made this text so confusing. Overall, I enjoyed reading this piece. Many parts of this book were hard to understand, and that made me want to keep on reading to try to figure out what was happening. I was really confused when she talked about Jane because I didn’t know who she was talking about until the very end of the story. After reading the end of the book, and thinking about it for awhile, I then understood what the plot was all about. I would recommend this story to anybody who likes reading mystery books and books that are hard to follow. I also think any adults who like reading quick, short stories might enjoy this story. I would not recommend this book to people younger than high school students, because they may not be able to understand what is happening throughout the story.
    • 5/5

      Sep 25, 2020

      This is a classic of feminist literature. It tells of a woman suffering from depression which is made worse and worse by the paternalistic care of her "loving" husband who treats her as a child, manages every aspect of her life, discourages her writing career, and dismisses any concern she might have. His idea of a cure for depression seems to be that she sleep for 3 months and not trouble her pretty little brain. The result is a very moving, very creepy story.
    • 4/5

      Sep 25, 2020

      A gradual descent into madness, as ‘journaled’ by a Victorian lady. Semi-autobiographical, and subtly written, this depression settling into something darker delivers chills along with the story.
    • 4/5

      Sep 25, 2020

      The Yellow Wallpaper is a short story published in 1892. It is presented as a collection of journal entries written by a woman whose doctor husband has confined her to the upstairs bedroom of a house they’ve rented for the summer so she can recuperate from what he calls a “temporary nervous depression – a slight hysterical tendency,” a diagnosis common to women in that period.

      This early piece of feminist literature reflects 19th century male attitudes toward women's physical and mental health. What she seems to have is post partum depression. Rather than help her recover, her confinement in the room with the peeling yellow wallpaper has a very bad effect indeed on her mental health.

      I found myself outraged at the condescending attitude of her husband, as well as her acceptance of his decree. I also found the story of her mental decline deliciously creepy. The short story is definitely worth a read.
    • 5/5

      Sep 25, 2020

      With still so many unresolved questions, The Yellow Wallpaper keeps its power.Was the doctor husband totally without bad intentions?If no, why did he not respond to his wife's simple request NOT to stay in the upstairs nursery with the awful peeling wallpaper?Did her writing actually cause her to become more upset? or was this a thing he just wanted to control?If she could make it outside for daily walks, why does she keep insisting that her husband would not allow her to DO anything?She could have gardened! fed birds! found a pet! followed the wildlife! dug a pond!So this descent into madness felt more like the choices of an unstable mind rather than an intent by her husband and his sister to drive her insane.
    • 5/5

      Sep 25, 2020

      The Yellow Wall-Paper was one of the first short novels that I read. I made the exception because of its status on the list of 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. I am glad that I read it. It is the perfect length for a cup of tea and the price is right. It is a part of Project Gutenberg, and an eBook can be obtained free of charge.
      The story is a series of journal entries told in first person by the narrator, a nameless woman who is locked in a room, after being diagnosed as ‘nervously depressed’ by her physician husband, John. I believe that John acts out of love, although questionable at times. His treatment of his wife is so oppressive, that it seems that the woman may have created her own sense of freedom, although it is seen as psychotic.
      The journal entries describe the woman’s descent into psychosis with the wallpaper in the room where she is locked in her own thoughts. The ending of the story has an odd, but feminist triumph of sorts. I can see that there are many ways that this story, albeit short, could be interpreted. The bottom line is that there is a lot of punch in this short little ditty.
    • 5/5

      Sep 25, 2020

      Amazing, painful, frightening. TV Tropes even refers to this short story from 1892... (especially in the "Room Full of Crazy" trope...)

    Book preview

    The Yellow Wallpaper - Charlotte Perkins Gilman

    The Yellow Wallpaper

    Charlotte Perkins Gilman

    The Yellow Wallpaper was first published in 1892.

    This edition published by Mint Editions 2020.

    ISBN 9781513264585 | E-ISBN 9781513265261

    Published by Mint Editions®

    minteditionbooks.com

    Publishing Director: Jennifer Newens

    Project Manager: Gabrielle Maudiere

    Design & Production: Rachel Lopez Metzger

    CONTENTS

    Begin Reading

    It is very seldom that mere ordinary people like John and myself secure ancestral halls for the summer.

    A colonial mansion, a hereditary estate, I would say a haunted house, and reach the height of romantic felicity—but that would be asking too much of fate!

    Still I will proudly declare that there is something queer about it.

    Else, why should it be let so cheaply? And why have stood so long untenanted?

    John laughs at me, of course, but one expects that in marriage.

    John is practical in the extreme. He has no patience with faith, an intense horror of superstition, and he scoffs openly at any talk of things not to be felt and seen and put down in figures.

    John is a physician, and perhaps—(I would not say it to a living soul, of course, but this is dead paper and a great relief to my mind)—perhaps that is one reason I do not get well faster.

    You see, he does not believe I am sick!

    And what can one do?

    If a physician of high standing, and one’s own husband, assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing the matter with one but temporary nervous depression—a slight hysterical tendency—what is one to do?

    My brother is also a physician, and also of high standing, and he says the same thing.

    So I take phosphates or phosphites—whichever it is, and tonics, and journeys, and air, and exercise, and am absolutely forbidden to work until I am well again.

    Personally, I disagree with their

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