History Literature / TheYellowWallpaper

A landmark feminist work, its depiction of postpartum psychosis was also an inspiration for early [[CosmicHorrorStory cosmic horror]], in particular ''Literature/TheKingInYellow''. [[http://grimreviews.blogspot.com/2011/03/hp-lovecraft-on-yellow-wallpaper-by.html Note]] that Creator/HPLovecraft may have named the Gilman family after her when writing ''Literature/TheShadowOverInnsmouth'' (and as a pun on "gill"). In 2011, a film version of the story was released. Read by ''WebVideo/ChillingTalesForDarkNights'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYIBJ9YXDJk here]]. If that's not your speed, WebVideo/CGPGrey also did a reading of it [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSlJ98eLHUc here]].

* AmbiguouslyEvil: It's not entirely clear if John, the narrator's husband, genuinely thinks isolation is the best possible cure, or if he's merely controlling and possessive.
%%* ApocalypticLog (Zero Context Entry)

* BadBedroomBadLife: The narrator's SanitySlippage is because of the sickening yellow wallpaper in her bedroom, where she's forced to spend a majority of her time, isolated and without entertainment. In addition to the wallpaper, though, the room has scratches on the walls, bars on the window, and bite marks on the bed. The very fact that she's trapped in this room at all reflects badly on her husband, who put her in there, thinking her Postpartum Depression is Hysteria, much as was common for the time period.

* GoMadFromTheIsolation: Being locked in a room with nothing to do for months on end has an adverse effect on the narrator's mental health.
* HistoryRepeats: The narrator describes odd iron loops attached to the ceiling and scars in the windowsill that indicate the windows were once barred. Then there's the strange worn spot in the wallpaper, exactly at the height of a woman's shoulder, that goes all the way around the room [[spoiler:and which the narrator winds up endlessly following once she loses her mind.]] All signs indicate that she's not the only person who was ever kept prisoner in that room, and that the previous resident might have suffered the same fate.
* HystericalWoman: [[DeconstructedTrope Deconstructed]]. Everyone around the narrator treats her as if she is on the verge of a mental breakdown, and will snap if she so much as thinks too hard. She starts out sane; in the end, it's her imprisonment in the house and room, and everyone ''treating'' her like a ticking time bomb, that drives her around the bend.

* SanitySlippage: The entire story details the narrator's downward spiral while she's sequestered in an ugly, cramped room with nothing to do.
* StayInTheKitchen: The rationale behind the narrator's husband forbidding her from writing. Gilman herself was told by a prominent neurologist to "Live as domestic a life as possible. Have your child with you all the time... And never touch pen, brush or pencil as long as you live," as a cure for her depression.
* StrawVulcan: In the first paragraphs, John is described to be practical to the extreme, has no interest in things that aren't able to felt or seen or put down in figures. He's a physician who things it's just a temporary nervous depression (or hysterical tendency), and disregards her initial complaint about something being wrong with the house. Because of this, he contributed to the breakdown described in the story.

!!The film adaptation adds examples of:

* AbandonedHospital: Although it is never stated outright, it is heavily implied that the narrator is not the first person to suffer a mental breakdown in the room with yellow wallpaper. The windows are barred and there are bite marks on the (heavy, bolted-down) bed - which [[CaptainOblivious the narrator assumes to be signs that previous occupants were particularly rowdy children]].

* TheOphelia: Deconstructed - there's nothing ''at all'' romantic or pretty about the narrator's illness.

* {{Hypocrite}}: John gives a lecture on the importance of mental stimulation, exercise, and fresh air--[[spoiler:while his isolated, cloistered wife is having her psychotic break in the attic]].

* AluminumChristmasTrees:
** Yes, isolation (aka the "rest cure") was a treatment used in the late 19th century; in fact, the author herself was briefly subjected to it (before she thankfully got a better doctor), which was the inspiration for the story. Yes, it was quackery. The author was quite glad to learn of at least one woman whose family decided against this "treatment" ''specifically'' because of this story.
** Also the so-called 'nerve tonic' she was required to ingest regularly. The active ingredient of such medications was usually [[DrugsAreBad alcohol, cocaine or both]].
** The condition the narrator is being "treated" for, [[HystericalWoman hysteria]], ''was'' an actual diagnosis for a huge range of conditions in its exclusively female contractees--anything from postpartum depression, endometriosis, PMS, PMDD, polycystic ovarian syndrome, migraines, bipolar disorder, various cancers, or post-traumatic stress disorder, and even things like homosexuality, wanting too much sex, not wanting ''enough'' sex, not wanting to have children, wanting to pursue higher education and/or work outside the home, wanting a divorce, etc. This bullshit diagnosis persisted ''all the way into TheSeventies'', leading to many women needlessly suffering from both the disease they ''actually'' had,[[note]] If, you know, they were ''actually'' sick, and not just deviating from AcceptableFeminineGoals of that time... [[/note]] plus the "treatment" for the "disease" they were diagnosed with. This included the aforementioned "rest cure", [[GroinAttack cutting or burning the clitoris and/or labia]], being sent to a BedlamHouse, electroshock "therapy", {{Lobotomy}}, and even [[RapePortrayedAsRedemption rape]].

%%* FreakOut (Zero Context Entry)

* ApocalypticLog

* FreakOut

%%* AlienGeometries: Administrivia/ZeroContextExample

A landmark feminist work, its depiction of postpartum psychosis was also an inspiration for early [[CosmicHorrorStory cosmic horror]], in particular ''Literature/TheKingInYellow''. [[http://grimreviews.blogspot.com/2011/03/hp-lovecraft-on-yellow-wallpaper-by.html Note]] that Creator/HPLovecraft may have named the Gilman family after her when writing ''Literature/TheShadowOverInnsmouth'' (and as a pun on "gill"). In 2011, a film version of the story was released. Read by Chilling Tales for Dark Nights [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYIBJ9YXDJk here]]. If that's not your speed, WebVideo/CGPGrey also did a reading of it [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSlJ98eLHUc here]].

%%* WrongGenreSavvy: The narrator. (ZeroContextExample)

%%* AlienGeometries: ZeroContextExample

* AlienGeometries

* PrimalStance: The women in the walls [[spoiler:as well as the narrator]].

* StrawVulcan: John, somewhat.

* WrongGenreSavvy: The narrator.

** Yes, isolation (aka the "rest cure") was a treatment used in the late 19th century. Yes, it was quackery. The author was quite glad to learn of at least one woman whose family decided against this "treatment" ''specifically'' because of this story.

"[[http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1952/1952-h/1952-h.htm The Yellow Wallpaper]]" is a semi-autobiographical short story written in 1891 by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. It takes the perspective of a young woman who has been ordered to continuous bedrest as a treatment for hysteria. Trapped in a small room in her husband's country house, with nothing to do all day but sleep and write in her journal, she starts to dwell upon the dingy yellow wallpaper that decorates the place. In her boredom, she begins to see women crouching, cowering, trapped in the walls...

* ForgottenFramingDevice: To start with there are several references to the fact that the protagonist is keeping a journal, such as one section ending with her saying that she has to stop writing now because she has a visitor. These fade out about halfway through, and by the end she's narrating events as they happen. (Events which clearly do not involve her stopping to write anything down.) [[TropesAreTools Arguably, this shift helps cement that the protagonist has absolutely lost it.]]

A landmark feminist work, its depiction of postpartum psychosis was also an inspiration for early [[CosmicHorrorStory cosmic horror]], in particular ''Literature/TheKingInYellow''. [[http://grimreviews.blogspot.com/2011/03/hp-lovecraft-on-yellow-wallpaper-by.html Note]] that Creator/HPLovecraft may have named the Gilman family after her when writing ''Literature/TheShadowOverInnsmouth'' (and as a pun on "gill"). In 2011, a film version of the story was released. Read by Chilling Tales for Dark Nights [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYIBJ9YXDJk here]].

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/yellowpaper_1.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:Cover of The Yellow Wallpaper]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/yellowpaper_1.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Cover of The Yellow Wallpaper]]

[[caption-width-right:350:some caption text]]

* SanitySlippage

* StringyHairedGhostGirl

* ThroughTheEyesOfMadness
* UnreliableNarrator
* WallpaperCamouflage

* ForgottenFramingDevice: To start with there are several references to the fact that the protagonist is keeping a journal, such as one section ending with her saying that she has to stop writing now because she has a visitor. These fade out about halfway through, and by the end she's narrating events as they happen. (Events which clearly do not involve her stopping to write anything down.) [[TropesAreNotBad Arguably, this shift helps cement that the protagonist has absolutely lost it.]]

* AmbigiouslyEvil: It's not entirely clear if John, the narrator's husband, genuinely thinks isolation is the best possible cure, or if he's merely controlling and possessive.

* BabiesMakeEverythingBetter: Subverted. It's implied that the narrator's hysteria is at least partly due to post-partum depression. Her baby hardly enters into the story.
** However, it is also implied that if the narrator could have just taken care of her child (and see a reason to live in said child) she could have gotten better faster. Being denied even being a mother was another part of going insane.

* ForgottenFramingDevice: To start with there are several references to the fact that the protagonist is keeping a journal, such as one section ending with her saying that she has to stop writing now because she has a visitor. These fade out about halfway through, and by the end she's narrating events as they happen. (Events which clearly do not involve her stopping to write anything down.)

* HystericalWoman: Everyone around the narrator treats her as if she is on the verge of a mental breakdown, and will snap if she so much as thinks too hard. She starts out sane; in the end, it's her imprisonment in the house and room, and everyone ''treating'' her like a ticking time bomb, that drives her around the bend.

** The condition the narrator is being "treated" for, [[HystericalWoman hysteria]], ''was'' an actual diagnosis for a huge range of conditions in its exclusively female contractees--anything from postpartum depression, endometriosis, PMS, PMDD, polycystic ovarian syndrome, migraines, bipolar disorder, various cancers, or post-traumatic stress disorder, and even things like homosexuality, not wanting to have children, wanting to pursue higher education and/or work outside the home, wanting a divorce, wanting too much sex, ''not'' wanting sex. This bullshit diagnosis persisted ''all the way into TheSeventies'', leading to many women needlessly suffering from both the disease they ''actually'' had,[[note]] If, you know, they were ''actually'' sick, and not just deviating from AcceptableFeminineGoals of that time... [[/note]] plus the "treatment" for the "disease" they were diagnosed with. This included the aforementioned "rest cure", [[GroinAttack cutting or burning the clitoris and/or labia]], being sent to a BedlamHouse, electroshock "therapy", {{Lobotomy}}, and even [[RapePortrayedAsRedemption rape]].

** The condition the narrator is being "treated" for, [[HystericalWoman hysteria]], ''was'' an actual diagnosis for a huge range of conditions in its exclusively female contractees--anything from postpartum depression, endometriosis, PMS, PMDD, polycystic ovarian syndrome, migraines, bipolar disorder, various cancers, or post-traumatic stress disorder, and even things like homosexuality, not wanting to have children, wanting to pursue higher education and/or work outside the home, wanting a divorce, or actually enjoying sex. This bullshit diagnosis persisted ''all the way into TheSeventies'', leading to many women needlessly suffering from both the disease they ''actually'' had,[[note]] If, you know, they were ''actually'' sick, and not just deviating from AcceptableFeminineGoals of that time... [[/note]] plus the "treatment" for the "disease" they were diagnosed with. This included the aforementioned "rest cure", [[GroinAttack cutting or burning the clitoris and/or labia]], being sent to a BedlamHouse, electroshock "therapy", {{Lobotomy}}, and even [[RapePortrayedAsRedemption rape]].

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: an interesting use that reverses the normal comfort of "maybe it wasn't real". The writer Alan Ryan put it well with the description "It may be a ghost story. Worse yet, it may not." That is, the less horrifying possibility is that the woman in the wallpaper was real and possessed the protagonist, rather than the protagonist is [[{{Gaslighting}} driven insane by her loved one's insistence that she was insane]].