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Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wall-paper”—Writing Women
—Writing Women in Turn-of-the-Century (1890s-1910s) America—
Introduction
"For many years I suffered from a severe and continuous nervous
breakdown tending to melancholia—and beyond. During about the third year
of this trouble I went, in devout faith and some faint stir of hope, to a noted
specialist in nervous diseases, the best known in the country. This wise man
put me to bed and applied the rest cure, to which a still good physique responded
so promptly that he concluded that there was nothing much the matter with me,
and sent me home with solemn advice to 'live as domestic a life as possible,'
to 'have but two hours' intelligent life a day,' and 'never to touch pen, brush
or pencil again as long as I lived.' This was in 1887…"
—Charlotte Perkins Gilman, "Why I Wrote the Yellow Wall-paper," 1913
"Every kind of creature is developed by the exercise of its functions. If denied the exercise of its functions, it can not develop in the fullest degree."
—Charlotte Perkins Stetson (Gilman),
from Hearing of the National American Woman Suffrage Association.
Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives,
Washington, D.C., January 28, 1896
Charlotte Perkins Gilman's story "The Yellow Wall-paper" was written during a time of great change. In the early- to mid-nineteenth century, "domestic ideology" positioned American middle class women as the spiritual and moral leaders of their home. Such "separate spheres" ideals suggested that a woman's place was in the private domain of the home, where she should carry out her prescribed roles of wife and mother. Men, on the other hand, would rule the public domain through work, politics, and economics. By the middle of the century, this way of thinking began to change as the seeds of early women's rights were planted. By the end of the 1800s, feminists were gaining momentum in favor of change. The concept of "The New Woman," for example, began to circulate in the 1890s-1910s as women pushed for broader roles outside their home-roles that could draw on women's intelligence and non-domestic skills and talents.
Gilman advocated revised roles for women, whom, Gilman believed, should be
on much more equal economic, social, and political footing with men. In her
famous work of nonfiction Women and Economics (1898), Gilman argued
that women should strive-and be able-to work outside the home. Gilman also believed
that women should be financially independent from men, and she promoted the
then-radical idea that men and women even should share domestic work.
First appearing in the New England Magazine in January 1892, "The Yellow Wall-paper," according to many literary critics, is a narrative study of Gilman's own depression and "nervousness." Gilman, like the narrator of her story, sought medical help from the famous neurologist S. Weir Mitchell. Mitchell prescribed his famous "rest cure," which restricted women from anything that labored and taxed their minds (e.g., thinking, reading, writing) and bodies. More than just a psychological study of postpartum depression, Gilman's "The Yellow Wall-paper" offers a compelling study of Gilman's own feminism and of roles for women in the 1890s and 1910s.
This lesson plan, the second part of a two-part lesson, should be completed
after students examine and understand the historical, social, cultural, and
economic context of Gilman's story in Lesson
One. This lesson requires a close reading of "The Yellow Wall-paper" itself
within the context of students' research and analysis in the first part of the
full lesson. This lesson is also suitable as a stand-alone lesson plan focusing
on a close reading of Gilman's story, exploring such literary concepts as setting,
narrative style, symbol, and characterization.
Guiding Question
What does Charlotte Perkins Gilman's story "The Yellow Wall-paper" suggest about middle-class women's place and role(s) in this society?
Learning Objectives
- Upon completing this lesson, students will strengthen their understanding of literary devices such as setting, narrative style, symbol, and characterization.
- Students will gain an understanding of the rapidly changing roles of American women in the nineteenth and early twentieth century.
- Students will be able to provide a well-supported analysis of how the narrator of "The Yellow Wall-paper" represents Gilman's feminism.
Preparing to Teach This Lesson
- For background information relevant to this lesson, see Lesson
One, which leads students to explore the social contexts of the late 19th
and early 20th century relevant to Gilman's story.
- Download and pass out the “Active Reading Chart” (available
in PDF or RTF
format [if they choose the RTF, they should opt to SAVE rather than OPEN this document]; also available as a Marco Polo interactive), for students to complete while reading
"The Yellow-wallpaper." Mention to students that you will collect their "active
reading notes" from this worksheet, so encourage them to mark key passages
throughout the story as they read.
- Read full
text of "The Yellow Wall-paper" (1899 edition), available online at the
University of Virginia Library's Electronic Text Center via EDSITEment reviewed
Center for the Liberal Arts, or
the original
New England Magazine version, available online at the Library
of Congress' Nineteenth Century in Print Collection (periodicals)
- Briefly review literary terms such as setting, character, symbol, and point
of view at Purdue
Online Writing Lab's Literary Terms, available through the EDSITEment
review Internet Public Library.
- Review Gilman's
brief suffrage commentary in the Votes
for Women Collection from the EDSITEment reviewed American
Memory collection.
Suggested Activities
- Two online texts for "The Yellow Wallpaper" are available: the full
text of "The Yellow Wall-paper" (1899 edition), available online at the
University of Virginia Library's Electronic Text Center via EDSITEment reviewed
Center for the Liberal Arts, or
the original
New England Magazine version, available online at the Library
of Congress' Nineteenth Century in Print Collection (periodicals).
- As an option, students (especially those who did not complete Lesson One)
can read Gilman's
brief suffrage commentary in the Votes
for Women Collection from the EDSITEment reviewed American
Memory collection, which further contextualizes Gilman's views
- If students explored the contextual material for the story in Lesson
One, each small group should have presented its findings. With this context
in mind, begin a class discussion on the following general question, "What
does Charlotte Perkins Gilman's story "The Yellow Wall-paper" suggest about
a middle-class woman's place and role(s) in society in the mid- to late-nineteenth
century?"
Have students draw on their worksheets for class discussion, and relate answers
back to students' findings in Lesson
One. Students should explore how the story is told (the form) and how
this influences the manner in which we perceive the main character and her
situation.
- In the course of your discussion about the form, content, and context of
the story, discuss the following passages [sections correspond to University
of Virginia online version]. During the course of the discussion, students
should draw on their notes from their Active Reading Worksheet.
- Section
1, "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!"
Questions:
- How would you describe the story's setting?
- How and why is the setting significant?
- Section
1, "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."
Questions:
- How would you describe the narrator's husband?
- What is the narrator's style of writing? What is her tone?
- Section
1, "Personally, I believe that congenial work, with excitement and
change, would do me good."
Questions:
- What does the narrator believe would be the best cure for her?
- How does this contrast with what her husband and brother say? Ask
students to cite additional passages from their active reading notes.
- How does Gilman's vision of work compare to the roles of the mother
in the "Light
of the Home" image and the representation of "keeping house" in
the "I
Can't Keep House without It" (1918) advertisement?
- Section
1, "There comes John, and I must put this away-he hates to have me
write a word."
Questions:
- What is the narrative style of this story? What is the effect of
this journal style narrative in developing the main character?
- How does it influence how the reader understands the main character?
- Section
2, "Nobody would believe what an effort it is to do what little I
am able, -to dress and entertain, and order things.
It is fortunate Mary is so good with the baby. Such a dear baby! And yet
I cannot be with him, it makes me so nervous.
I suppose John never was nervous in his life. He laughs at me so about
this wall-paper!
At first he meant to repaper the room, but afterwards he said that I was
letting it get the better of me, and that nothing was worse for a nervous
patient than to give way to such fancies.
He said that after the wall-paper was changed it would be the heavy bedstead,
and then the barred windows, and then that gate at the head of the stairs,
and so on.
"You know the place is doing you good," he said, "and really, dear, I
don't care to renovate the house just for a three months' rental." "Then
do let us go downstairs," I said, "there are such pretty rooms there."
Then he took me in his arms and called me a blessed little goose, and
said he would go down to the cellar, if I wished, and have it whitewashed
into the bargain.
But he is right enough about the beds and windows and things. It is an
airy and comfortable room as any one need wish, and, of course, I would
not be so silly as to make him uncomfortable just for a whim. I'm really
getting quite fond of the big room, all but that horrid paper.
Out of one window I can see the garden, those mysterious deepshaded arbors,
the riotous old fashioned flowers, and bushes and gnarly trees. Out of
another I get a lovely view of the bay and a little private wharf belonging
to the estate. There is a beautiful shaded lane that runs down there from
the house. I always fancy I see people walking in these numerous paths
and arbors, but John has cautioned me not to give way to fancy in the
least. He says that with my imaginative power and habit of story-making,
a nervous weakness like mine is sure to lead to all manner of excited
fancies, and that I ought to use my will and good sense to check the tendency.
So I try.
I think sometimes that if I were only well enough to write a little it
would relieve the press of ideas and rest me. But I find I get pretty
tired when I try."
Questions:
- How does the narration mimic the narrator's mental state?
- Point out digressions and discuss why the narrator might digress
during her account. Review the 1867 Godey's quote from the
"Motherhood"
essay in Lesson One ("About every true mother there is a sanctity
of martyrdom- and when she is no more in the body, her children see
her with the ring of light around her head."). Compare this description
to the narrator's role of mother.
- Section
3, "And dear John gathered me up in his arms, and just carried me
upstairs and laid me on the bed, and sat by me and read to me till it
tired my head."
Question:
- What does this passage suggest about the relationship between the
narrator and her husband?
- How would you characterize the narrator?
- How would you characterize the husband?
- Ask students to cite another passage from their active reading notes
to support their claim. Students might compare the narrator's and
John's relationship to the relationship in the "Puss
in the Corner" poem (introduced in Lesson One, section 1.a).
- Section
3, "And it is like a woman stooping down and creeping about behind
that pattern. I don't like it a bit. I wonder—I begin to think—I wish
John would take me away from here!"
Questions:
- What is the significance of the woman behind the yellow wall-paper?
- To aid discussion for the above question, compare the narrator's
feelings about the wall-paper to the tone and message of the 1890
cartoon, For
the benefit of the girl about to graduate, discussed in Lesson
One (section 1.c.).
- Section
4, "The fact is I am getting a little afraid of John."
Questions:
- How would you describe the narrator's mental state in Section 6?
- How has she changed?
- What is her tone at this point in the story?
- Sections 5-9 (5,
6,
7,
8,
9).
Questions:
- What do you notice about the narrator's diction in Sections 5-9?
- How does the narration change?
- Section
10, ""What is the matter?" he cried. "For God's sake, what are you
doing!"
I kept on creeping just the same, but I looked at him over my shoulder.
"I've got out at last," said I, "in spite of you and Jane. And I've pulled
off most of the paper, so you can't put me back! "
Now why should that man have fainted? But he did, and right across my
path by the wall, so that I had to creep over him every time!"
Questions:
- What does the narrator mean by, "I got out at last?"
- What does the ending of this story suggest about the woman behind
the wall-paper?
- How are this woman and the wall-paper itself symbolic?
- Discuss the metaphor of the window in relationship to "getting out."
- Compare the stopping woman to images of women doing domestic work
you encountered in Lesson
One.
Assessment
Here are some assessment options:
- Active Reading Worksheet: Students should indicate that they have actively
read "The Yellow Wall-paper" by providing thoughtful and well-supported responses
to "Active Reading Questions" questions.
- Small Group Presentations: Students should provide a clear understanding
of their assigned topic, referencing strong support from corresponding Web
sites.
- Class Discussion: Students should engage actively and thoughtfully in full
class discussions of key elements and "The Yellow Wall-paper."
- Two-page Writing Assignment: Ask students to write a two-page essay that
answers the lesson's guiding question: What does Charlotte Perkins Gilman's
story "The Yellow Wall-paper" suggest about middle-class women's place and
role(s) in this society? Require each student to include a brief discussion
of at least three different examples of literary devices (e.g., setting, tone,
symbol).
Extending the Lesson
Selected EDSITEment Websites
American Memory
[http://memory.loc.gov/]
American Studies at the University of Virginia
[http://xroads.virginia.edu/]
Assumption College's U.S. Women's History Workshop
"At Home in
the Heartland"
[http://museum.state.il.us/exhibits/athome/welcome.htm]
Center for the Liberal Arts
[http://www.virginia.edu/cla/]
College of Staten Island
Department of History
[http://www.library.csi.cuny.edu/dept/history/]
Internet Public Library [http://www.ipl.org/]
National Women's History Project
[http://www.nwhp.org/]
Smithsonian National Museum of American History
[http://americanhistory.si.edu/]
Standards Alignment
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