The article, “Why I Wrote the Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman first appeared in the October 1913 issue of The Forerunner.
The Forerunner was a monthly magazine that Charlotte Perkins Gilman started in November 1909 that she would write and edit for the next seven years. The mission of the Forerunner was to “stimulate thought; to arouse hope, courage and impatience,” and “express ideas which need a special medium.” Which is one of the main reasons why “The Yellow Wallpaper” appeared in the magazine; to really make people think about the roles in society. The Yellow Wallpaper was her way of bringing women’s oppression to light by using medicine. In Why I Wrote the Yellow Wallpaper she says her goal in writing the short story was to prevent other people from going crazy. But what I think she really meant was to keep people from going crazy under oppressive restrictions. She wanted to change this oppressive mindset whether it was in medicine or family roles.
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