THE YELLOW WALLPAPER

This week’s plans…

MONDAY’S PLANS•Re-reading the The Yellow Wallpaper entry by entry•Discussion & Questions

FIRST ENTRY (38-40)

• How would you describe the story's setting? Why is the setting significant?• What is the narrator's style of writing? What is her tone?• What does the narrator believe would be the best cure for her? How does this

contrast with what her husband and brother say?

SECOND ENTRY (40-44)

• How does the narration mimic the narrator's mental state?• The wallpaper• The furniture• The room

• What other character is introduced? Who is she? What’s her role?

THIRD ENTRY (44-45)

• What is the narrator describing through this entry?

FOURTH ENTRY (45-46)

• What does this passage suggest about the relationship between the narrator and her husband?

• How would you characterize the narrator in this entry? How would you characterize the husband?

• What do we learn about the wallpaper?• What have we learned about the narrator in this entry?

FIFTH ENTRY (46-49)

• How would you describe the narrator's mental state?• How has she changed?• What is her tone at this point in the story?

SIXTH ENTRY (49-50), SEVENTH ENTRY (50-51), EIGHTH ENTRY (51), NINTH ENTRY (51-52),

& TENTH ENTRY (52)• What do you notice about the narrator's diction?• How does the narration change?

ELEVENTH ENTRY (53-55)

• What is the woman’s plan? What is she doing?• What does the narrator mean by, "I got out at last?"• What does the ending of this story suggest about the woman behind the wall-

paper?

TUESDAY’S PLANS•The Yellow Wallpaper Video Clip•Group work with post reading questions•Discussion

WEDNESDAY’S AND THURSDAY’S PLANS

•Yellow Wallpaper Stations

FRIDAY’S PLANS•Yellow Wallpaper Conclusions Discussion•Symbols Discussion

CONCLUSION ARGUMENTS

• After reading the three different conclusions, pick the conclusion that you agree with the most.

• You’ll break up into groups to work on these arguments, then present as a group.

YOUR CHOICES

• Argument 1: “The Yellow Wallpaper” is a story that presents two people who are both trapped in their gender roles. The narrator is a wife who is frustrated because she can’t communicate what she really thinks and wants. Her husband, John, is a well-known doctor who isn’t sure how to help her.

• Argument 2: “The Yellow Wallpaper” is a story about a woman who is confined and silenced. In the end, she is defeated as she finally gives in to the madness and is found creeping along the floor of the room.

• Argument 3: “The Yellow Wallpaper” is a story about a woman, who though she is confined and silenced, triumphs. In the end, she achieves a greater sense of self as she acts out her madness.

SYMBOLS, IMAGERY, & THEME

• What symbols have we found in The Yellow Wallpaper?• What do they mean?• How does Gilman use them to make her point?

• What imagery did Gilman use?• Was this effective?• What did it do to the story?

• What themes are present in The Yellow Wallpaper? • The moral of the story?• Modernism themes?