The setting of the events presented in the story

Now it's time to talk about the setting of the events in the story.

As I have already mentioned, Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a real master of writing and making fantastic descriptions as well. Her language is very simple and fascinating at the same time, which helps us to understand where, when and with whom things happen in the story.

So, as we can see, the events of the story happen in the times of colonies. The main character and her husband live in quite lonesome house. This moment can be seen in the beginning of the story.

I can say that the author describes the place the main characters live in like if she knows that place very good, feels it and sees everything that is around it. So, no fantasy is presented.
I suppose that the author chose such place to show that the main heroine was very lonely. Even if we don't take to the account the fact that there was no understanding from her husband, we see that she live far from people.

I suppose that it is necessary to mention that mostly all of the time the protagonist of the story spends in one place - her room. I would say that this room can also be chosen for the role of a main character of the story. We can see all the details of that room and, what is more, a kind of conflict between the woman and the room. Firstly, the yellow wall-papered room scares her. Secondly, the woman starts hating it. The example of this can be seen in her words: "The color is repellent, almost revolting; a smouldering unclean yellow, strangely faded by the slow-turning sunlight. It is a dull yet lurid orange in some places, a sickly sulphur tint in others. No wonder the children hated it! I should hate it myself if I had to live in this room long".

As for me, I would also hate it. I think if I had to live in such a room, I would definitely go crazy.

Who is Who?

Charlotte Perkins Gilman was born in 1860 in New England, a descendent of the prominent and influential Beecher family. Despite the affluence of her most famous ancestors, she was born into poverty.  Her father abandoned the family when she was a child, and she received just four years of formal education.  At an early age she vowed never to marry, hoping instead to devote her life to public service.

In 1882, however, at the age of twenty-one, she was introduced to Charles Walter Stetson, a Providence, Rhode Island artist, and the two were married in 1884. Charlotte Stetson became pregnant almost immediately after their marriage, gave birth to a daughter, and sunk into a deep depression that lasted for several years.

She eventually entered a sanitarium in Philadelphia to undergo the "rest cure," a controversial treatment for nervous prostration, which forbade any type of physical activity or intellectual stimulation.  After a month, she returned to her husband and child and subsequently suffered a nervous breakdown.  In 1888, she left Stetson and moved with her daughter to California, where her recovery was swift.

In the early 1890s, she began writing and lecturing, and in 1892, she published the now-famous story, "The Yellow Wall-Paper."  A volume of poems followed a year later.  In 1898, she published her most famous book, Women and Economics.  With its publication, and its subsequent translation into seven languages, Gilman earned international acclaim.

In 1900, she married her first cousin, Houghton Gilman.  Over the next twenty-five years, she wrote and published more than a dozen books.

In 1932, Gilman learned that she had breast cancer.  Three years later, at the age of seventy-five, she committed suicide.

Although her reputation declined in the years before her death, in 1993, Gilman was named the sixth most influential woman of the twentieth century in a poll commissioned by the Siena Research Institute.  In 1994, she was inducted into the National Womenís Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, New York.

So, as you can see, Charlotte Gilman's life was full of suffering, but still there were some happy moments. Moreover, despite commmiting suicide, she's still a legend who made a great contribution in literature and mind of every woman as well.

First impression

The title of the story I'm going to analyze is "The Yellow Wall-Paper".

This story was penned by Charlotte Perkins Gilman - famous American author, poet and feminist, who encouraged women to gain economic independance.

The labor of women in the house, certainly, enables men to produce more wealth than they otherwise could; and in this way women are economic factors in society. But so are horses.

After reading the novel for the first time, I dare to say, that I was not so impressed as others. Maybe such stories are not my cup of tea, maybe I don't like weak women. Nevertheless, I will read it once again and try to find something I like.

What I can add is the fact that Charlotte Perkins is a real master of writing descriptions. They are so exact, that it was really easy to create a scene from the story in my mind. 

+1 to Charlotte for her descriptions!