📖 Book: The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Mini Muddled Rating

☕☕☕☕☕

📝 The Muddled Summary

As our narrator descends further into madness, she is desperate to find out the hidden message from the wallpaper, what does it mean? She begins to see a woman creeping in the wallpaper, trying to get out. Is this symbolic of our narrator’s entrapment?

I’ve just read The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman three times in a row. It’s astounded me. Each time I peel off more layers, like the wallpaper itself, to reveal it’s messages. What a thought-provoking piece of writing.

As someone that experiences anxiety and bouts of depression, I found this account very gaslighting. We are looking at a woman in the 19th century living through a time of high anxiety, exhaustion, known then as hysteria. She has recently given birth so maybe some postnatal depression too. She knows she is unwell and even knows the things she needs to do to improve her mental wellbeing, however the males around her know better. Those males being her physician husband and brother.

🎭 The Vibe

Scared, confused, invisible, chaotic, noise, anger, trauma, insincerity, lost.

💥 What Stuck with Me

Finding out that men displaying the same symptoms as women were prescribed fresh air, companionship, hobbies, whilst women were prescribed isolation, confinement, no interaction, no pastimes, a disgusting diet… Wow, does this make me angry. Learning that Charlotte’s account led to other women speaking out about how harmful the rest therapy was led to the treatment fizzling out in early 20th century.

🌱 Real Life Lesson

After reading this I needed to know more. Who was Charlotte Perkins Gilman and why did she write this? This is a semi-autobiographical account. The Yellow Wallpaper was for Dr Weir Mitchell, the man behind the creation of “the rest therapy” that Charlotte herself was prescribed. That almost sent her into irretrievable madness.

🧩 Mental Health Threads

• Postpartum depression • Postpartum psychosis • Gaslighting and dismissal of women’s mental health • Isolation and confinement • Obsession and psychosis

👀 I’d Recommend This If…

Everybody should read this story. Yes, it’s scary, but the real horror is how women were viewed in terms of mental health. “Little goose!”, “Bless her little heart!”, “She will be as sick as she pleases!”. How condescending!

⚠️ Worth Knowing

This story will make you very angry!

📝 Final Thoughts

I will think about this short story for a long time to come. As someone very experienced with mental health conditions, whether that be myself or the people in my life, I felt many emotions reading this. Anger, empathy, sadness and the feeling of being gaslit and “mansplained” to. Its a must read to gain perspective on how far we have come in terms of mental health and treatment and in particular women’s mental health. Charlotte’s brave writing contributed to this, and we should be truly thankful.

🌿 Comfort / Distress Balance (out of 5)

Emotionally heavy: 💔💔 (this book didn’t make me emotional; it made me angry!)

Hopeful elements: 🌤️🌤️🌤️🌤️🌤️ (surprisingly, knowing that Charlotte’s terrifying tale helped put an end to harmful mental health treatment fills me with joy!)

Comfort read potential: ☕