The Yellow Wallpaper

I read The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman while I waited for my books to arrive in the mail.  I was a little bit familiar with it before I discovered that it was on the 1001 list, and was rather glad that it was there.  My ears had perked up any time I'd heard a reference to it, but never really had the mind to take note of it to pull it into motion.

It is the story of a woman's descent into delirium, though she may already have been on the verge to that from the beginning - I'm not quite sure.  The dark, claustrophobic tone was similar to Poe's gothic style though in a slightly more relaxed voice.  The cluttered, hasty style in which the writing was presented as well, was a successful way in which to present the frantic state of the speaker's mind.

I think everyone has experienced the frightful things your mind can create when staring at natural shapes.  I used to sleep in a closet-sized space in my apartment in Chicago which had imperfections on the old walls that I would often identify into various likenesses.  For that I think the situation that envelopes the speaker in the nursery is all the more haunting and relatable, even at a time when all of the medical injustices of the 1900s are now history.

Elementary Particles was stuffed in my teeny tiny mailbox today so I think this little guy will have the honor of being the first to be cracked open among my new book friends on my trek toward 1001.