Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860-1935)
She was a utopian feminist, writer, lecturer and humanist.
In her writing she often dealt with topics of women and their lives around the turn of the century
Focusing on the oppresive forces of patriarchal society that kept women in their homes.
After her first child was born she suffered a severe
postpartum depression.
"There is no female mind. The brain is not an organ of sex. Might as well speak of a female liver."
When Charlotte Perkins Gilman was suffering from her postpartum depression, she took extensive notes about her symptoms. However, when she sent a letter describing her symptoms to the famous Victorian nerve specialist S. Weir Mitchell, he claimed it "only proved self-conceit" and prescribed a rest cure, which prohibited women from reading and writing.
Gilman explains in her autobiography that she,
"came perilously near to losing my mind. The mental agony grew so unbearable that I would sit blankly moving my head from side to side--to get out from under the pain."
Gilman later abandoned Mitchell's rest cure, and became a successful writer and lecturer. Gilman was healed, at least partially, by becoming an active participant in the reading and writing of her own "disease."
Let's explore some of the terms...
Utopia - "a place that does not exist". An imagined place where things will be better.
Feminist - someone who supports
equal rights for women.
Patriarchy -a system of society or government in which men hold the power and women are largely excluded from it.
Postpartum depression - mood disorder that is triggered by childbirth. Treatment today usually consists of both counseling and medication.
The Yellow wallpaper
A short story, regarded as an important early work of feminist literature, that shows the attitudes towards women´s mental and physical health of its time.
Narrated in the first person in the form of hidden journal entries.
Themes that we will explore
Work vs. idleness
Mental health
Male control
Insanity/depression
How can we intepret the narrator's
situation in different ways?
Mental disorders in fiction
Don Quijote -
Delusion,
Paranoia
The Picture of Dorian Gray - Narcissism
The Bell Jar - Depression
The perks of being a wallflower
- Anxiety, PTSD
Reading strategies
To predict
What is going to happen next?
To clarify
Use clues in the text and your own knowledge to fill in gaps and draw conclusions.
Reading strategies
To identify
Find the author´s purpose, the main ideas
and the themes of the text.
To visualize
Create a mental image of the setting, the characters and the events in the text.
Reading strategies
For instance
Events in the text takes place before women
had the right to vote in the United states.
The author was a "first-wave" feminist and especially interested in the way a woman was subjugated to a man in marriage.
Does that matter while we read the text?
What does the word hysterical mean?
Hysteria as a diagnosis
The latin word for the womb is "hyster"
In the beginning of the 19th century
hysteria was used a medical diagnosis
to "explain" anything that was "wrong" with women.
So "hysteria" literally means a condition of the womb.
Things women in literature have died from...
Vocabulary
ancestral = fäderneärvda
hereditary = ärvda
let = hyra
untenanted = uthyrd
scoff = håna
congenial = behaglig
arbors = berså
lurid = spöklik
atrocious = ohygglig
fancies = griller, hjärnspöken
whim = infall
bulbous = utstående
impertinence = oförskämdhet
ravages = härjningar
perserverance = uthållighet
plaster = gips
verily = i sanning
Vocabulary
fretful = retlig
querolous = gnällig
dwell = bo
flourishes = krusiduller
fatuity = dumhet
frieze = fris
horrid = otäck
undulating = böljande
stern = barsk
reproachful = förebrående
subdued = dämpad
flourishing = frodas
Reading together
Research shows that reading texts together is the best way to work with literature in school.
The benefits are:
We do it in class
We are all at the same place in the text
We can discuss the text together
Peaceful reading
You might feel sleepy and
if you need to stretch or yawn
it is okay.
Your job is to still listen actively
and to participate in the discussions.
Let's read together!
We will analyze the yellow wallpaper using the ABC method (alone, band, class).
Read about the topics on own for 5-10 minutes. (You can take notes if you want to).
Talk about the topics in your “band” for 10-15 minutes and write down your thoughts on the paper we gave you.
We will then analyze the short story together using your notes and thoughts.