Reading Questions – “The Yellow Wallpaper”
1. What is important about the title “The Yellow Wallpaper”?
2. How does the color yellow affect you? Do you like or dislike it? What are the psychological
implications of the color yellow? How could a different colored wallpaper have changed the
story? See this website for information on the effects of yellow on mood.
http://psychology.about.com/od/sensationandperception/a/color_yellow.htm
3. How does the narrator's description of the wallpaper change over time? How is the
wallpaper representative of her domestic life?
4. Who are the main characters in the story? How does Charlotte Perkins Gilman reveal their
characters in “The Yellow Wallpaper”?
5. What types of conflict did you notice in “The Yellow Wallpaper”-- physical, moral,
intellectual, or emotional? Are these conflicts resolved?
6. How does the narrator's relationship with her husband evolve/change as the story
progresses? Does the narrator’s mental state improve or worsen? How do we know?
7. What are some of the themes in “The Yellow Wallpaper”? Symbols? How do they relate to
the plot and characters?
8. Does “The Yellow Wallpaper” end the way you expected? Why or why not?