Journal #31 Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Shirly Ong
English 48B
7 March, 2008
Journal #31 Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Quote:
“Such a story ought not to be written, he said; it was enough to drive anyone mad to read it…I was not intended to drive people crazy, but to save people from driven crazy, and it worked.”

Summary:
This quote appears in ‘Why I Wrote “The Yellow Wall-Paper”?’. The first part of the quote is told by a Boston physician when the story is first published. The second part of the quote is what Gilman responds to this Boston physician later.

Response:
When I am reading the story, I do not feel I am driven mad. However, I am not surprised that this story was protested when it is published because the “rest cure” was believed to be the most suitable treatment for woman’s “nervous” disorder. This therapy is used by the most famous American neurologist at that time. In the story, the woman is undergoing the “rest cure” for three months but it seems she turned worse after that. After reading this story, I have no wonder why Gilman is the leading speaker, writer, and theoretician on women’s issues of her time. I think she has such a strong stance and she would express her ideas even though the society may not accept it. Even though the idea of the story is not entirely accepted, Gilman sent a copy of her story to the physician who prescribed a “rest cure” to her. I think she is a strong and brave woman. I believe many women would not be capable of expressing their views at that time. Later, when Gilman finds out that physician actually altered his treatment after reading her story, she expressed that her intention of writing this story is to “save people from driven crazy”. Obviously, her story works. This shows how powerful her writing is. I appreciate and enjoy this story very much. This is my favorite story in this class so far.