The Yellow Wallpaper: What The Hell???? Essay, Research Paper

The Yellow Wallpaper: What The Hell????

The Yellow Wallpaper does nothing but confuse me. It seems to be about

a high strung, mentally ill woman who is obsessed with rotting wallpaper. This

yellow wallpaper obsesses her so much that she begins to distrust everyone, even

her husband. She is terrified that someone will take her wallpaper or find out

more about it than she knows.

One point I found interesting is that she sees a woman behind bars

trying to get out in the pattern of the wallpaper. This might be the only thing

in this story that made sense to me. The pattern with the woman seems to be

related to the way she is being treated by her husband, John. John is very

protective of her wife because she is in all reality a very sick woman. She

feels trapped because of this and the way she sees the paper must be an

indication. She stays up late at night and hours on end during the day to stare

at worthless, tattered, yellow wallpaper.

This story really bored me to death. All I could think of was, “when is

this story going to be over?” I remember having a highly active imagination as

a child but this is ridiculous. She sees mushrooms sprouting and women shaking

bars and she’s a middle aged woman. The last time I ever saw anything close to

that was when I was 10 years old and I saw G.I.Joe’s crawling up and down my

walls at night. I don’t understand this woman behavior nor have I ever

experienced anyone in real life who acted this way.

John’s wife is not an abused woman. She is actually well taken care of and

loved by her husband, John. The author, Charlotte Gilman must have some point

to get across. However the fact is I don’t get it.

The most eerie thing about the story though is that it sounds and reads

just like a story from Edgar Allan Poe. Even though I did not get the hidden

meaning in the story I enjoyed it nonetheless.