The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is an early work of feminist literature exploring a woman’s descent into madness. First published as a serial work in an 1892 magazine, this short story is an early look into the views of female mental health.
This story is told as a series of journal entries from a woman who is on forced rest as a treatment for hysteria following the birth of her child. As was common in the time, she is forbidden from any work or “strenuous” tasks, and is left to sit alone most of her days without mental stimulation, trapped in a room and a marriage that are not fulfilling her.
The woman’s isolation and mental state cause her to believe that there is a woman stuck in the wallpaper of her room. This story is harrowing in its depictions of mental degradation, and is an impactful look at how the broad stroke “hysteria” diagnosis of the time oppressed women by not looking at their minds individually, and led to women being unable to express their needs and mental anguish properly. This is a tough look at how society once treated women, and a reminder of how far society has come since then.
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