In this story, a woman suffering from postpartum depression is "treated" by her doctor, who is also her husband. He prescribes "perfect rest" and will not allow her to read, write, work, or see anyone; in other words, she is allowed no intellectual stimulation whatsoever. As a result, she begins to obsess about the yellow wallpaper in her bedroom, the room in which she is kept for the majority of the day. At first, she...
In this story, a woman suffering from postpartum depression is "treated" by her doctor, who is also her husband. He prescribes "perfect rest" and will not allow her to read, write, work, or see anyone; in other words, she is allowed no intellectual stimulation whatsoever. As a result, she begins to obsess about the yellow wallpaper in her bedroom, the room in which she is kept for the majority of the day. At first, she believes that the wallpaper is making her sicker, but she gradually comes to believe that it is actually making her better. She studies it and studies it, as it actually gives her something to think about other than her own condition (about which she is not happy).
Soon, she begins to feel that she sees a woman trapped in the wallpaper, just as she is essentially trapped in her room. She makes it her mission to free this woman from the wallpaper and begins to tear it off the walls in large strips. Once she finally frees the woman in the wallpaper (in her delusional mind), she comes to believe that she herself is, actually, this woman who she has liberated. She seems to forget who she actually is, perhaps because her reality was too painful.
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