“The Yellow Wallpaper” Questions

1)        “The Yellow Wallpaper” was originally seen by some as a ghost story. More recently, critics have tended to interpret the story from a feminist perspective; which do you believe and explain your answer.

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2)      The story’s narrator, who has recently had a baby, is suffering from what her husband, a doctor, calls “temporary nervous depression-a slight hysterical tendency.” How accurate is this diagnosis? Explain.

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3)      What images and figures of speech does the narrator use to describe the wallpaper? To what extent do you think her descriptions are accurate? Which images do you think she sees and which ones do you think she imagines?

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