Close Reading for "The Yellow Wallpaper"

Step 1:

The speaker is a woman, perhaps in her 30's. Her and her husband, John have rented a summer home. She journals about the house. She has recently had a child and suffers from postpartum depression. Continually, those around the woman tell her that she must rest and do no work, that she must restrain her intellectual activity. These messages especially come from her husband who often uses patronizing language when he speaks to her, such as "little girl." However, this lack of activity only makes her depression worse. She grows entranced by the wallpaper and begins to believe that there are many women hiding in there, creeping around her. At the end, John walks in and is horrified by the site of her imaginations, thought to be real by her. He faints and she must "creep over him."

Step 2:

Just as the narrator becomes deeper and deeper in her head and her imaginations grow into convictions, the tone of the story becomes more and more narrow and the emotions heighten. The reader notices how the woman depression become worse. At first she is in-tuned with the world outside of her, noticing various details of the house. Yet, her disease continues to progress and she turns inward and focuses in on the wallpaper. She makes this secretive and becomes possessive of it. She convinces herself that there are women hiding in the wallpaper. As she "[creeps] over [her husband]" at the end of the story, she becomes likened to these women of her imaginations.

Step 3:

Charlotte Perkins achieves the effects that I mentioned in the previous steps mostly through her use of language and through the narrator's relationship to other characters in the story. In the beginning of the story, aside from the moments when she comes right out and says that she has a nervous disorder, there are subtle hints of her nervousness. For example, she says "I meant to be such a help to John, such a real rest comfort, and here I am a comparative burden already!" She has some anxious moments like this in which she relates her nervousness to the other characters. However, as the story continues on, her nervousness turns inward. She grows possessive over her imaginations of the women in the wallpaper. She does not want John and her sister in law to find out. At this point she distances herself from them. She goes even so far as to lock the door to keep the other characters out of the room. Rather than finding pleasure in being in communion with other characters, he focus turns to the women she imagines in the wallpaper. In fact, she becomes one of them at the end.  

Step 4:
The narrator has become engulfed by her depression. This has become her world. At the end of the story, she is no longer an active player in the world. Rather, to this world she is passive, a part of the wallpaper. She creeps about, disconnected and isolated.    

Give Her Some Room

A room of one's own and 500lbs. This is what Virginia Wolf insists that all women need in order to be able to write fiction. But, as we discussed in class, these three factors (a room of one's own, 500lbs, and fiction) can an are different depending on the person. Each person carries with him or her a different combination of talents, experiences, tendencies, etc. Thus, the path, then can never be the same. Sure, there may be similarities from path to another, but each is never exactly the same. You may be thinking, "I've heard this before. Yes, we already know that each person is unique. Yada yada yada." But, I'd like to discuss this idea as it pertains to women. It is important to state that women don't all want the same things. We each have different goals. However, it is equally important to note that we all desire, that it's only the "something" which differs from person to person. Given that we all desire, we must back each other up (help a sister out).

Sometimes, it is women who limit and underestimate other women's capabilities (sometimes even our own), not always men. 

As women continue to achieve and break glass ceilings, we must recognize what Virginia did, that we hold the power to change our circumstances and gain what we want out of life. For Virginia, this meant publishing fiction. For another, it could mean any number of things. Yet, as women, we have to have enough respect for one another to encourage those various desires, to offer one another a room of one's own and 500lbs. The rest is up to each woman.

Favorite Place: Assisi

I walked down the street. The streets of Assisi winded, inclined, and declined. The cobblestone beneath my feet mirrored the brick and stone houses and shops surrounding me on all sides. When I looked above I saw the clear blue sky and felt the sun’s rays soak into my sink. Though the stone walls appeared similar from building to building, each door had a distinctive exterior. Most stood rather short. Some dazzled with ornate wood carvings and handiwork, others seemed more simple. I never knew how many ways to decorate a door there actually were until I came to this city. I felt as though time had reversed itself. 

A simple plane ride could take me to another city filled with electronic signs and brightly lit advertisements adorning nearly every glass and cement building in sight. Here, in Assisi, I could feel a peace wash over me as I continued to walk down the street, nearing the curve. I wondered what laid beyond that curve. The welcoming sense of mystery excited me. Somehow, I felt untouchable, in a place where the pace was as sweet and as slow as the honey being mass produced in factories around the world that very minute.   

As I rounded the corner of the street, the majestic hillside landscape entranced me. The fields appeared spotted here and there with farmhouses. This astounding view mesmerized my eyes and its serene aura filled my soul. This place must be a dream.