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Ok just finished it! Shew! That was a wild ride. Definitely couldn’t stop reading it. Such an interesting writing style with the first person narration you could see the unfolding of her condition. She says that she’s recently had a baby which makes me think this was some sort of postpartum depression/hysteria situation. It really is a blessing to live in a time where there are better treatments and more understanding available. The whole story centers around the theory of the “rest cure” being considered the best treatment of the time for this. Sadly, the author Charlotte Gilman wrote the short story because she dealt with this after her baby was born and was given treatment instruction for the rest cure until she met with a female dr. who gave other recommendations that better helped. This is considered “feminist lit” because of the male power themes of the husband. Which honestly, reading it through without knowing any of this, I didn’t get that. The husband seemed pretty caring to me 😆 Gave her tonics and took her to a mansion for the summer to rest and recover, had a nanny to help with the baby. Maybe I missed some abusive theme but seemed like he was honestly trying to help her. Knowing that mental health is STILL a very difficult area of medicine to treat and get results, even with all the medical advances that have happened since this book was written in 1892, I think we can agree that the patriarchy wasn’t to blame for misdiagnosis or wrong treatment plans back then. I also found myself thinking about how work and purpose are good for humans. That laying in bed all the time is terrible for your mental state. Ok medical stuff is always such a puzzle for me so I was also like hmmm I wonder if her thyroid is off, I wonder if theres some kind of crazy mold in that wallpaper making her like this. 🤣 I know, I know, it’s fiction! Overall, super thought provoking read!