Study Questions for Ch.

Gilmans The Yellow Wallpaper (1899)

1. What was Ch. Gilmans incentive to write this story What !oals did she ho"e it
would accom"lish
#. What did hysteria mean and why were women dia!nosed as hysterical at the turn
of the #$
th
century What was the common treatment hysterics received
%. &m'edded within the story is Gilmans criti(ue of the role and "lace of women in
Western culture. What does Gilman see as the lot of women in her own society
What is the cost to women of 'ein! consi!ned to that lot
). Com"are *internal+ (female) and *e,ternal+ (male) s"aces in the story What is
Gilmans messa!e a'out these s"aces occu"ied 'y men and women
-. What is Gilmans view on motherhood as "resented in the story
.. Who is the woman 'ehind the yellow wall"a"er Why does she cree" a'out the
!arden only at ni!ht/ while durin! the day she crouches 'ehind the 'ars
0. 1oes the narrator of the story reco!ni2e any corres"ondence 'etween her own
"erce"tion and e,ternal reality &s this a realistic re"resentation of a womans
"sycholo!ical state/ or somethin! else
8. 3ow does this wor4 reflect the challen!es to the cult of domesticity as "ut
forward 'y the 5irst wave feminists
9. Consider the story as Gilmans "ortrait of the 6merican woman as writer. What
does it su!!est a'out the literary authority of the woman writer in the end of the
19
th
century
Study Questions for 7. Cho"ins The Awakening (1899)
1. 1iscuss Cho"in as a writer of local color fiction. What do we learn a'out the
Creole society of 8ew 9rleans at the end of the 19
th
century
#. :dna ;ontellier is cau!ht in the contradiction 'etween the ways other see her (and
e,"ect her to 'e) and the way she sees herself. &dentify several moments in which
this 'ecomes a""arent and show :dnas !rowin! awareness of this contradiction.
%. What are the o"tions offered to :dna 'y society in the "rocess of her awa4enin!
<hrou!h what other characters in the novel are these o"tions su!!ested Which
o"tion does she choose finally and why
). Some readers have descri'ed :dnas death as suicide= others view it as her
attem"t at self>reali2ation. 6r!ue the relative truth of 'oth inter"retations.
-. 1iscuss the title of the novel in terms of the develo"ment of the character.
.. 1iscuss the issue of motherhood as "resented in the novel.
0. 3ow is the cult of true womanhood "resented in the novel
8. 1iscuss the central recurrent ima!es in the novel and how they contri'ute to the
messa!e of the wor4.
9. What features do you discover in the novel that are associated with the rise of
modernism