the yellow wallpaper by charlotte perkins gilman

If you think about it all of us are taking up excessively high amounts of pressure. As an A Level student I have to tell you that I can relate to the woman of the book in the sense of being restricted either by the school or the society in general on what I 'should' and 'should not' do. I am afraid that I cannot tell you what the yellow wallpaper stands for, you will have to find this out on your own!!! What I can tell you though is that even if the themes being explored might seem to you irrelevant to today and especially to such young audience, I can assure you that this is not the case. *hint: Edgar Allan Poe's fans, this book is for you! It is a first person narration by the female patient herself with the structure being very loose and thus making it look more like a stream of consciousness which becomes more complex as the text develops and the woman is being driven to absolute madness. Through this short story Perkins intents to explore the way female psychosynthesis is being affected by the constrictions which the patriarchal society sets on women. This novella is besides other things, a critique on Mitchell's 'rest cure' which was actually abolished by Mitchell himself after reading a copy of the novella which was sent to him by Perkins. This came to an end only when she gave up the 'cure'. This did not help Perkins at all, actually she got even worse and was driven completely mad. As a result his prescription was the 'rest cure', which prohibited any kind of exercise, either mental or physical. 'The Yellow Wallpaper', Gilmans best-known work, was first published in 1892 and represents an important examination of 19th-century attitudes toward womens physical and mental health. He believed that the cause of her depression was excess of mental activity. This collection brings together 12 of the finest short stories of prominent American feminist author Charlotte Perkins Gilman.

Weir Mitchell who was said to be the most experienced doctor on mental disorders in the U.S. Anything associated with her baby or husband would make her feel even worse, thus she visited Dr. Shortly after the birth of her daughter Perkins went through a very serious form of depression.

The yellow wallpaper by charlotte perkins gilman