The Yellow Wallpaper

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The Yellow Wallpaper
By Pa Yang and
Paul Lewis
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Brief Summary

• The Yellow Wallpaper is a short story that
  narrates how Jane, a sickly woman, overcame her
  illness. While her house was still being
  renovated, her husband John rented an old,
  uninhabited house for them to stay at for three
  weeks. Because of her sickness, John chose the
  bedroom on the top floor. Jane disliked this room
  at first because it wasnt as pretty as the ones
  on the bottom floor. What she particularly
  disliked at first was the yellow wallpaper in the
  room. However, she eventually became more and
  more drawn to the wallpaper and was determined to
  find out more about it. As she observed the
  wallpaper, it became more than an inanimate
  object. The patterns of the wallpaper became more
  than just patterns. At night, she could see a
  woman creeping behind the patterns, trying to get
  out through the wallpaper. On the last day of her
  rental, she finally tore up the yellow wallpaper
  and helped the creeping woman out of the
  wallpaper. To surprise her husband, she locked
  the door and made the husband find the key to
  open up the door. As he entered, she told him
  that she had finally gotten out of the wallpaper
  and that he and his sister could no longer put
  her back in.

3
Character Sketch

• Narrator She is a curious and active individual
  who dislikes the fact that she is held down by
  her sickness and incapable of doing much.
  
• John He is a serious individual who deems faith
  as a an intense horror of superstition and who
  does not believe in unnatural fancies.
  
• Jennie She is nice and helpful to Jane.

4
What is the significance of the title?

• The title The Yellow Wallpaper signifies how
  the narrator is prevented from doing what she
  wants.

5
How is the story told? What perspective is used?
What is the tone of the language? Is the narrator
reliable?

• The story is told in the form of a diary, from
  the perspective of a sick woman.
  
• The language of the story is told more in an
  informational tone and then becomes more personal
  as the story progresses.
  
• The narrator isnt really reliable because she is
  a sick individual.

6
Based on the opening and closing, what is the
narrators main focus?

• The narrator mainly focuses on a womans
  suppression and how she overcomes it. At the
  beginning, she is obedient and finds no fault
  with the fact that she is not allowed to do much
  of what she wants.

7
How does the character transform in the story?

• At the beginning of the story, the woman is
  sickly and weak. She is incapable of doing
  anything at all.
  
• At the end of the story, the woman grows out of
  her sickness and becomes more independent, both
  mentally and physically.

8
What is the major theme of the story? Are there
any minor themes?

• The major theme in the story is how the woman is
  suppressed by duty and prevented from doing what
  she actually wants. She has to sneak around when
  no one else is around in order to write in her
  diary, because her husband deems writing
  unhealthy for her already sickly state.
• No minor themes in the story.

9
Are there any allusions in your story that could
add meaning to your interpretation?

• The author gives an allusion of the wallpaper and
  how its patterns commit artistic sins. This
  allusion strengthens the idea that the wives are
  prevented from doing things they want that would
  be deemed unsuitable for them. The patterns
  committing artistic sins describe the desired
  actions of the women.

10
What are the symbols or other figurative elements
in the story?

• Yellow wallpaper symbolizes a married womans
  desire to be unsuppressed by her wifely duties
  and her need to be able to do what she desires.
  
• The other characters in the story represent the
  things holding her back.

11
What seems to be the authors primary
goal/purpose in writing this short story?

• The authors primary goal in writing this short
  story is to show how Jane eventually overcomes
  being suppressed by the men in her life.

12
What is your reaction to this story? How does
your reaction influence your reading?

• My reaction to this story was that it was
  peculiar because the narrator mainly talks about,
  and breathes life into, the yellow wallpaper,
  which is an inanimate object. This influenced my
  reading by making me pay more attention to what
  the narrator said about the wallpaper,
  particularly how she described its components.