The Yellow Wallpaper 4 Corners Discussion

Take notes on and find quotes for the following questions in order to prepare for the discussion:

1. Why do you think the author chose the color yellow? Would the story be the same if she’d chosen any other color?

2. This story is very different from the Edgar Allen Poe style of Gothicism that we have read so far. What elements make “The Yellow Wallpaper” a work of Gothic Literature?

3. What are the conflicts in The Yellow Wallpaper? What types of conflict did you notice? Is the conflict resolved?

4. What does the wallpaper represent? Consider the narrator’s problems, relationships, etc.

5. Who is at fault for the narrator’s decent into madness?

6. How does the narrator's relationship with her husband evolve/change? What behavior(s) does John recognize as his wife “improving?”

7. What is the role of women in the text? How are mothers represented? What about single women?

8. Compare and contrast the narrator in “The Yellow Wallpaper” with the narrator from “The Tell-Tale Heart.” What do they have in common? What is different? Who do you sympathize with more?