“The Yellow Wallpaper”

  “A Report to an Academy” “The Balloon” “Everyday Use” “Nosedive” “The Yellow Wallpaper” “Sweat” Psychoanalytic Interpretation: How do the operations of repression structure or inform the work? Are there any Oedipal dynamics - or any other family dynamics - at work here? How can characters' behavior, narrative events, and/or images be explained in terms of psychoanalytic concepts of any kind (for example, fear or fascination with death, sexuality - which includes love and romance as well as sexual behavior - as a primary indicator of psychological identity or the operations of ego-id-superego)? Which behaviors of the characters are conscious ones? Which are unconscious? What conscious or unconscious conflicts exist between the characters? What roles do psychological disorders and dreams play in this story? How might a psychological approach account for different responses in female and male readers? Feminist Interpretation: How are women’s lives portrayed in the work? Is the form and content of the work influenced by the writer’s gender? How do male and female characters relate to one another? Are these relationships sources of conflict? Are these conflicts resolved? Does the work challenge or affirm traditional views of women? How do the images of women in the story reflect patriarchal social forces that have impeded women’s efforts to achieve full equality with men? What marital expectations are imposed on the characters? What effect do these expectations have? What behavioral expectations are imposed on the characters? What effect do these expectations have? If a female character were male, how would the story be different (and vice versa)? How does the marital status of a character affect her decisions or happiness? Marxist Interpretation: What role does class play in the work; what is the text’s analysis of or commentary on class relations? How do characters overcome class-based oppression? In what ways does the work serve as propaganda for the status quo or dominant ideology; does the story try to undermine it? Does the work propose some form of utopian vision as a solution to the problems encountered in the work? How does the author’s social and economic class show through the work? Does the literature reflect the author’s own class or attitude towards class conflict? Does this text make you aware of your own acceptance of any social, economic, or political practices that involve control or oppression of others? What ideology is revealed by this story? Does it support the values of capitalism or any other "ism" that institutionalizes the domination of one group of people over another-for example, racism, sexism, or imperialism? Does it condemn such systems?