Gibbs 1 Ashley Gibbs Mr.

Mullen Honors English III 1 June 2011 The Woman Behind The Yellow Wallpaper To attain happiness in another world we need only to believe something, while to secure it in this world we must do something. This is a famous quote from Charlotte Perkins Gilman at one of her many lectures. Other than lecturing about her Nationalist and feminist ideas, Gilman was an author. She took her personal problems and put them on paper for others so that they could see they werent alone. One of her greatest achievements in writing was The Yellow Wallpaper. The inspiration came from her feelings about her marriage. Gilmans work is admirable because of her tough childhood, her weird marriage, and her feelings after she got divorced. Charlotte Anna Perkins was born on July 3, 1860, in Hartford, Connecticut into the most intellectually prestigious family in the U.S. (Tompkins). Charlottes parents were Mary A. Fitch Perkins and Frederick Perkins and they were having problems. When Gilman was just six years old her father left his wife and never provided support, emotional or financial, to his family. With a broken family Perkins received a somewhat limited formal education; but that did not stop her from becoming a voracious reader by age fifteen. Just five years later Perkins had completed two years of study at Rhode Island School of Design in Providence. After her modest education, she became a freelance commercial artist. Being a commercial artist let Charlotte Perkins meet some interesting people, one of which was Charles Walter Stetson (Tompkins). After much resistance Perkins became Stetson

Gibbs 2 and a year later Charles and Charlotte brought Katherine into the world. Being a wife and a mother is exciting for most women; not for Perkins-Stetson. She became very depressed and hysterical; she was mortified that she had given away her freedom. To help relieve her, PerkinsStetson decided to go stay with some relatives for awhile. Family really helped her condition and she decided to go back to her husband; she was immediately depressed again. The best physician in Philadelphia told her to Live as domestic a life as possible, which meant she was no longer allowed to paint or write and could only read two hours a day. This was not okay will PerkinsStetson so she decided to separate from her husband by taking her daughter to California. After moving she wrote The Yellow Wallpaper, which was based on her experience with her husband. In 1894, ten years after her marriage, Perkins-Stetson divorced Charles and was back to just Perkins. Now that Perkins felt like a free adult, she decided to get back to her writing. While writing she came across the Nationalist movement and quickly became involved; she gave many lectures about what it was like to be a Nationalist and what others could do as well (Charlotte). After the Nationalists faded, Perkins continued to lecture about her feminist beliefs. While travelling with other feminists, such as Carrie Chapman Catt, Susan B. Anthony, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Perkins decided to get married once again; this time to George Houghton Gilman, her first cousin. Gilman continued to travel and lecture with Catt, Anthony, and Stanton for quite some time. Gilman was happily married for thirty-four years when her husband died suddenly. The next year was the hardest for Gilman, she was diagnosed with terminal cancer and her daughter was widowed as well. Gilman did complete her autobiography in that year, though. The last few pages contained her goodbye note: No grief, pain, misfortune, or broken heart is excuse for cutting off ones life while any power of service remains. But when all usefulness is

Gibbs 3 over, when one is assured of unavoidable and imminent death, it is the simplest of human rights to choose a quick and easy death in place of a slow and horrible one I have preferred chloroform to cancer. After all the bad and fatherless childhood years, Gilman made something of herself. She spoke about what she believed in and persuaded others to care as well. She also wrote a few great books along the way, even during a depressing marriage and motherhood. Gilman met some other great women that helped to change to her views and she was remarried. More years of touring and lecturing let her health slip and she was diagnosed with cancer. The depression of losing her second husband and the news of the cancer sent her into a downward and suicidal spiral. It was once said that she was the female Edgar Allen Poe with her scary mansions and anxiety-stricken heroines; her works will be forever remembered and cherished because of how real she was.

Gibbs 4 Works Cited Charlotte Anna Perkins Gilman. Encyclopedia.com. 2004. Web. 24 May 2011. Tompkins, Vincent, ed. American Decades: 1900-1909. Detroit, MI: Gale Research, Inc., 1996. Print.