The Yellow Wall-Paper was one of the stories this semester that had the biggest impact on me the semester. Much like the public when it was published, this story was shocking. I did not expect it to be so vivid or detailed. This story transports you into the narrators mind. Since it is written in almost a diary format, you feel that you know exactly what the narrator is thinking. If it was told in first person, this would result in an entirely different story than the one that Charlotte Perkins Gilman told.
One of the biggest parts of the story for me is the subsections. This illustrates the worsening of the nervous disorder. As each section is read, you feel for the narrator and feel how she is going insane locked up in the room.
I think the fact that the description of the room is very important to the story. I know that I have seen wallpaper before, that has foil or something else in it, that makes it appear that it moves. This is very disconcerting, particularly when I was a child. Wallpaper is not supposed to move at all. I can understand how the narrator would be very disconcerted with the wallpaper after being locked in the room all day with nothing to do but stare at the wallpaper.
The story made a big impact on me since it really transports you there and you feel like you are just as bad as the narrator. The shockingness of it plays a very big role in it as well. As a very hyperactive person, I can understand how much worse I would get if a doctor had prescribed me the rest cure. Even if there was nothing wrong with me in the beginning, I feel that after the rest cure, I would have gone crazy as well.
I absolutely agree that the imagery in this story is what makes it so haunting. The descriptions of the wall paper, combined with the point of view of the story, make it very strange and unsettling to read. I have never seen wall paper that simulates movement, but I can only imagine how frightening that would be to witness, especially if you were locked in a room wtih it. It is very bizarre to see the woman's progression towards insanity through her writing, and her descriptions of the room in which she is trapped.
ReplyDeleteI agree. This story kind of freaked me out when I first read it. It was very unsettling to read about the mental deterioration of a person from that person's point of view. I think it is incredible how naive people were back then to mental disorders and how far we have come since then. While I didn't really relate to the character, I found it to be painfully honest and eye opening.
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