’31 Tales of Terror’ #4: The Yellow Wallpaper

*Title: The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Date Read: 15 October 2008
Available Online?: YES
Briefly: Written in the form of personal diary entries, this first person narrative follows a woman’s descent into madness, a madness that sees her becoming more and more obsessed with the wallpaper in the bedroom of her summer residency.
Afterthoughts: I love descents into madness (which is probably why Hunger is one of my all-time favourite novels), and this is one of the finest I’ve read, at least in short story form. Gilman is genius in using the character’s focus on the wallpaper as a ‘measure’ for demonstrating her deteriorating mental state, and although not terrifying in a visual sense, the psychosis of the character sent a real shiver down my spine. I loved it! What begins as a passing mention in the opening entries in the diary ends with a total fixation on nothing but the wallpaper – Absolute genius Ms. Gilman, absolute genius!
Notable Quote: “I lie here on this great immovable bed—it is nailed down, I believe—and follow that pattern about by the hour. It is as good as gymnastics, I assure you. I start, we’ll say, at the bottom, down in the corner over there where it has not been touched, and I determine for the thousandth time that I will follow that pointless pattern to some sort of a conclusion.”

Rating:

*Story read as part of the 31 Tales of Terror reading challenge.