The author of “The Yellow Wallpaper”, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, wrote much more than a short story about a woman suffering from a psychological disorder in the early 1900’s.  Gilman’s short story follows the life of a woman over the course of three months as she is recovering from a “temporary nervous depression”.  However, with a small amount of background information, the reader is able to pick up on the author’s arguments regarding societal pressures that lead towards mental illness and a form of treatment that only worsened the symptoms of the condition.  After having researched postpartum depression and the rest cure, an in-depth analysis of “The Yellow Wallpaper” can be made to help the reader understand the stance of the author over these topics.

It is no secret that, in the early 1900’s, there was much less available research on different disorders, proper treatments and available medications.  However, one of the topics lacking the most information was that of psychological illness.  According to Ellen L. Bassuk, around this time, S. Weir Mitchell developed the famous “rest cure” for women who were showing symptoms of nervousness.  It was used in a variety of cases, most of which would now be diagnosed as some sort of mental illness.  This is the same treatment that is seen in “The Yellow Wallpaper” as prescribed by the narrator’s husband, who is a physician.  This “cure”, however, had very little positive effects – as it was just based off of a regimented schedule that called for the majority of each day to be spent resting and a special diet to be administered by nurses.

This rest cure ended up proving to be incredibly counterproductive in the narrator’s case and caused the ultimate downward spiral of symptoms that the narrator underwent.  From the very beginning of the story, the reader can tell that the narrator was skeptical of the treatment methods her husband was using and how she was frustrated with his inability to see deeper into the symptoms she tried to convey.  At the very beginning of the story, the narrator said “[My husband] is a physician, and perhaps . . . that is one reason I do not get well faster.  You see he does not believe that I am sick!  And what can one do?” (Gilman 299).  For her treatment, her husband allowed her no company, made her take “phosphates” and allowed no work until she was better.  But as the story goes on, the reader can see that it is this abundance of rest and a lack of tasks that allowed the narrator to become obsessed with the figures in the wallpaper.

Although it is fairly clear throughout the short story that the narrator is suffering from postpartum depression, it is important to take a look at why this may have developed and what outside factors could have played a role in the narrator’s illness.  On page 302, the narrator notes how she loves her baby, but she is grateful for Jennie’s help with him because being around the baby makes her more nervous.  However, there are certain societal pressures that helped to lead the narrator to feeling this way. 

In the early 1900’s, women were expected to stay at home with the children and take care of them and work in the house all day.  However, this was often a pressure that was too much for some women to handle and can be seen as one of the reasons the narrator developed postpartum depression. 
