The Yellow Wallpaper
Ratings277
Average rating4
The story is about a woman in the 1800s who has to spend a lot of time alone in a house, with an ugly yellow wallpaper. The circumstances/events or a lack thereof, results in a relationship forming between the woman and the wallpaper.
The slow transition into insanity appears to me as a means of escape.
“I really have discovered something at last. Through watching so much at night, when it changes so, I have finally found out. The front pattern does move - and no wonder! The woman behind shakes it! Sometimes I think there are a great many women behind, and sometimes only one, and she crawls around fast, and her crawling shakes it all over. Then in the very ‘ bright spots she keeps still, and in the very shady spots she just takes hold of the bars and shakes them hard. And she is all the time trying to climb through.”
I was hopeful about the situation first, then came the hopelessness and later the bliss of insanity at the end. I was surprised, that so much could happen in a short story. It was never rushed. The gradual blending of the psyche of the wallpaper and the woman is quite believably portayed; which is horrifying.
Appeals to my morbid interests.
CW: themes of depression
I picked up this book because i kept hearing about it in different youtube videos. All I knew about it was that it was about a yellow wallpaper and commentary on depression. But wow it's so much more than that. It succeeds on explaining the feeling that comes with depression. And the dread of having people ignore it and say to just sleep it off. We see the narrator slowly descend into madness due to not getting the help she needs.
I honestly don't know what to rate it lol.
CW: themes of depression
I picked up this book because i kept hearing about it in different youtube videos. All I knew about it was that it was about a yellow wallpaper and commentary on depression. But wow it's so much more than that. It succeeds on explaining the feeling that comes with depression. And the dread of having people ignore it and say to just sleep it off. We see the narrator slowly descend into madness due to not getting the help she needs.
I honestly don't know what to rate it lol.
4.75 ✨ the shortest but powerful story I ever read!! I have a lot to say, but not enough time in a lifetime.
Interesting short story about a woman who gradually loses her mind over the course of her mental health “treatment” in the countryside after the birth of her child. The prescription seems to involve a lot of being talked down to by men and not being allowed to do anything. The introduction in my copy mentions that the author underwent a similar treatment that made her issues worse (though not as bad as in the story) which is what inspired the writing.
Recensie van audioboek (via Storytel)
Verhaal over hoe de beste bedoelingen, de slechtst mogelijke gevolgen kunnen hebben.
Huiveringwekkend portret over het afdwalen in waanzin, als protest tegen de toentertijd heersende onderdrukking van vrouwen.
Haar man, vader, broer of mannelijke voogd wisten het altijd beter, want vrouwen werden gezien als geestelijk zwak en kwetsbaar. Uitingen van instabiliteit en depressie moesten behandeld worden met rust, een zo huiselijk mogelijk leven en zo weinig mogelijk mentale stimulatie.
De schrijfster protesteert hiertegen, mede op basis van haar persoonlijke ervaringen. Net de isolatie en het gebrek aan geestelijke prikkelingen, doen het hoofdpersonage afdwalen in krankzinnigheid. Later kreeg de schrijfster ook op wetenschappelijk niveau gelijk toen bleek dat een alternatief regime van geestelijke en fysieke activiteiten een veel beter resultaat gaven dan de traditioneel voorgeschreven rustkuur.
I loved it. You can feel her diving into her psychosis, and it's so fascinating and suffocating, and accurate. The book is known as an anti-“resting treatment” story, but really it shows how condescending physicians are to women and how belittling they are of their pain. The resting treatment is only a detail of an age where women were driven crazy in asylums or lobotomized for not fitting in. If anyone has a recommendation of books of that subject, I'm all ears.
Exquisite short story of a woman's descent into madness that evolves around the yellow patterned wallpaper in the room she's restricted to due to a illness.
Creepy. This short story about a woman's slow descent into insanity is captivating. I couldn't tear myself away, had half expected her to commit suicide...
The wallpaper itself was more a metaphor for feeling caged...but the slow study of it throughout story gets so engrained in this woman's day to day and her descent is so slow you feel tourself slipping away with her.. Spine tingling doesn't cover it...it caresses your spine with constant chills..
Five short stories published as a Penguin 60s Classic.
Feminist writing, dating from the late 19th century - all based around womens rights, equality, medical and moralistic treatments of women and children - and all well ahead of its time.
Not in my normal genre, and not particularly interesting to me, but well structured short stories, with some nice twists.
3.5 stars overall, rounded down to 3.
A sad but thought provoking read. An insightful look at how women and mental illness were treated in the past.
I had to give this 4 stars because I love stories written in journal format and because the lady who wrote this at the time was very much a forward thinker – Works by such women written during this period are hard to come by. My favorite piece is the backstory that led the author to produce the Yellow Wallpaper. At about 9 pages in length, this public domain offering is definitely worth a read .