English

1. Several times at the beginning of the story, the narrator says such things as “What is one to do?” and “What can one do?” What do these comments refer to? What, if anything, do they suggest about women’s roles at the time the story was written?

2. The narrator says, “I get unreasonably angry with John sometimes” (paragraph 24). How unreasonable is her anger at him? What does the fact that she feels it is unreasonable say about her?

3. As the story progresses the wallpaper begins to acquire powerful associations. What does it come to symbolize at the story’s end?

4. “It is so hard to talk with John about my case, because he is so wise, and because he loves me so” (paragraph 122). His wisdom is, to say the least, open to question, but what about his love? Do you think he suffers merely from a failure of perception, or is there a failure of affection as well?

5. Where precisely in the story do you think it becomes clear that she has begun to hallucinate?

6. What does the woman behind the wallpaper represent? Why does the narrator come to identify with her?

7. . How ill does the narrator seem at the beginning of the story? How ill does she seem at the end? How do you account for the change in her condition?