The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

What an interesting short story.  After reading A Doll's House and The Awakening, I imagined this short story would go right along with the same theme and ending.  Mostly it did.  I love how all of these can relate to each other.  If you read one you should read them all.

This story follows a young mother who is married to a doctor and suffers from depression.  As a doctor, the husband does not believe in depression or anything related to that and prescribed the usual treatment of the rest cure.  This meant that the wife was taken to the country to be alone and was supposed to stay in bed resting and doing as little intelectual thinking and conversation as possible.  She was left in an upper nursery room that had bars on the windows and peeling yellow wallpaper.  Slowly the wallpaper drives her crazy and she starts to lose her mind.  It is fun to read as she first is angry at the paper, then her feelings towards the room slowly starts to change.  It is very minimal at first and then you start to see the change as she loses her mind.  She hides it from the maid and her husband until the very last section of the short story when she gives into her insanity.  I found the ending very satisfactory.

These books will definately make you think about your views on feminism and the role of women in the home.  It may even make you think about how you relate to others and how a marriage should be.