Term
|
Definition
| A good physician. He wants to help his wife but he doesn’t believe her when she says she’s going crazy. That hurts his reputation. He doesn’t know how to help her because of the society. He treats her like a child. Patronizing. He loves her but he won’t listen to what she thinks is best. Women are second rate citizens and he is the man. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The nursery is the site of the imprisonment. It is covered in the unnerving yellow wallpaper and has furniture that is nailed into place. The room signifies a) the source of the woman’s insanity (post-partum depression), b) her husband John’s treatment of her as a child, and c) the overall treatment of women in society at the time, with very little freedom and no respect. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Like a prison. Signifying John and the male establishment's treatment of women, especially those who are ill. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A Philadelphia neurologist who prescribed bed rest and prohibited any activity, especially writing. He treated Charlotte Gilman Perkins in real life, as well as in the story. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| John patronizes the main character and often treats her like a child. he listens to her foolishness, and simply goes along with it without really paying any attention. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A mental illness which often plagues new mothers due to hormone imbalances. It causes the mother to "dislike" or "not like" the child. If not treated, it can escalate into a real problem. however, since the mother was separated from the child, she did not have to be around it all the time like a normal person would have, making symptoms worse. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The main character begins to suffer from delusions, seeing figures in the wallpaper, and the women creeping around outside on the grounds. The wallpaper becomes bars and she can "see" the "woman" behind it plainly. She thinks that the woman shakes it and is trying to come into the room. |
|
|
Term
| paraphernalia of confinement |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the main character thinks that she sees a woman creeping around behind the wallpaper, and trying to get into the room. She also thinks that she sees a woman creeping about the grounds through the windows. At the end of the story, on the last night, she pulls off most of the wallpaper "with" the woman behind the wallpaper. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the smell that persists in the yellow wallpaper room. It is all over the house, according to her. she can't figure out what it smells like. It is a subtle and gentle smell, and in the damp it is awful. Dr. Flannagan says that it is the smell of the baby's urine, due to the color yellow. It is a case of synesthesia, the state where senses cross over, and colors smell, hear tastes, etc. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a groove in the wall, near the bottom. It is a track which was carved before, symbolizing the past oppression of women, and then she follows it too, which symbolizes her insanity, yet she still can't break out, so while she freed herself, she still must follow the same path. |
|
|
