The Yellow Wallpaper

  1. Free-write  2. Small group shares while whole class takes notes on what small group discussed. The whole class should jot down what they disagree with or can elaborate more on based on textual support. Everyone in the small group should play a part in keeping the discussion going. You may need to ask each other questions to provoke further discussion and conversation.  3. Whole class shares with the small group the notes they took about their discussion. Fishbowl Expectations

  Participation (Writing, speaking, notes, etc.)  Engagement (Looking into text, listening attentively to others, etc.)  Note: If you are a distraction to the wonderful fishbowl activity, you will be assigned an additional assignment. What will I be graded on?

  Does the ending of the story suggest progress (a woman tears down the shackles that are binding her) or pessimism (seeing the worst - this woman has become completely unstable)? Or is it delivering a different type of message? Does "The Yellow Wallpaper" have a happy or sad ending? Explain your answer. How should we read this story? Free-write

  How would "The Yellow Wallpaper" be different if it were told from John's point of view? Is John the villain in the story? Why or why not? Free-write

  In her own words, Gilman wrote: "It was not intended to drive people crazy, but to save people from being driven crazy, and it worked." She sent a copy to the physician who had recommended a rest cure, and he subsequently changed his medical practices. Does Gilman’s writing make you think twice about how women are treated? What parts of the text do you think made the doctor think twice about his practice? Can our writing have the same impact? Free-write

  What are some of the problems with reading "The Yellow Wallpaper“ as a feminist text? For instance, does the narrator speak for all women? Could the men in the story also be understood as repressed (held back or bottled up) individuals? Free-write

  Charlotte Perkins Gilman sent a copy of "The Yellow Wallpaper" to the physician who had prescribed her a "rest cure." He subsequently altered the way he treated women for depression. Gilman divorced her husband Charles Stetson in Divorce, we might point out, was very rare at this period in time. Gilman’s second marriage was to her first cousin, George Houghton Gilman. Gilman committed suicide in 1935 after being diagnosed with inoperable breast cancer. What type of legacy does Gilman leave behind for us? Was her life tragic? Is there anything good we can take away from her writing and her life? Charlotte Perkins Gilman Free-write

  What happens to the narrator after the story ends? Free-write