"The Yellow Wallpaper" opens with the musings of an unnamed woman. She, her husband John, their newborn baby, and her sister-in-law have rented a summer house. The narrator is suffering from postpartum depression, and the summer house will function as a place for her to get better. The doctor has prescribed a rest cure of quiet and solitude, with an emphasis on avoiding any form of mental stimulation like reading or writing. The woman notes that the room in which she is staying seems to be geared more for incarceration than rehabilitation. John classifies her merely as "sick," thereby exhibiting the prevailing attitude of the day, that mental illness in women was not real. Following the doctor's strict orders, he forbids his wife from doing any type of work and does not allow her to see.....
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