Charlotte Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”
Discussion Questions
After reading “The Yellow Wallpaper” complete the following Discussion questions.
1. What point of view is the story written from? Why is this point of view important or
interesting?
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2. What do the opening paragraphs tell us about the narrator and her situation?
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3. Is the narrator “mad” at the beginning of the story? Is she at the end?
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4. How would "The Yellow Wallpaper" be different if it were told from John's point of view?
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5. Would the narrator still have gone insane if she had been confined to a room other than the
nursery? Why or why not?
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6. Does "The Yellow Wallpaper" have a happy or sad ending? Explain your answer.
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7. Who does Gilman ultimately blame for the narrator's descent into madness? Why?
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8. How does "The Yellow Wallpaper" present the conflict between creativity and rationality?
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Charlotte Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”
Literary Essay
The Major assignment for this unit is a literary essay. Choose one topic from the following list that
you would like for your literary essay. There will be minimal class time to work on this
assignment, therefore a lot of the work will need to be completed for homework. The essay will
be due at the beginning of Friday’s class. Please type your essay and double space!
1. Examine the physical descriptions of the house and its surroundings, and the use of
colour, in relation to the plot. In particular, what does the 'yellow' of the wallpaper
signify?
2. Discuss the representation or role of the female characters in the story. What is their
significance in relation to the author?
3. Gilman said that she wrote this story as a message to Dr. Mitchell, the real-life inventor
of the "rest cure" endured by the narrator. To what extent does this secondary purpose
affect the narrative of the story?
4. What role does John feel a woman should play in society? Find examples from the story
to prove your point.
5. Discuss whether or not you feel that John is the true villain of the story. Why do you
think so? Who else is to blame? Find evidence from the story as evidence.
6. Discuss how “The Yellow Wallpaper” fits into the Gothic genre. Think about the
author’s writing style, (use of rhetorical devices, figurative language and themes), and
find examples as evidence from the story.