A short story about a woman who is mentally suffering during her postpartum period. She is constantly told she only needs the rest cure by her physician husband and the physician brother regardless she knows she is not fine. She finds a woman trapped in the ugly yellow wallpaper in her room which she at first despised but later comes to be obsessed about. Throughout the entire story, the oppressive gender roles are shown as the woman is controlled by the male authority figures.

Character development and depths: The male characters: the husband and the brother who are physicians have the final say in everything about the main character’s life. The female characters: A woman in a misogynistic society where women experienced medical and social discrimination. Women were widely seen as psychologically weak, frail, and illiterate. The husband’s sister is on the side of the brother instead of understanding how the sister in law is doing. The woman trapped in the yellow wallpaper is symbolizing merely the main character trapped in herself. The husband and the sister in law seem to notice there is something wrong with the yellow wallpaper but do not try to see the woman trapped inside, giving the idea of how actually ignorant they are towards the woman’s trapped mental state. 

Writing style: It is written in the form of a letter or a journal which helps to dramatize the events and the inner struggle of the main character and accounts of the other characters through her eyes.

Readability: Very easy to read. No bulky paragraphs. Mostly in separated sentences of the woman’s journaling and thoughts

Message: The medical and societal oppression of women in the misogynistic society. The message is conveyed in a subtle way. The fact that the book is only accounting for the woman's side, not any other characters also makes it a bit hard only to blame the male figures. Also with the only other woman in the story: the sister in law seems to be on the husband’s side regardless she is being a woman.

Originality: Even though I am sure the setting is brand new to me, the theme of women’s role in patriarchy is a common theme.

Immersion (Rich world-building): My favourite part about the story is how the yellow wallpaper symbolizes a lot about the story. The yellow wallpaper is a very ugly depressing wallpaper with a tedious pattern. The woman confined to a room has no choice but to be obsessed with the wallpaper. For me personally, it portrays the domestic role of a woman who is not allowed to financially or to have a mind of her own. The only responsibility she had was to bear a child. So the woman she sees trapped in the wallpaper kind of explores the idea of herself being trapped in a misogynistic household.

Plotline: The plot is very simple and predictable in the beginning but it would come to a point when you call the plot thickens–I could not wait to see the deal about this yellow wallpaper that haunts and seduces her. Still an enjoyable plot!

Ending:

The narrator imagines the woman trapped in the wallpaper has finally emerged from the wallpaper implying that she has finally succumbed to her madness. It was a dramatic ending but I was a little confused when reading it why the husband reacted in a certain way at the end. I would have preferred a different, more intense ending.

 

Emotions: It was a pretty intense read. Since the book is categorized as horror as well, I was totally expecting a very horror-ish dark incident in the book. Nevertheless, the anticipation of the yellow wallpaper and the woman behind its pattern was pretty intense and scary to read about.

Would you recommend it to someone: yes. It is a very easy narrative to read. You can probably finish it in an hour or so.