Hello everyone. Happy Friday. Here’s to the weekend, welcome to another #fridayschoice.
Today I am talking about a short story entitled The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. This short story was published in 1892.
I really like short stories because I like reading narratives that are contained within a short space of time. The interesting thing about short stories is that very often, they give us a snippet of time or we can get a contained story that doesn’t have too much of a wider context, but it could. I think a sign of a good short story is when the tale leaves us wanting more, we get the impression that there is more happening, but we’ve just been given a snippet.
I also think that short stories are great if you want to read something short and sweet. I think that reading is very relaxing but sometimes after a long day if I don’t feel like opening a longer novel, a short story is a really great alternative.
I have studied this short story in great detail in college. It is a text that I really enjoyed, and it is a text that is regarded as very significant because of the way it portrays attitudes towards mental health. I think that mental health is being talked about much more openly in 2021, which is fantastic, and I think that this text is a really good teaching tool when discussing attitudes of the past.
The story is narrated in the first person, and it is also an example of epistolary form as the story is written down in journal entries. The plot follows a woman who is writing about her time spent in a house that her husband rented. Her husband is a doctor, and he doesn’t want her to work or write or do anything as she is recovering from “hysterical tendencies.”
I think that this is a really powerful, very poignant story and I think it is a piece that everyone should read at least once.
This has been Friday’s Choice. I hope you all have a lovely weekend.
Kate xo.
Katelovesliterature.com 