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Post Number 4

Charlotte Perkins Gilman first published “The Yellow Wallpaper” in 1892 in the New England Magazine. During the time that Gilman lived woman’s suffrage and equal rights was a popular topic. During this time Perkins was a follower of Woman’s rights activists such as Susan B. Anthony, and Harriet Beecher Stowe who was Gilman’s great-aunt.

Gilman was an advocate for equality and woman’s rights; leaving and confining woman to the confines a home and house work deprived women of their creativity and intelligence and the potential for a positive public, professional career and education.

In 1886 during her first marriage Perkins was stricken with post-partum Depression after the birth of her daughter. She was stricken with “unbearable inner misery” and “ceaseless tears” that were only made worse by her husband and child. She was then referred to the Dr. s. Mitchell, who at the time was the counties leading specialist in nervous disorders. Mitchell believed that in the case of a female who needed treatment for a nervous disorder it was because of over stimulation and not enough attention to domestic work (Very sexist). So his treatment was “rest care” where the patient would be forced to do nothing and be void of any stimulation. It proved to be a disaster for Gilman; she soon had a nervous break down. She went completely mental and was crawling into closets and under beds and clutching a rag doll.

The Yellow wallpaper is almost a direct account of her experience of a rest home. The woman in the essay is not being helped by the “rest treatment” it is only making matters worse for her and she is slowing losing the mental game. The woman in the story is controlled directly by her husband who is also her doctor; instead of getting better she becomes obsessed with the room’s yellow wallpaper.

Exactly what happened to Gilman who was not helped by the treatment only when she left the home and her husband was able to recover and write. She eventually would send Dr. Mitchell a copy of the yellow wallpaper.

Citation

SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on The Yellow Wallpaper.” SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. 2006. Web. 20 Feb. 2012.