“The Yellow Wallpaper”

The Assignment: Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” is one of the most oft anthologized pieces of American fiction, having been a staple of introductory English courses for generations. This classic piece of literature has been adapted into and referenced in movies, plays, songs, television series, and works of art. You can choose to construct your paper by answering the questions in one, two, or all three of these prompts. You can answer whichever questions you desire inside each prompt as well. 1) What is wrong with the narrator? Why is she in this condition? Is there someone or something to blame for her plight? What symptoms does she have? How does her condition change over the course of the plot and what is the lowest depth of her condition? 2) Discuss the portrayal of the wallpaper itself. Symbolically, what does the wallpaper represent? How does its particulars in terms of pattern play a role in the story? Why is yellow used as its color? Why does the w allpaper fascinate the narrator so much? 3) Some critics claim that the story is a feminist manifesto written twenty-eight years before women got the right to vote in the United States. How might a feminist scholar interpret this work? How are both men and women portrayed in the story? What does this story have to say about each gender’s place in society at the end of the 19th century? Think of these papers as being arguments; you are trying to defend your interpretations. You’ll do that by using the text itself; reference parts of the story to defend your claims. Be sure to have an introduction for your essay and use transitions as you move between the different parts of this prompt. Act as if the reader of your essay has some familiarity with the text but hasn’t thought about it critically. You should not give a plot summary but contextualize characters briefly as you introduce them. Papers will be graded on depth of thought, defense of position, and, of course, grammar and me chanics.

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