"The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
The scariest short story I have ever read
I am not a fan of all things scary.Ghosts, zombies, monsters, etc. I have always been easy to scare and don't like being scared.
I had to read "The Yellow Wallpaper" in high school and I have to say, the story stuck with me ever since.
Charlotte Perkins Gilman
The Author
Charlotte Perkins Gilman was born on July 3rd, 1860 in Hartford, Connecticut.
She was a feminist, and author, a critic, a theorist.
After her father abandoned her family, they subsequently moved 18 times.
Overcome with bouts of depression, she committed suicide in 1935 while dying from breast cancer.
I never saw so much expression in an inanimate thing before, and we all know how much expression they have! I used to lie awake as a child and get more entertainment and terror out of blank walls and plain furniture than most children could find in a toy-store.
— Charlotte Perkins Gilman in "The Yellow Wallpaper"
"The Yellow Wallpaper" review
Written in 1892 "The Yellow Wallpaper" depicts the story of a woman's slow decent into madness.
Gilman uses all senses and extremely descriptive writing to absorb readers into her short story.
A woman and her family move into a new house. She then moves into a room with yellow wallpaper which makes her down spiral into insanity.
Gilman makes that wallpaper a protagonist in her story. The thought of an inane object making a woman lose her mind is amazingly scary.
READ IT
If you liked "The Yellow Wallpaper", you may also like;
-The Bell Jar
-The Shooting Party
-The Portrait of a Lady
-Small Changes
What are your thoughts on "The Yellow Wallpaper"
I read the Yellow Wallpaper in high school. I think it's time to revisit. Thanks for the review.
This is definitely a book I now want to read!
I'd like to read this now. You reviewed it well. We moved around a lot too when I was a kid and ever since really. Poor Charlotte.
Intriguing!
The human mind can be a very scary place, then and now!
I am going to have to re-read this book. It's been at least thirty years, and while I remember fearing for the heroine of the story, I did not remember her actually going mad. I thought that was what her psychologically abusive husband wanted the world to think. I also recall something about cocaine abuse, as it was one of the medicines her doctor prescribed to "cure" her. Thank you for reminding me of this story. Charlotte Perkins Gilman was a favorite of my middle years, and I must pull it from my bookshelves and re-read soon.
The Yellow Wallpaper sounds interesting!
Interesting story line. I would read this book. Nice lens.
I agree, this story is seriously scary.
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