PR: In case people reading this don't know, "I'm in your walls" is a joke made (mostly by troll Redditors) to induce paranoia in schizophrenics, but not taking them seriously. Something similar happens in "The Yellow Wallpaper," where the wife of a doctor insists she isn't feeling well, and he has her doing "exercises," rest, and cold showers - a type of therapy that was relatively common in the year it was written.
The wife then complains about the wallpaper, which seems too creepy to her. She describes it as "dirty, sickly yellow, with unholy patterns made by someone with delirium tremens," that cut abruptly and occasionally depict either eyes or a woman behind bars, the latter solely at night. There's a lot of strange, outdated language, numerous exclamation marks, and a build-up that I thought was about uncovering the mystery of the wallpaper, given the wife's search for clues. Instead, it was about a "mental breakdown," as reviewers put it, where the wife becomes the woman in the wallpaper.
Why does she think that? I have no idea. Why did the husband faint at the sight of her sticking to the wall? No idea. What's the deterioration the doctor speaks about nearing the end? Good question. Was there something in the wallpaper or was it all a hallucination? No idea.
From an engagement perspective, the story falls short. I never really felt the creepy wallpaper vibes, as the descriptions are too packed and scattered throughout the story, rather than happening under specific circumstances that would lead others to believe she's crazy. There's also a lot of confusing stuff about the husband and her sister confabulating that ends up going nowhere. Overall, the development feels cut off and random.
In terms of messaging, also not very good. One could interpret that the author wanted to point out that women aren't taken seriously, and that if someone tells you they're not feeling well, you should pay attention. However, as of 2024, we have so much "content" about taking women seriously that it's a burnt topic. Similarly, the idea of taking the sick seriously is also rather obvious. The only praise-worthy part of "The Yellow Wallpaper" is its good grasp on vocab, but that's it. 3.5/10
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