The short story, “The Yellow Wallpaper,” written in 1890 by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, gives a first person perspective of the resting cure treatment for depressed women. This practice was inhumane in the eyes of the author who had gone through this treatment shortly before she began writing this piece. “The Yellow Wallpaper” shed light onto the downfalls of the resting cure and helped to spark a movement in improving mental health treatments for women.

The unnamed narrator of the piece seems critical of her secluded summer stay in a secluded mansion, but fails to acknowledge her stay as the resting cure. In the beginning, the narrator regards her trip as a vacation that may rise her spirits, but her husband is clearly following the steps of the treatment. In only a few short weeks the narrator drastically declines in health as she is progressively treated more and more like an infant. The room she spends the majority of her day in was a former nursery, and all of her adult responsibilities and stimulants are taken from her as she is forced to scarf down hefty meals and to take frequent naps. Her own husband “gathered [her] up in his arms, and just carried [her] upstairs and laid [her] on the bed, and sat by [her] and read to [her] till it tired [her] head.” (Carolina Reader, 305). The structure of the sentences allows the reader to interpret this character’s depression even as the story progresses to the middle of her stay, as her thoughts are progressively more fragmented section to section. Instead of saying, “John picked me up and carried me to bed and read to me until I fell asleep,” the author prolongs the action and feels the need to separate each movement, thus revealing her failing mental state. This is where Perkins begins to dramatize her own experiences in order to emphasize the insanity most women are thrusted into because of the resting cure. The narrator of the piece consistently brings up ideas that would bring her more joy than being alone, such as wishing to visit her cousins Henry and Julia, but her husband, the physician, insists he knows better. All of the narrators’ feelings and opinions were undercut by her husband who would use her lack of education against her by posing the question, “can you not trust me as a physician when I tell you so?” (Carolina Reader, 306). As a woman, this left the narrator with no option but to ignore her own intuition, she in turn posed the question to herself, “what is one to do?” amidst her hopelessness (Carolina Reader, 300). Perkins uses her narrators detached, undermined echo of her true feelings to emphasize the spiral of depression post partum patients go through when being treated with the resting cure.

Perkins was inspired to write this piece in order to contradict the beaming reviews doctors were giving for this course of treatment. This began in 1872 when Doctor Weir Mitchell prescribed an “untouchable” woman with months of bed rest and force feeding. After three months of this handling she had transformed her life and seemingly defeated her anorexia and the treatment was regarded as revolutionary (Bassuk, 246). Mitchell believed that women were fundamentally inferior to men and their treatment reflected such ideals. As the treatment became more popular for women with nervous disorders extreme measures were taken to disable the women until no longer had the will to dispute what they were told to feel. This was the most despicable part of the treatment because the patients were made to believe their feelings were inadequate and disregarded, which thrusted them into further depression instead of curing it. Mitchell suggested that women’s disorders were purely due to their femininity and these sexist ideals influenced mental health studies well into the next hundred years.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman was prescribed the resting cure for her post-partum depression before she wrote “The Yellow Wallpaper” which makes the story semi-autobiographic. While Perkins “never had hallucinations or objections to her mural decorations” she remained adamant that Doctor Mitchells invasive psychotherapeutic exercises pushed women to the brink of insanity (Carolina Reader, 299). Perkins piece is daring and exceptional for her time because she had the audacity to publish a work opposing a glorified male doctor. Her short story reinstated the right for women to feel heard and respected in their time of need, and it helped to begin a movement for women’s rights.

Today, mental illnesses have recognized differences and there has been extensive research fir the diversity of issues.  There are special courses of treatment of different illnesses and problems such as anorexia and post partum depression are no longer lumped together and given the same treatment. There are even websites specially designed to assist women with post partum depression, giving women information about different medications and therapy options that can drastically improve the lives of the 15% of mothers with this problem (Postpartum Progress). However, the extensive resources given today may skew the readers’ perspective of the short story. Knowledge of the resting cure and the oppression of women in the 1900s puts “The Yellow Wallpaper” into the proper perspective. In the early 1900s the resting cure was normal for women, and what comes across as blatant disregard for the care of the narrator was actually considered lenient treatment. 

The extreme hallucinations of the narrator at the end of the short story allow the audience to allude to the fear and confusion the woman must have felt. The plot of the short story becomes more intriguing as the readers are forced to reexamine the final pages. When it becomes apparent that the narrator is also the woman in the wallpaper the reader begins to distrust her. If one analyzes the tone of the narrator through out the piece it becomes impossible to deny the deterioration of the woman’s health. 

Charlotte Perkins bravely used her own experience as the basis of this piece and dramatized an extreme outcome to dispute the resting cure. The controversial treatment at the time was being exalted by doctors and privileged men and heavily berated by women. This helps the reader to better understand the piece as a whole because we can understand the authors perspective.
