1865-1914: Short Answer Quiz

Charlotte Perkins Gilman, “The Yellow Wall-paper”


  1. The narrator first describes the view from her attic room as follows: “I get a lovely view of the bay and a little private wharf belonging to the estate. There is a beautiful shaded lane that runs down there from the house. I always fancy I see people walking in these numerous paths and arbors, but John has cautioned me not to give way to fancy in the least. He says that with my imaginative power and habit of story-making, a nervous weakness like mine is sure to lead to all manner of excited fancies, and that I ought to use my will and good sense to check the tendency” (810-11 [full ed.] 1686 [shorter ed.]). Consider where her “imaginative power” leads the narrator by the end of the story, and then explain how passages such as this one contribute to Gilman’s indictment of the rest cure.

  1. “John says if I don’t pick up faster he shall send me to Weir Mitchell in the fall. But I don’t want to go there at all. I had a friend who was in his hands once, and she says he is just like John and my brother, only more so!” (812 [full ed.] 1688 [shorter ed.]). Since she knows that John’s treatment is modeled off of Weir Mitchell’s, what do you think she means by “only more so”?

  1. The first time the narrator contemplates the wall-paper, she describes it as “one of those sprawling flamboyant patterns committing every artistic sin. It is dull enough to confuse the eye in following, pronounced enough to constantly irritate and provoke study, and when you follow the lame uncertain curves for a little distance they suddenly commit suicide—plunge off at outrageous angles, destroy themselves in unheard of contradictions” (809-10 [full ed.] 1685 [shorter ed.]). Remember that this is from the narrator’s first entry, and then explain how this description foreshadows events that come later in the story. Consider as well whether this description might also apply to the narrative style of the story: can it be at once “sprawling,” “flamboyant,” “dull,” and “lame”?

  1. Near the end of the story, the narrator describes how “This bedstead is fairly gnawed!” and speculates that the children that used to live in the room “did tear about here!” and damaged it (818 [full ed.]1694 [shorter ed.]). Eight paragraphs later she reveals that in trying to push the nailed-down bed, “I got so angry I bit off a little piece at one corner¾but it hurt my teeth” (819 [full ed.]). Relate this example of delayed or unreliable narration to other moments in the story in which she contradicts an earlier entry or denies her own actions.

  1. Account for the story’s final lines: “He stopped short by the door. ‘What is the matter?’ he cried. ‘For God’s sake, what are you doing!’ I kept on creeping just the same, but I looked at him over my shoulder. ‘I’ve got out at last,’ said I, ‘in spite of you and Jane! And I’ve pulled off most of the paper, so you can’t put me back!’ Now why should that man have fainted? But he did, and right across my path by the wall, so that I had to creep over him every time!” (819 [full ed.] 1695 [shorter ed.]). What do you think has happened? Who is Jane?



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