Ah, the slow descent into madness.....
EL266 Yellow Wallpaper
"I tried to lift and push it until I was lame, and then I got so angry I bit off a little piece at one corner--but it hurt my teeth."
Yep, she's crazy. I do enjoy the progression though. I really like the way Gillman's character's own writing, as well as her behavior, gets progressively more delusional and obsessed. All underlying themes aside, (talked about those the first couple times I read it), the writing is interesting in and of itself. That is one of the pleasures of first-person writing, beyond simply telling a story, the writer gets the chance to show a change through the telling of the story, as well as the story itself. It reminded me a bit of Flowers for Algernon...Keyes I think wrote that....forgot the first name. Anyway, the main character, the narrator, is mentally handicapped, but becomes gradually smarter after some medical experiment, this is reflected in his writing. Overall, I enjoyed the story.
2 Comments
Leave a comment
Recent Comments
Gladys Mares on Ah, the slow descent into madness.....: I agree with you that she is t
I agree with you that she is totally delusional and obsessed. However, I think this stems from the relationship with her husband. Did you notice how he treated her like a child? I think the way he talked down to her made her stay preserved in this naive and childlike state. I think this story could go both ways, either about a crazy woman or a jab at the institution of marriage at the time.
That's possible, though because the narrator is delusional it could very easily go either way. Overall though, because her husband is also a doctor, I think the Dr./Patient relationship is more significant. It's impossible to say whether or not he would have treated her that way had she been sane.