Reviews - The Yellow Wall-Paper

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15.5k reviews for:

The Yellow Wall-Paper

Charlotte Perkins Gilman

4.05 AVERAGE

imstqtic's review against another edition

4.25

dark tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Through the work Man's Search for Meaning, the late psychotherapist Victor Frankl stresses vocation as a means for one to retain sanity. Our protagonist, unfortunately for her, exhibits the repercussions of being denied her preferred vocation. Art is an outlet to voice challenge, and writing is a form of art, thus the scarcity of writing led to the loss of voice. The yellow wallpaper was not a prison, there were no chains and no women and no bulbed eyes. We see in our environment what is inside of ourselves, and what was inside of the protagonist was the product of immovability and restlessness. Her "hysterical tendency," therefore was a lack of purpose, and it is only a lack of purpose, or a lack of achieving a purpose, that can ultimately cause one to lose oneself. The Yellow Wallpaper is relevant today--how often do we hear of parents cautioning their children against pursuing their creativity? Advising to become engineers, or doctors, or lawyers? Contemporary society offers too much opportunity, and more-so with the Internet, for us to conceive of a false dichotomy.

conglomerationofchaos's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

abby_reads123's review against another edition

3.5

dark emotional fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I have found it quite challenging to assign a star rating for this particular book. While it is undoubtedly an important classical piece that touches on feminism and mental health, I didn’t resonate with it as much as I thought I would.

I will definitely give it another re-read in a few months’ time and see if I feel differently then.