The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman - Short Story Summary, Analysis, Review

[@TheCodeXCantina]

Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/thecodexcantina Bookmarks: Publication info: @0:28 Plot: @1:13 Discussion: @2:00

[@TheCodeXCantina]

Thanks for watching!

[@bitsoflit]

The crawling at the end is easily the creepiest most haunting thing I’ve read. The description of it sounds so unnatural.

[@TheCodeXCantina]

Wonderfully put!

[@rorygardner4525]

I had to read Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" in English literary criticism class. "The Yellow Wallpaper" is a feminist literary classic that rebels against Victorian patriarchal society and gender roles. Also, the text was forgotten and rediscovered in the 60's and 70's by feminist literary critics. Thanks for making the video.

[@abigailramsden9940]

The thing you said about her using her husbands words instead of her own kn the Journal was so interesting! Great video.

[@TheCodeXCantina]

Thanks so much!

[@MIDDLEoftheBookMARCH]

Great discussion. Gaslighting is often a technique that abusers use to control their victims and it’s often seen in domestic violence situations. It can have a lot to do with why many women stay with their abusers so long. They’ve been manipulated so effectively to believe in their own worthlessness or ignorance. Ultimately the abuser is a pathologically insecure person striving to gain and retain power. Tara Westover’s book “Educated” detailed the alternate reality her parents created in order to force their children to remain shackled to an illusion. It was actually pretty chilling how effective they were. This story actually has always riled me at the end. They may not put her back, but will her situation be more dire after ripping down the paper? She believes that she has liberated herself but her family will see her as truly insane. So much to talk about! 🤓

[@TheCodeXCantina]

K Becker's Books Thank you! Yes, many more opportunities to talk about that. I think I may want to cover some similar stories and spend more time across this

[@bookswithv]

Here I was researching The Yellow Wallpaper for my essay and you guys came through! What a coincidence and you guys did such a good job!

[@TheCodeXCantina]

Thank you. Best of luck with your essay!

[@Kevinbbq]

can you help me

[@taulani7598]

i'm here because i'm studying this book for yr11 lit, and wow! this video saved my life! thanks guys, you deserve so much more recognition :)

[@TheCodeXCantina]

Thank you. Best of luck

[@scallydandlingaboutthebook2711]

This is a story that has stayed seared into my memory. I enjoyed your unpicking of it.

[@TheCodeXCantina]

Scallydandling about the books Thank you. It really is an amazing work

[@cunningba]

The term “gaslighting” refers back to a play and two films based on it. The most well known version is George Cukor’s 1944 movie “Gaslight” starring Ingrid Bergman. Well worth watching once. For those of us of a certain age who watched on TV during our misspent youth, there was no need for anyone to explain the term to us. We recognized it as an allusion to the film and instantly knew what it meant.

[@TheCodeXCantina]

Barry Cunningham Thank you! I sadly am not familiar. I’ll have to look into some of these. Thanks so much

[@huntercoleman460]

This may surprise you coming from a guy but, I can kind of relate to the narrator. I’m autistic and at times I feel misunderstood by people. I even did a literally analysis on this story. This story has grown on me and it’s very eerie the way Gilman describes the narrator’s fall to insanity and how she has to hide her journal from John. Great video friend.

[@TheCodeXCantina]

Thanks for sharing. I love it when I can see myself in stories and even see them in new light. Thanks for sharing

[@TheNerdyNarrative]

I'm glad for the definition of gaslighting....I have seen it here and there but had no clue what it meant. For such a short story, it is very deep and profound. I would like to read it, but I'm going to have to wait until I'm in the proper headspace for it. I've been feeling off the last week. You guys do an amazing job with your deep dives into these works. I appreciate the work you put in and the fact that your content makes me take notice of stuff I'd never normally read. :)

[@TheCodeXCantina]

The Nerdy Narrative Thanks so much. Booktube is such a great place to learn from each other! We can’t know it all so it’s great to share and learn

[@johnhpalmer6098]

Stumbled onto this today and was familiar with the short story years ago, back in the 1980's in fact. The first time was in 11th grade, the 2nd was in a community college in 1985. both times through American Lit classes. I even saw the film that was produced for PBS in 1977 on film and saw that production for the first time in decades not long before I ran into this episode from 2 years ago. There is a song that I swear was directly or indirectly inspired by this short story, Girl with No Eyes by the band It's a Beautiful Day that was released in 1969. It's a hauntingly beautiful song. Lyrics go like this: There's a girl in my room and her face on the wall with no eyes. There's a girl in my room and her face on the wall with no eyes. Girl with no eyes, who can she be? Girl with no eyes, she's looking at me. There's a girl in my room and her face on the wall with no eyes. If I make a sound she'll know that I'm stirring inside. If I make a sound she'll know that I'm trying to hide. Girl with no eyes, who can she be? Girl with no eyes, she's looking at me. Beautiful girl, who does she see? Beautiful girl, she seems to be staring. Doesn't eveybody know, everybody know, love takes a lifetime. And doesn't everbody know, everbody know, love is the eye sight, it's the eye sight of a lifetime. She's just a reflection of all of the time that's gone by. She's just a reflection of all of the time I've been high. Girl with no eyes, who can she be? Girl with no eyes, she's looking at me. Beautiful girl, who does she see? Beautiful girl, she seems to be staring. Doesn't eveybody know, everybody know, love takes a lifetime. And doesn't everbody know, everbody know, love is the eye sight, it's the eye sight of a lifetime. I have mostly put a script together today based on the lyrics and putting my interpretation to it in a 2 column script so I can begin to build my shot sheet for it and have the recording of the song captured as the soundtrack. Been familiar with the album since the mid 70's. Anyway, seeing the short film today for the first time in decades, I can see why the pattern can look like a face and why Charlotte thought it was a woman trapped behind bars (as a metaphor for her life at that time and how women were thought of as property for the husband).

[@Starscreamlive]

Thanks for introducing me to this story! It reminds me of a work by Joyce in that even if you don't take an in depth analysis of this story, it still survives as an excellent surface level story. From a surface level reading, the wallpaper reminded me of the carpet in Kubrick's 1980 film "The Shining". The carpet appears to be moving from shot to shot, similar to the patterns in the wallpaper and how the patterns seem to move on their own. Both the wallpaper and the carpet appear to drive the main characters slowly into madness.

[@TheCodeXCantina]

Come play with us. For ever.... and ever... and ever...

[@Starscreamlive]

@@TheCodeXCantina 🤣😂🤣

[@nameless1316]

For my final exam, this video is perfect. Thank you! I want to add another looking side to this story . When we look at the text in terms of Panoptic Gaze , it is also supported by this idea too. Seeing, looking , watching is not an activity at random. In panaptic gaze there are a seen and seer . It is a kind of jail system. In this text seer is John , the seer is narrator as you said in the video, she is like in a prison and isolated . Like in a military system, she has a schedule for each hour in the day . Even we can see the hierarchy between the John and narrator.

[@TheCodeXCantina]

Thanks for adding to the conversation!

[@ChristyLuisDostoevskyinSpace]

This story reminded me of a bit of the Sandman by ETA Hoffmann. The character who goes mad in that one wrote letters, I think, not a diary though. Creepy 😬 Great breakdown. I hadn't heard the term "gaslighting" before.

[@TheCodeXCantina]

Christy Luis - Dostoevsky in Space Haven’t read Hoffman. Thanks for bringing this up, I’ll have to look more into it

[@LiteratureScienceAlliance]

I read a short story recently that I was internally comparing to this called The Residency by Carmen Machado and it also explores “insanity” and hysteria of women. Really good discussion guys, as always!

[@TheCodeXCantina]

Literature Science Alliance oh interesting. I think I want to compare a few stories on this subject. Thanks for sharing

[@LiteratureScienceAlliance]

@@TheCodeXCantina Oh that would be fascinating, I really love looking at unifying themes over several short works. That's one of the reasons I really enjoyed the last short story collection I read.

[@bellefowler6104]

I have a paper due Sunday on this story. "Is it a commentary on mental illness or a feminist text?" So I've been enjoying listening to so many other people's perspectives on it. Except for this one woman that said the main character hates the wallpaper because she hates Asians. That was out of nowhere. I think you described the symbolism the most accurate way I've heard.

[@huntercoleman460]

I agree. I’d say it’s probably both. How’d you do on your paper?

[@RaphaelAmbrosiusCosteau51]

Lmaoo yeah I saw that video too, some of the stuff people have said about this story is actually just ridiculous

[@johnmorris7969]

I'm glad I wasn't the only who watched that video and went WTF are you talking about? She lost me there, so I moved onto this video. Much better choice

[@erstwhilerambler]

Guys, there’s a paper on JSTOR that goes into the idea. If you’re at all serious about the topic, you need to look it up (I found it as a footnote on Wikipedia). The fact is that Perkins was a flaming racist/white supremacist. It’s well documented. And living in California, as she was when this was written, she would have been surrounded by anti-Asian sentiment in particular. Personally, I’m not entirely convinced that the yellow wallpaper is overtly (or even subtly) meant to represent something nasty or sinister about the Asian race; I read this as a feminist/psychological story wherein the decor happens to be this sickly color. But, to dismiss out of hand the entire argument, to not even consider the possibility and its implications… Well, that’s not a very informed decision.

[@davidzepeda7318]

You guys are amazing!!

[@SpenelliSpeaks]

Omgosh! I remember this story! She freaked me out! Those doctor dudes were so dumb! - I know, super educated statement there. ::)) Haha When I read it, I felt as if the wallpaper acted as a mirror to her and she was the woman in the wallpaper. I thought that her journal was her way of proving to herself that she was real and not the woman in the wallpaper. I haven't read this in a while. I love "gaslighting" stories - I especially love the black/white movie - which I think is called Gaslight?? So, amazing! Ingrid Bergman - ahhhh! So, good! This is a good way of driving someone to hysteria. Nice breakdown. Thank you! ::)) Dani

[@TheCodeXCantina]

Spenelli Speaks Sure, I can see that. Someone else mentioned that movie. I haven’t seen it yet. I’ll need to remedy that!

[@erstwhilerambler]

I enjoyed this, and I appreciate what you’re doing here. I might come back and check out some more of your work. It’s interesting, and somewhat ironic, to hear a couple of dudes talking about (dare I say “mansplaining”?) this feminist text… I’m a male English teacher about to go into class tomorrow and potentially do much the same… I realize now, though, that I need to somehow include and indeed highlight the female voices in my classroom - rather than simply waxing eloquent from my “enlightened, mature, intelligent” (male) perspective. I mean, wouldn’t it be just like the husband, John, for me to tell them all about the female experience! 🤦🏻‍♂️ I can’t help but be who I am, a middle-aged, white man, but I can certainly work with intention to widen my perspective and make purposeful and prominent space for others’ voices - and especially for voices whose lived experiences are closer to the subject at hand.

[@johnyfaz1381]

Im really curious because I keep hearing different things, whats the ending? I thiught it was that the husband was upset so he loss consciousness and she was upset shed have to walk over him. But some people say that she committed suicide and thats why he fell, and others say that she killed him and walked on and over his dead body.

[@AshleyMintz]

@5:03 Could the heads be the heads of the women who have tried to climb through but got stuck?

[@jeanf8998]

Hey guys u are spot on.❤

[@HannahsBooks]

Such a bizarre and interesting story! I think I read it thirty years ago, and I am still having nightmares about it.

[@TheCodeXCantina]

Hannah's Books Nice memory! In my mind, it made me want to revisit Sweat by Zora Neale Hurston. I kind of want to compare the two now and see if my memory is half as good

[@HannahsBooks]

@@TheCodeXCantina My memory is usually terrible--but this story was definitely able to find a place for itself. Sweat seems like an excellent comparison!

[@Netty_Noo]

I felt the woman in the wallpaper was in fact actually her - trapped

[@angelrdew4433]

If you listen to the free Audiobook (Gray and black cover outlined in yellow) narrated by Beata Poźniak on Audible under the series: Herstory, it is very entertaining and really pulls you end. It’s scored in some spots as well. Enjoy!

[@inbalvichansky834]

Hi there! I simply LOVE your channel! It helps me a lot with my courses. Is there any chance that you will upload an analysis on Bliss by Katherine Mansfield as well? Pretty please... :)

[@TheCodeXCantina]

We love Mansfield. There's a big backlog as we prioritize Patreon requests first.

[@aroundtheweird]

This one was quite a doozy to read. I like how Krypto suggests it might be her id, a reflection of her true inner self. It reminds me a bit of A Jury of Her Peers by Susan Glaspell. Both stories see terrible things happen to a woman, and the women react in unfortunate ways. Quite a bit to think about!

[@TheCodeXCantina]

I’ve been wanting to get to that one!

[@bitsoflit]

But here I can creep smoothly on the floor, and my shoulder just fits in that long smooch around the wall, so I cannot lose my way. And then later she creeps over him when he passes out like Damn man I’m imagining some kind of “the ring” type creeping and 100% not for it

[@TheCodeXCantina]

gph.is/2dcHLmQ

[@michEjo-j4l]

So what happened to John at the end?

[@sharummazharuddin7460]

could you add the page numbers of each quote?

[@TheCodeXCantina]

Unlikely we’d have the same text

[@lostinabookcase3796]

woah wait, y'all got your own CodeX cup?? Is this merch?? :D

[@TheCodeXCantina]

lost in a booKCase Krypto’s wife got it for his birthday :)

[@QuestLegacy]

Creepy. I find that historical methods of dealing with any sort of mental illness can be quite shocking. I'm not even sure the historical understanding of post-partum depression, but it still ain't great. A less symbolic example of some of these themes can be found in Little Darlings a book that came out last year.

[@TheCodeXCantina]

I've heard of it but haven't checked it out yet. I was thinking of maybe trying some other stories along this theme so thanks!

[@aidanbrumsickle]

Animal Farm is another great example of gaslighting.

[@vermoidvermoid7124]

7 should be bad from ratings :)

[@wwshd5393]

3:24

[@Badrockdiaries]

I’d love to not to have to work and be in a big beautiful house writing all day. Feminism did wreck some things.