The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Stetson is one of my personal favorite short stories. I was introduced to this short story in high school, where I was a member of the scholastic competition team. This is an older short story, however, the context in which it was written and the hidden meaning behind the story still has a lot to offer society and the storytelling world. Based on the videos and readings provided in the ds106 weekly assignments post, I was able to read the short story with a different set of eyes and evaluate it on more criteria. The Machine video offered insight into how the digital world can bring a story to life and connect aspects of a story through the web to portray its’ meaning. If I were able to do this The Yellow Wallpaper, I think the meaning of the story would be more clear and it would gain more depth. Based on the first video and the first reading, the way in which a story is told creates the narrative, tone, and nature of the story. In this particular short story, the author utilizes common methods to help the reader understand what the wife is dealing with through her tone of voice about herself and her illness, but also in the way she describes her husband. If I were to create a graph of the story it would be up and down because of the illness that the wife is suffering from and the sense of chaos that it takes to get her main message. The physical wallpaper is a symbol in the story, but it takes a deep analysis to fully understand that. One of my favorite parts of this short story is the use of symbolism and metaphors, that almost take a comical turn throughout the story. For example: “There is a delicious garden.” This is one way in which Stetson holds the reader’s attention in the story by providing descriptive moments that capture the reader.; this is also seen with the erraticness of the wife. Overall, after analyzing the story again, I still come to the greatest conclusion: this story shows us what the life of a domestic housewife is and the toll it takes upon her.
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