THE YELLOW WALLPAPER

This week’s plans…

MONDAY’S PLANS

•Re-reading the The Yellow Wallpaper entry by entry

•Discussion & Questions

FIRST ENTRY (38-40)

• How would you describe the story's setting? Why is the setting significant?

• What is the narrator's style of writing? What is her tone?

• What does the narrator believe would be the best cure for her? How does this contrast with what her husband and brother say?

SECOND ENTRY (40-44)

• How does the narration mimic the narrator's mental state?

• The wallpaper

• The furniture

• The room

• What other character is introduced? Who is she? What’s her role?

THIRD ENTRY (44-45)

• What is the narrator describing through this entry?

FOURTH ENTRY (45-46)

• What does this passage suggest about the relationship between the narrator and her husband?

• How would you characterize the narrator in this entry? How would you characterize the husband?

• What do we learn about the wallpaper?

• What have we learned about the narrator in this entry?

FIFTH ENTRY (46-49)

• How would you describe the narrator's mental state?

• How has she changed?

• What is her tone at this point in the story?

SIXTH ENTRY (49-50), SEVENTH ENTRY (50-51), EIGHTH ENTRY (51), NINTH ENTRY (51-52),

& TENTH ENTRY (52)

• What do you notice about the narrator's diction?

• How does the narration change?

ELEVENTH ENTRY (53-55)

• What is the woman’s plan? What is she doing?

• What does the narrator mean by, "I got out at last?"

• What does the ending of this story suggest about the woman behind the wall-paper?

TUESDAY’S PLANS

•The Yellow Wallpaper Video Clip

•Group work with post reading questions

•Discussion

WEDNESDAY’S AND THURSDAY’S PLANS

•Yellow Wallpaper Stations

FRIDAY’S PLANS

•Yellow Wallpaper Conclusions Discussion

•Symbols Discussion

CONCLUSION ARGUMENTS

• After reading the three different conclusions, pick the conclusion that you agree with the most.

• You’ll break up into groups to work on these arguments, then present as a group.

YOUR CHOICES

• Argument 1: “The Yellow Wallpaper” is a story that presents two people who are both trapped in their gender roles. The narrator is a wife who is frustrated because she can’t communicate what she really thinks and wants. Her husband, John, is a well-known doctor who isn’t sure how to help her.

• Argument 2: “The Yellow Wallpaper” is a story about a woman who is confined and silenced. In the end, she is defeated as she finally gives in to the madness and is found creeping along the floor of the room.

• Argument 3: “The Yellow Wallpaper” is a story about a woman, who though she is confined and silenced, triumphs. In the end, she achieves a greater sense of self as she acts out her madness.

SYMBOLS, IMAGERY, & THEME

• What symbols have we found in The Yellow Wallpaper?

• What do they mean?

• How does Gilman use them to make her point?

• What imagery did Gilman use?

• Was this effective?

• What did it do to the story?

• What themes are present in The Yellow Wallpaper?

• The moral of the story?

• Modernism themes?