“The Yellow Wallpaper” 3rd period analysis

Group 1: Setting “A colonial mansion, a hereditary estate, I would say a haunted house and reach the height of romantic felicity.”(Perkins 1) She has a bad feeling about this mansion. Enormous house, very rich and vibrant. “It makes me think of English places that you read about, for there are hedges and walls and gates that lock.” (1) Magnificent mansion, jaw dropping scenery. “Out of one window I can see the garden, those mysterious deep shaded arbors, the riotous old-fashioned flowers, and bushes and gnarly trees.” (3) Very comfortable place, but she still doesn’t have a good feeling about it.

Mrs. Hunt would like to add… Room “big, airy room” (2) “sunshine galore” According to narrator: Nursery playroom gymnasium Barred windows Scratched floor “gouged and splintered” (3 ) “Rings and things in the wall” (2) “Plaster itself is dug out’ (2) Yellow Wallpaper Optic horror (4 ) Stripped off in spots especially around the head of bed “as far as I can reach” (2) Blames condition of room on “children” House “…then that gate at the head of the stairs, and so on.” (2)

Mrs. Hunt would like to add… Room cont’d. Bed Bolted to the floor “been through the wars” (3) Chewed “This bed will not move!” (9) Rented summer home or insane asylum? (2)

Group 2: Characters John “John is a physician” very smart “He has no patience with faith, an intense horror of superstition, and he scoffs openly at any talk of things not to be felt and seen and put down in figures.” - No belief in supernatural He doesn’t allow his wife to do much because of her depression He’s very controlling towards his wife Narrator “Personally, I disagree with their ideas.” She doesn’t agree with her husband and her doctor about her “work” being delayed and what he thinks is best for her “I think that women gets out in the daytime! And I’ll tell you why—privately—I’ve seen her.” She is referring to the woman in the yellow wallpaper, and she thinks that the wallpaper is coming to life and the woman is trying to creep out of the wallpaper.

Group 2: Characters Jennie “Jennie wanted to sleep with me– the sly thing!” Jennie is very helpful with John’s wife She is also John’s sister “Jennie is a perfect and enthusiastic housekeeper, and hopes for no better profession. I verily believe she thinks it is the writing which made me sick!” It’s self explanatory, but she’s the housekeeper Mary “It is unfortunate Mary is so good with the baby. Such a dear baby.” Mary is the babysitter, basically Mary does what John’s wife can’t do for the baby essentially She is also a biblical symbol due to the Mary, in the Bible, taking care of a newborn

Mrs. Hunt would like to add… Narrator Jane? Married to John Suffering from postpartum depression Rest drives her further insane Writes in journal even though prohibited, causing her to hide it Wants to find reason in random pattern of wallpaper Creeps along wall John “Physician of high standing…perhaps that is one reason I do not get well faster” (1) Diagnoses narrator with “temporary nervous depression” and “slight hysterical tendency’ (1) No patience “Practical in the extreme (1) Treats her like a child

Mrs. Hunt would like to add… Jennie Housekeeper “Jennie sees to everything now” (4) Could possibly be a nurse “And I heard him ask Jennie a lot of professional questions about me” (8)

Group 3: Narrator’s description of the wallpaper “I never saw a worse paper in my life” “The color is hideous enough, and unreliable enough, and infuriating enough, but the pattern is torturing.” “It makes me think of all the yellow things I ever saw– not beautiful ones like buttercups, but old foul, bad yellow things” “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!” In the beginning she sees the wallpaper as plain ugly paper, nothing more. At the climax she begins to accept the wallpaper. In the end, she believes there is a woman crawling and moving behind the paper.

Group 4: symbolism “And she is all time trying to climb through. But nobody could climb through that pattern it strangles so, I think that is why it has so many heads.” “Then she said that the paper stained everything it touched, that she has found yellow smooches on all my clothes and John’s and she wished we would be more careful!” “I didn’t realize for a long time what the thing was that showed behind, that dim sub pattern, but how I am quite sure it is a woman.”

Mrs. Hunt would like to add… The woman in the wallpaper represents two things: The narrator’s insanity It becomes worse as her description of the wallpaper becomes clearer “Behind that outside pattern the dim shapes get clearer every day” “The woman behind it is as plain as can be” Women trapped in societal confinement and trying to escape “wallpaper strangles those who try to escape”

Group 5: quote analysis “I suppose I shall have to get back behind the pattern when it comes night, and that is hard! It is so pleasant to be out in this great room and creep around as I please.” She wants to be free, but she is not allowed to be. This is causing the narrator to go crazy. “I've got out at last, ‘in spite of you and Jane. And I've pulled off most of the paper, so you cant put me back!” She rips the wallpaper off to set the woman free. By doing this she lost her freedom due to her lack of sanity, but yet she ironically also becomes freer than she has ever been.