Question

Why might Charlotte Perkins Gilman have written "The Yellow Wallpaper" in the first-person point of view?

A.
Gilman wanted to depict a woman’s mental breakdown naturally and objectively.
B.
Gilman wanted to appeal to her male audience to treat their wives with more respect.
C.
Gilman wanted to show a mental breakdown through the eyes of the sufferer’s loved ones.
D.
Gilman wanted to illustrate to her readers how the rest cure could seriously damage a person.

Answer 1

Answer: D. Gilman wanted to illustrate to her readers how the rest cure could seriously damage a person.

Step-by-step explanation:

Charlotte Perkins Gilman had gone through the ''rest cure'' which was a method prescribed to cure women of ''hysteria''. It consisted of them not doing any physical activity and just resting with no physical, creative or intellectually stimulating activities.

Ms. Gilman hated this treatment and based the short story, "The Yellow Wallpaper", on this treatment. In using a first person perspective she wanted the readers to see just how much the rest cure could affect and damage a person because the readers would get to observe a first person glance at the deterioration of the mind.