I really have discovered something at last.
Through watching so much at night, when it changes so, I have finally found out.
The front pattern does move–and no wonder! The woman behind shakes it!
Sometimes I think there are a great many women behind, and sometimes only one, and she crawls around fast, and her crawling shakes it all over.
Then in the very bright spots she keeps still, and in the very shady spots she just takes hold of the bars and shakes them hard.
And she is all the time trying to climb through. But nobody could climb through that pattern–it strangles so; I think that is why it has so many heads.
They get through, and then the pattern strangles them off and turns them upside down, and makes their eyes white!
If those heads were covered or taken off it would not be half so bad.
Excerpt, The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gillman. Image, me. Kindle readers, download it for free here.
Learn more about Compositions here, and read all the Compositions in the series here.
Jeen-Marie says
BTW- love this book!
I’m actually going to download it because I haven’t read it in over 10-12 years.
Thanks for sharing the link.
Jules says
I am a sucker for gothic short stories. They’re my favorite. Chekhov, for example, has a few that will keep you up at night.
Amy says
Ooh, the Yellow Wallpaper … so well written, but … yikes …
andifoo says
The Yellow Wallpaper is at the top of my list of favorite short stories. Very… eepy.
Jules says
What about the part when she says, “and you can’t put me back!”
!!
Tana says
Love that story, one of my favorites!
S.E.Minegar says
One of my all time favorites. This and the Minister’s Black Veil (Hawthorne) give me chills.
Dorothy says
That story scares the heck out of me. Its the kind of thing I had nightmares about as a child!
kimmie says
I have always loved that story!!! I emailed the link to my sister a few months ago when we were trading scary stories.
Peaches says
Love that story. Major creepy, and yet, sort of touching and thoughtful too. I’m sort of shocked no one has made it into a movie. Or have they?…
PS: It’s funny, one of the reasons I was drawn to your site was on account of the yellow wallpaper (the former version, although this version is nice too!)