The Yellow Wallpaper

ry people like John and myself sec

y a haunted house, and reach the height of romantic

eclare that there is s

t so cheaply? And why hav

course, but one expe

, an intense horror of superstition, and he scoffs openly at an

ng soul, of course, but this is dead paper and a great relief

oes not beli

at can

and relatives that there is really nothing the matter with one but tem

an, and also of high standin

nd tonics, and journeys, and air, and exercise, and a

disagree wit

ngenial work, with excitement

t is on

t DOES exhaust me a good deal—having to be so s

re society and stimulus—but John says the very worst thing I can do is

alone and talk

from the village. It makes me think of English places that you read about, for there are hedges

—large and shady, full of box-bordered paths, and line

ses, too, but they

something about the heirs and coheirs; an

d, but I don't care—there is something

t evening, but he said what I felt

. I'm sure I never used to be so sensitive.

self-control; so I take pains to control myself—b

d on the piazza and had roses all over the window, and such pre

nd not room for two beds, and no ne

ng, and hardly lets me stir

in the day; he takes all care from me, and so

d get. "Your exercise depends on your strength, my dear," said he, "and your food somewhat on you

nd sunshine galore. It was nursery first and then playroom and gymnasium, I should judge;

—in great patches all around the head of my bed, about as far as I can reach, and in a

lamboyant patterns commi

provoke study, and when you follow the lame uncertain curves for a little distance they suddenly

g; a smouldering unclean yellow, strang

nge in some places, a sick

t! I should hate it myself if

ust put this away,—he hat

nd I haven't felt like writing

ous nursery, and there is nothing to hinder my wr

nd even some nights whe

y case is n

troubles are dre

y suffer. He knows there is no REAS

ness. It does weigh on me so

uch a real rest and comfort, and her

t is to do what little I am able,—to

is so good with the b

be with him, it m

ous in his life. He laughs at

that I was letting it get the better of me, and that nothing w

be the heavy bedstead, and then the barred windows, a

id, "and really, dear, I don't care to renova

airs," I said, "there are

ittle goose, and said he would go down to the cellar,

gh about the beds an

eed wish, and, of course, I would not be so sil

fond of the big room, a

mysterious deepshaded arbors, the riotous old-

fancy I see people walking in these numerous paths and arbors, but John has cautioned me not to give way to fancy in the least. He says that with my imaginative power and habi

well enough to write a little it would

get pretty ti

y well, John says we will ask Cousin Henry and Julia down for a long visit; but he says he wou

ould get w

his paper looks to me as if it KNE

ttern lolls like a broken neck and two

ays they crawl, and those absurd, unblinking eyes are everywhere. There is one place where two br

xpression they have! I used to lie awake as a child and get more entertainment and terr

big, old bureau used to have, and there was one

er things looked too fierce I could a

t all from downstairs. I suppose when this was used as a playroom they had to take the n

spots, and it sticketh closer than a brother—th

itself is dug out here and there, and this great heavy bed which is

ind it a bit—

r girl as she is, and so careful of m

d hopes for no better profession. I verily believ

s out, and see her a long

ng road, and one that just looks off over the country. A l

ent shade, a particularly irritating one, for you can

o—I can see a strange, provoking, formless sort of figure, that se

ister on

ed out. John thought it might do me good to see a little company,

o a thing. Jennie se

red me al

p faster he shall send me t

iend who was in his hands once, and she says he

uch an undertaki

turn my hand over for anything, and I'm

ng, and cry mo

ohn is here, or anybody

pt in town very often by serious cases, and Jen

hat lovely lane, sit on the porch under th

oom in spite of the wall-paper.

s in my

good as gymnastics, I assure you. I start, we'll say, at the bottom, down in the corner over there where it has not been

ng was not arranged on any laws of radiation, or alternation, o

ourse, by the breadt

ves and flourishes—a kind of "debased Romanesque" with delirium

sprawling outlines run off in great slanting waves of opt

it seems so, and I exhaust myself in trying to di

adth for a frieze, and that add

the low sun shines directly upon it, I can almost fancy radiation after all,—the interminable gro

o follow it. I will

why I shoul

't wa

t feel

d. But I MUST say what I feel and th

getting to be grea

m awfully lazy, and l

take cod liver oil and lots of tonics and thin

have a real earnest reasonable talk with him the other day, and tell him

I got there; and I did not make out a very good case for mys