Early Stream of Consciousness and Feminism in Fiction

Read the excerpt from "The Yellow Wallpaper."If a physician of high standing, and one's own husband, assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing the matter with one but temporary nervous depression—a slight hysterical tendency—what is one to do?My brother is also a physician, and also of high standing, and he says the same thing.So I take phosphates or phosphites—whichever it is, and tonics, and journeys, and air, and exercise, and am absolutely forbidden to "work" until I am well again. What does the narrator's description reveal about the social context of the story?

Doctors were believed to be unquestionably all-knowing.

In "The Yellow Wallpaper," which description of John indicates that the narrator does not trust him?

He asked me all sorts of questions, too, and pretended to be very loving and kind.

Which of the narrator's statements in "The Yellow Wallpaper" suggests that she does not think women are too frail to be intellectual?

I verily believe she thinks it is the writing which made me sick!

Read the excerpt from "The Yellow Wallpaper."At first he meant to repaper the room, but afterwards he said that I was letting it get the better of me, and that nothing was worse for a nervous patient than to give way to such fancies.Which gothic element in this excerpt reflects a social attitude of Gilman's time?

John views his wife's concerns as unimportant and silly.

In "The Yellow Wallpaper," what does the narrator's focus on the spreading smell of the wallpaper indicate is happening?

She has become obsessed with the wallpaper.

Read the excerpt from "The Yellow Wallpaper."He seems very queer sometimes, and even Jennie has an inexplicable look.It strikes me occasionally, just as a scientific hypothesis,—that perhaps it is the paper!I have watched John when he did not know I was looking, and come into the room suddenly on the most innocent excuses, and I've caught him several times LOOKING AT THE PAPER! And Jennie too. I caught Jennie with her hand on it once.Why does the narrator believe that John and Jennie are looking at the wallpaper?

She thinks that the wallpaper is having the same effect on them as it is on her.

Read the excerpt from "The Yellow Wallpaper."I wonder how it was done and who did it, and what they did it for. Round and round and round—round and round and round—it makes me dizzy!I really have discovered something at last.Through watching so much at night, when it changes so, I have finally found out.The front pattern DOES move—and no wonder! The woman behind shakes it!Sometimes I think there are a great many women behind, and sometimes only one, and she crawls around fast, and her crawling shakes it all over.Then in the very bright spots she keeps still, and in the very shady spots she just takes hold of the bars and shakes them hard.And she is all the time trying to climb through.Which statement describes a gothic element in this excerpt that reflects a social attitude of Gilman's time?

The image of the woman trying to escape contributes to the idea that the narrator feels trapped and unable to control her fate.

Read the excerpt from "The Yellow Wallpaper."John does not know how much I really suffer. He knows there is no REASON to suffer, and that satisfies him.Of course it is only nervousness. It does weigh on me so not to do my duty in any way!I meant to be such a help to John, such a real rest and comfort, and here I am a comparative burden already!Nobody would believe what an effort it is to do what little I am able,—to dress and entertain, and order things.How does the narrator's viewpoint reveal a social attitude of Gilman's time?

The narrator feels an overwhelming responsibility to meet society's expectations.

Read the excerpt from "Why I Wrote 'The Yellow Wallpaper.'"The little book is valued by alienists and as a good specimen of one kind of literature. It has, to my knowledge, saved one woman from a similar fate—so terrifying her family that they let her out into normal activity and she recovered.What does Gilman indicate is the impact of her work?

Women are more likely to have a voice in their own treatment.

Read the excerpt from "Why I Wrote 'The Yellow Wallpaper.'"Then, using the remnants of intelligence that remained, and helped by a wise friend, I cast the noted specialist's advice to the winds and went to work again—work, the normal life of every human being; work, in which is joy and growth and service, without which one is a pauper and a parasite—ultimately recovering some measure of power.Which social attitude of Gilman's era does this excerpt demonstrate?

Working gives people a sense of competence and control.