Literary Analysis: The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

“The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a story of a woman’s gradual descent to insanity from her depression that initiates after the birth of her child. The story brings up so many points. How does Gilman’s personal experience influence the story? Is the narrator unbalanced? Is her husband doing the right thing by forcing complete rest upon her?

After reading “The Yellow Wallpaper”, one might think the narrator is unbalanced. She is forbidden from writing, socializing, or any other activity that, according to modern day treatment for depression, may help her mental state. “I believe she (John’s sister) think it is the writing which makes me sick!” (1282). Even the narrator knows that the “rest” cure, as it is referred several times, is not the best method to treat her nervousness. “Personally, I believe that congenial work, with excitement and change, would do me good” (1279). At first, she simply does not like the wallpaper: “I’m really quite fond of this big room, all but the horrid paper” (1281). As her confinement to the room increases, her need for human companionship becomes more evident. The narrator begins to obsess over the patterns she sees within the wallpaper, because this is the only means of amusement she has all day. “There is a recurrent spot where the pattern lolls like a broken neck and two bulbous eyes stare at you upside down” (1281).