Worksheet
Short Story Analysis Worksheet
Title of short story The yellow wallpaper
Author’s Name Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Year of Publication 1890
Physical: Place & Time “The house” Late nineteenth century, in a
(include clues which help colonial mansion that
you determine this)
has been rented for the summer. Most of
the story’s action
takes place in a room at the top of the
Setting
house that is referred
to as the “nursery.
Social Context A patriarchal society and the bad
(include clues which help environment in mental hospitals.
you determine this)
Characters & character Narrator: Round, dynamic protagonist.
type Sympathized.
(Round/flat John: Flat, static anthagonist.
/static/dynamic/
Unsympathized.
stereotypical/anti-hero/etc.
Jane: Flat static character. Unsympathized.
Main character
Mary: Flat static character.
Direct characterizations John: “John is practical in the extreme. He
(Which direct has no patience with faith, an intense
characterizations can you
horror of superstition and the scoffs openly
locate in the story?)
at any talk of things not to be felt and seen
and put down in figures.”
Narrator: “I get unreasonably angry with
John sometimes. I’m sure I never used to
be so sensitive. I think it is due to this
nervous condition.”
, Indirect characterizations John: “what is it, little girl?” this shows us
(Which indirect John sees his wife, the narrator, as a child,
characterizations can you
someone who can’t care for themselves.
locate in the story?)
This also shows why he doesn’t take her
suggestions and comments seriously.
Narrator: Her obsessive ways of describing
the wallpaper and her final actions of
ripping it away, crawling over her husband
and biting the bed, tell the reader that she
is slowly loosing herself and her mind to
her condition.
Plot (max. 10 sentences) Exposition: We get a description about the
Indicate the five stages of recent events in which we learn that the
Freytag’s pyramid in the plot of
narrator’s husband rented out a mansion as
this story. If stages are missing,
a summer house so the narrator could rest
list this. Keep in mind Plot (cont.)
that some stages may be in a and get better. We learn that she suffers
different order, be missing, or be from a nervous condition which her
present more than once. husband, who is a doctor, does not take
serious.
Inciting incident: The narrator’s husband
chooses the nursery room with a “horrible”
yellow wallpaper as their bedroom, against
the narrators objections.
Rising action: The narrator starts to get
obsessed with the yellow wall paper and
starts seeing figures behind the pattern.
Climax: The narrator rips the paper of the
walls and fully identifies herself with the
figures she sees behind the pattern of the
wallpaper.
Falling action: John, the narrator’s
husband, stands at the door in a frenzy and
tries to get in. The door is locked and the
narrator threw the key away.
Resolution: John faints and the narrator
says she’s finally free and that she can’t be
put back into the wallpaper because she
has ripped it up to pieces.
Dénouement: The narrator asks herself
the question, why John fainted right before
Short Story Analysis Worksheet
Title of short story The yellow wallpaper
Author’s Name Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Year of Publication 1890
Physical: Place & Time “The house” Late nineteenth century, in a
(include clues which help colonial mansion that
you determine this)
has been rented for the summer. Most of
the story’s action
takes place in a room at the top of the
Setting
house that is referred
to as the “nursery.
Social Context A patriarchal society and the bad
(include clues which help environment in mental hospitals.
you determine this)
Characters & character Narrator: Round, dynamic protagonist.
type Sympathized.
(Round/flat John: Flat, static anthagonist.
/static/dynamic/
Unsympathized.
stereotypical/anti-hero/etc.
Jane: Flat static character. Unsympathized.
Main character
Mary: Flat static character.
Direct characterizations John: “John is practical in the extreme. He
(Which direct has no patience with faith, an intense
characterizations can you
horror of superstition and the scoffs openly
locate in the story?)
at any talk of things not to be felt and seen
and put down in figures.”
Narrator: “I get unreasonably angry with
John sometimes. I’m sure I never used to
be so sensitive. I think it is due to this
nervous condition.”
, Indirect characterizations John: “what is it, little girl?” this shows us
(Which indirect John sees his wife, the narrator, as a child,
characterizations can you
someone who can’t care for themselves.
locate in the story?)
This also shows why he doesn’t take her
suggestions and comments seriously.
Narrator: Her obsessive ways of describing
the wallpaper and her final actions of
ripping it away, crawling over her husband
and biting the bed, tell the reader that she
is slowly loosing herself and her mind to
her condition.
Plot (max. 10 sentences) Exposition: We get a description about the
Indicate the five stages of recent events in which we learn that the
Freytag’s pyramid in the plot of
narrator’s husband rented out a mansion as
this story. If stages are missing,
a summer house so the narrator could rest
list this. Keep in mind Plot (cont.)
that some stages may be in a and get better. We learn that she suffers
different order, be missing, or be from a nervous condition which her
present more than once. husband, who is a doctor, does not take
serious.
Inciting incident: The narrator’s husband
chooses the nursery room with a “horrible”
yellow wallpaper as their bedroom, against
the narrators objections.
Rising action: The narrator starts to get
obsessed with the yellow wall paper and
starts seeing figures behind the pattern.
Climax: The narrator rips the paper of the
walls and fully identifies herself with the
figures she sees behind the pattern of the
wallpaper.
Falling action: John, the narrator’s
husband, stands at the door in a frenzy and
tries to get in. The door is locked and the
narrator threw the key away.
Resolution: John faints and the narrator
says she’s finally free and that she can’t be
put back into the wallpaper because she
has ripped it up to pieces.
Dénouement: The narrator asks herself
the question, why John fainted right before
