Names ______________________________________________________________

Discussion Questions for “The Yellow Wallpaper”

With a partner, or in groups no larger than three, please discuss the following questions,
write your answers on this sheet of paper or a separate piece of paper, and be ready for
a class discussion of the questions.

Find specific evidence from the text to defend your answers whenever possible.

1. Describe the overall setting of the story (the house). How and why are the setting
and its description significant?

2. Describe the specific setting of the nursery/bedroom. The narrator says this room
was used as a nursery; why does she think this—and can you think of another
explanation for the room’s purpose? How does your perception of the room develop
over the course of the story?

3. Describe the narrator’s husband from the point of view of the narrator, and then
discuss how others—or he himself—might differ from the narrator in the way they
see him.

4. This story is told in 1st person point of view from the perspective of the wife. How
does this shape the story? How might our understanding of the situation be different
if it were told in 3rd person omniscient, or in 1st person from the perspective of the
husband?
5. What is the narrator’s ailment, and what does she believe would be the best cure for
her? Why is she unable to pursue this cure? What does this tell us about life at this
time?

6. What is the significance of/who is the woman behind or in the wallpaper? How are
this figure and the wallpaper symbolic? What are they symbolic of?

7. How does the narrator change toward the end of the story? (Identify the place where
you start to get a sense of how she is changing, and describe your sense of her
mental state toward the end of the story.)

8. How does the story serve as a metaphor for the lives of women in the 19 th century,
and what do you think was the author’s purpose in writing the story?