The Yellow Wallpaper

The Yellow Wallpaper is a short story by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, first published in 1892. It explores themes of mental illness, gender roles, and the oppression of women through the lens of a woman's descent into madness.

The story is presented as a series of journal entries written by a woman undergoing a rest cure for her mental health. Confined to a room with yellow wallpaper, she becomes obsessed with the wallpaper's pattern and believes there is a woman trapped within it. As her isolation continues, her mental state deteriorates, leading to a dramatic conclusion.

The protagonist, suffering from what is likely postpartum depression, is prescribed a 'rest cure' by her physician husband, John. She is confined to a room in a rented mansion, where she becomes increasingly fixated on the room's yellow wallpaper. As she begins to identify with the woman she perceives to be trapped in the wallpaper, her mental health declines, culminating in a breakdown.