Short Stories Series: The Yellow Wall-Paper

Hey folks,

This is a meet where we read short stories, ranging from classics to contemporaries, while enjoying a pint from a local brewery. I will be selecting shorts from this list (LINK), and your suggestions are more than welcome! The stories selected for this series will be short, no longer than an hour or so, and we will be meeting once a month to discuss.

For our first short story, we will read 'The Yellow Wall-Paper' by Charlotte Perkins Gilman.

Goodreads Summary:
Diagnosed by her physician husband with a “temporary nervous depression—a slight hysterical tendency” after the birth of her child, a woman is urged to rest for the summer in an old colonial mansion. Forbidden from doing work of any kind, she spends her days in the house’s former nursery, with its barred windows, scratched floor, and peeling yellow wallpaper.

In a private journal, the woman records her growing obsession with the “horrid” wallpaper. Its strange pattern mutates in the moonlight, revealing what appears to be a human figure in the design. With nothing else to occupy her mind, the woman resolves to unlock the mystery of the wallpaper. Her quest, however, leads not to the truth, but into the darkest depths of madness.

A condemnation of the patriarchy, The Yellow Wallpaper explores with terrifying economy the oppression, grave misunderstanding, and willful dismissal of women in late nineteenth-century society.