Charlotte Perkins Gilman is one of America's most prominent feminist writers. Her most famous work "The Yellow Wallpaper" can be seen as a biographical documentation of the literary kind. The work was seen as radical and somewhat terrifying among critics of her day, but then again so was Gilman herself. With naught but her pen and intellect Gilman, in direct defiance of the treatment she was about to take a stand against, wrote what is known to be the most accurate documentation of mental illness as seen from the view of the patient.
The treatment she was speaking out against was the 'rest cure'; it's when patients have only two intellectual hours each day and never do anything creative- ever. Doctor Silias Weir Mitchel was the creator, and most of the patients that received this treatment were female. The reasoning behind Gilman's adamant hatred for the 'rest cure' was not only the fact that it did nothing but worsen her depression, but it also was intended to break the patients will and give in to that of his or (most of the time) her doctor. For a feminist like Gilman she was not willing to go quietly with a treatment where she lost all sense of herself and trusted completely in a man.
"The Yellow Wallpaper" was published in 1892 in The New England Magazine. There were many criticisms of the piece. Two of which Gilman mentions in her apologia; the first one being from a physician where he states, "Such a story ought not to be written..it was enough to drive anyone mad to read it." The other from a different physician stating "the best description of incipient insanity he had ever seen." Even William Dean Howells chimed in saying it was a story to "freeze our blood."
When done writing the story, Gilman had sent it to the physician who had sent her home with orders of the 'rest cure'; He never responded.
In class we talked about how "The Yellow Wallpaper" has a number of elements that cause it to be read in the context of the female gothic. However, after reading this, I find myself reading it more as a piece of realist literature. Her stance on the treatment of female mental illness in the story becomes really clear after reading the apologia.
ReplyDeleteGilman's short story "The Yellow Wallpaper" is one of my favorite stories that we've read this semester. I think the story shows both female gothic tendancies as well as it being a piece of realist literature. Gilman's work is truly inspirational to feminist power.
ReplyDeleteGREAT POST! "The Yellow Wallpaper" was by far my favorite piece we had read this semester. It's a pretty dark and twisted story from start to finish, it messes with your mind and you can interpret it in so many different ways. This blog gives great insight into the central conflict of the story, the "rest cure". From the story alone i had a pretty good sense on it, but your posting was very informative on what it was and did!
ReplyDelete