1 00:00:01,720 --> 00:00:10,760 Speaker 1: Cool Zone Media book Club, but Club book Club, book Club, 2 00:00:10,960 --> 00:00:15,840 Speaker 1: book Club, the Club. But okay, okay, So welcome to 3 00:00:15,920 --> 00:00:18,560 Speaker 1: cools On Media book Club. I'm your host, Margaret Kiljoy, 4 00:00:18,960 --> 00:00:23,640 Speaker 1: and today you are my guest. You, dear listener. Very 5 00:00:23,680 --> 00:00:29,520 Speaker 1: Victorian to say dear reader, but it's listener if you 6 00:00:29,560 --> 00:00:34,400 Speaker 1: want to be pedantic about what noun version of a 7 00:00:34,560 --> 00:00:41,559 Speaker 1: verb you are, dear listener. This week we're continuing what 8 00:00:41,600 --> 00:00:43,360 Speaker 1: we started last week. This isn't going to make any 9 00:00:43,400 --> 00:00:44,960 Speaker 1: sense to you. You have to go back and listen to 10 00:00:44,960 --> 00:00:48,320 Speaker 1: part one of the Yellow Wallpaper for part two to 11 00:00:48,360 --> 00:00:51,160 Speaker 1: make any sense. But where we last left our hero, 12 00:00:52,360 --> 00:00:54,920 Speaker 1: she was going fucking crazy staring at the wallpaper in 13 00:00:54,960 --> 00:00:57,760 Speaker 1: the nursery of a fancy house that her husband rented 14 00:00:57,800 --> 00:01:02,360 Speaker 1: for It is so hard to talk with John about 15 00:01:02,360 --> 00:01:04,560 Speaker 1: my case, because he is so wise and because he 16 00:01:04,600 --> 00:01:08,560 Speaker 1: loves me so But I tried it last night. It 17 00:01:08,600 --> 00:01:11,720 Speaker 1: was moonlight. The moon shines in all around, just as 18 00:01:11,760 --> 00:01:14,920 Speaker 1: the sun does. I hate to see it sometimes it 19 00:01:14,959 --> 00:01:18,200 Speaker 1: creeps so slowly and always comes in by one window 20 00:01:18,280 --> 00:01:22,319 Speaker 1: or another. John was asleep and I hated to waken him, 21 00:01:22,520 --> 00:01:24,640 Speaker 1: so I kept still and watch the moonlight on that 22 00:01:24,760 --> 00:01:29,600 Speaker 1: undulating wallpaper till I felt creepy. The faint figure behind 23 00:01:29,680 --> 00:01:32,320 Speaker 1: seemed to shake the pattern, just as if she wanted 24 00:01:32,360 --> 00:01:35,440 Speaker 1: to get out. I got up softly and went to 25 00:01:35,480 --> 00:01:38,040 Speaker 1: feel and see if the paper did move. And when 26 00:01:38,080 --> 00:01:41,640 Speaker 1: I came back, John was awake. What is it, little girl, 27 00:01:41,760 --> 00:01:44,800 Speaker 1: he said, don't go walking about like that. You will 28 00:01:44,840 --> 00:01:49,200 Speaker 1: get cold. I thought it was a good time to talk, 29 00:01:49,560 --> 00:01:52,080 Speaker 1: so I told him that I was really not gaining here, 30 00:01:52,440 --> 00:01:55,920 Speaker 1: and that I wished he would take me away. Why, darling, 31 00:01:56,040 --> 00:01:58,520 Speaker 1: said he. Our lease will be up in three weeks, 32 00:01:58,520 --> 00:02:01,680 Speaker 1: and I can't see how to leave before the repairs 33 00:02:01,680 --> 00:02:04,040 Speaker 1: are not done at home, and I cannot possibly leave 34 00:02:04,080 --> 00:02:07,360 Speaker 1: town just now. Of course, if you were in any danger, 35 00:02:07,400 --> 00:02:10,120 Speaker 1: I could and would. But you really are better, dear, 36 00:02:10,440 --> 00:02:13,680 Speaker 1: whether you can see it or not. I am a doctor, dear, 37 00:02:14,080 --> 00:02:17,320 Speaker 1: and I know you are gaining flesh and color. Your 38 00:02:17,320 --> 00:02:20,560 Speaker 1: appetite is better. I really feel much easier about you. 39 00:02:21,919 --> 00:02:24,919 Speaker 1: I don't weigh a bit more, said I, nor as much. 40 00:02:25,280 --> 00:02:27,440 Speaker 1: And my appetite may be better in the evening when 41 00:02:27,480 --> 00:02:29,760 Speaker 1: you are here, but it is worse in the morning 42 00:02:29,760 --> 00:02:33,200 Speaker 1: when you are away. Bless her little heart, said he 43 00:02:33,280 --> 00:02:35,600 Speaker 1: with a big hug. She shall be as sick as 44 00:02:35,600 --> 00:02:39,400 Speaker 1: she pleases. But now let's improve the shining hours by 45 00:02:39,400 --> 00:02:41,480 Speaker 1: going to sleep and talk about it in the morning. 46 00:02:42,240 --> 00:02:45,639 Speaker 1: And you won't go away, I asked, gloomily. Why how 47 00:02:45,680 --> 00:02:48,600 Speaker 1: can I, dear? It is only three weeks more, and 48 00:02:48,639 --> 00:02:50,400 Speaker 1: then we will take a nice little trip out a 49 00:02:50,440 --> 00:02:53,720 Speaker 1: few days while Jenny is getting the house ready. Really, Dear, 50 00:02:54,280 --> 00:02:58,640 Speaker 1: you are better better in body, perhaps, I began and 51 00:02:58,680 --> 00:03:00,800 Speaker 1: stopped short, for he sat up straight and looked at 52 00:03:00,840 --> 00:03:03,760 Speaker 1: me with such a stern, reproachful look that I could 53 00:03:03,760 --> 00:03:07,800 Speaker 1: not say another word. My darling said he. I beg 54 00:03:07,840 --> 00:03:10,000 Speaker 1: of you, for my sake and for our child's sake, 55 00:03:10,120 --> 00:03:12,399 Speaker 1: as well as for your own, that you will never 56 00:03:12,560 --> 00:03:15,440 Speaker 1: for one instant let the idea enter your mind. There 57 00:03:15,480 --> 00:03:18,800 Speaker 1: is nothing so dangerous, so fascinating to a temperament like yours. 58 00:03:19,360 --> 00:03:22,520 Speaker 1: It is a false and foolish fancy. Can you not 59 00:03:22,639 --> 00:03:27,200 Speaker 1: trust me as a physician when I tell you so? So? 60 00:03:27,320 --> 00:03:29,920 Speaker 1: Of course, I said no more on that score, and 61 00:03:29,960 --> 00:03:32,959 Speaker 1: we went to sleep. Before long. He thought I was 62 00:03:33,000 --> 00:03:36,080 Speaker 1: asleep first, but I wasn't. I lay there for hours 63 00:03:36,120 --> 00:03:38,560 Speaker 1: trying to decide whether that front pattern in the back 64 00:03:38,600 --> 00:03:43,080 Speaker 1: pattern really did move together or separately on a pattern 65 00:03:43,200 --> 00:03:46,600 Speaker 1: like this by daylight. There is a lack of sequence, 66 00:03:46,760 --> 00:03:50,000 Speaker 1: a defiance of law that is a constant irritant to 67 00:03:50,040 --> 00:03:54,840 Speaker 1: a normal mind. The color is hideous enough, and unreliable enough, 68 00:03:54,920 --> 00:04:00,200 Speaker 1: and infuriating enough. But the pattern is torturing. Think you 69 00:04:00,240 --> 00:04:02,800 Speaker 1: have mastered it. But just as you get well underway 70 00:04:02,840 --> 00:04:06,880 Speaker 1: and following, it turns a back somersultant, and there you are. 71 00:04:07,720 --> 00:04:09,840 Speaker 1: It slaps you in the face, knocks you down, and 72 00:04:09,880 --> 00:04:14,760 Speaker 1: tramples upon you. It is like a bad dream. The 73 00:04:14,760 --> 00:04:18,839 Speaker 1: outside pattern is a florid arabesque reminding one of a fungus. 74 00:04:19,360 --> 00:04:23,080 Speaker 1: If you can imagine a toadstool in joints, an interminable 75 00:04:23,160 --> 00:04:29,080 Speaker 1: string of toadstools budding and sprouting in endless convolutions, why 76 00:04:30,120 --> 00:04:35,479 Speaker 1: that is something like it? That is sometimes there is 77 00:04:35,600 --> 00:04:39,240 Speaker 1: one marked peculiarity about this paper, a thing nobody seems 78 00:04:39,279 --> 00:04:42,440 Speaker 1: to notice but myself, and that is that it changes 79 00:04:42,560 --> 00:04:45,800 Speaker 1: as the light changes. When the sun shoots in through 80 00:04:45,800 --> 00:04:48,320 Speaker 1: the east window. I always watch for that first long 81 00:04:48,440 --> 00:04:51,560 Speaker 1: straight ray. It changes so quickly that I can never 82 00:04:51,680 --> 00:04:56,560 Speaker 1: quite believe it. That is why I watch it always 83 00:04:58,440 --> 00:05:01,200 Speaker 1: by moonlight. The moonshine in all night when there is 84 00:05:01,240 --> 00:05:03,960 Speaker 1: a moon, I wouldn't know it was the same paper 85 00:05:04,800 --> 00:05:08,440 Speaker 1: at night, in any kind of light, in twilight, candlelight, lamplight, 86 00:05:08,560 --> 00:05:11,280 Speaker 1: and the worst of all, by moonlight. It becomes bars. 87 00:05:11,880 --> 00:05:14,840 Speaker 1: The outside pattern I mean, and the woman behind it 88 00:05:14,880 --> 00:05:17,400 Speaker 1: is as plain as can be. I didn't realize for 89 00:05:17,440 --> 00:05:19,960 Speaker 1: a long time what the thing was that showed behind 90 00:05:20,080 --> 00:05:23,280 Speaker 1: that dim sub pattern. But now I am quite sure 91 00:05:23,960 --> 00:05:27,919 Speaker 1: it is a woman. By daylight, she is subdued quiet. 92 00:05:28,320 --> 00:05:30,720 Speaker 1: I fancy it is the pattern that keeps her so still. 93 00:05:31,440 --> 00:05:34,159 Speaker 1: It is so puzzling. It keeps me quiet by the hour. 94 00:05:35,680 --> 00:05:38,520 Speaker 1: I lie down ever so much. Now. John says it 95 00:05:38,560 --> 00:05:42,200 Speaker 1: is good for me and to sleep all I can. Indeed, 96 00:05:42,279 --> 00:05:44,520 Speaker 1: he started the habit by making me lie down for 97 00:05:44,560 --> 00:05:48,680 Speaker 1: an hour after each meal. It is a very bad habit, 98 00:05:48,880 --> 00:05:53,120 Speaker 1: I am convinced. For you see, I don't sleep, and 99 00:05:53,160 --> 00:05:56,400 Speaker 1: that cultivates deceit. For I don't tell him I'm awake. 100 00:05:56,440 --> 00:06:00,440 Speaker 1: Oh no, The fact is I'm getting I'm a little 101 00:06:00,440 --> 00:06:04,280 Speaker 1: afraid of John. He seems very queer sometimes, and even 102 00:06:04,360 --> 00:06:08,880 Speaker 1: Jenny has an inexplicable look. It strikes me occasionally, just 103 00:06:08,920 --> 00:06:13,680 Speaker 1: as a scientific hypothesis that perhaps it is the paper. 104 00:06:14,880 --> 00:06:16,920 Speaker 1: I have watched John, when he did not know I 105 00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:19,200 Speaker 1: was looking, come into the room suddenly on the most 106 00:06:19,279 --> 00:06:23,000 Speaker 1: innocent excuses, and I've caught him several times looking at 107 00:06:23,040 --> 00:06:26,480 Speaker 1: the paper and Jenny too. I caught Jenny with her 108 00:06:26,560 --> 00:06:29,479 Speaker 1: hands on it once she didn't know I was in 109 00:06:29,520 --> 00:06:31,400 Speaker 1: the room, and when I asked her, in a quiet, 110 00:06:31,680 --> 00:06:34,719 Speaker 1: very quiet voice, with the most restrained manner possible, what 111 00:06:34,800 --> 00:06:37,839 Speaker 1: she was doing with the paper, she turned around as 112 00:06:37,880 --> 00:06:40,239 Speaker 1: if she had been caught stealing, and looked quite angry. 113 00:06:41,040 --> 00:06:44,800 Speaker 1: Asked me why I should frighten her so then she 114 00:06:44,880 --> 00:06:47,279 Speaker 1: said that the paper stained everything it touched, that she 115 00:06:47,320 --> 00:06:50,800 Speaker 1: found yellow smooches all over my clothes and John's, and 116 00:06:50,880 --> 00:06:54,240 Speaker 1: she wished we would be more careful. Did not that 117 00:06:54,320 --> 00:06:57,280 Speaker 1: sound innocent? But I know she was studying in the pattern, 118 00:06:57,360 --> 00:07:00,800 Speaker 1: and I am determined that nobody to find it out. 119 00:07:01,160 --> 00:07:06,960 Speaker 1: But myself, life is very much more exciting now than 120 00:07:06,960 --> 00:07:09,640 Speaker 1: it used to be. You see, I have something more 121 00:07:09,640 --> 00:07:12,520 Speaker 1: to expect, to look forward to, to watch. I really 122 00:07:12,560 --> 00:07:15,040 Speaker 1: do eat better and am more quiet than I was. 123 00:07:15,680 --> 00:07:18,480 Speaker 1: John is so pleased to see me improve, He laughed 124 00:07:18,480 --> 00:07:20,280 Speaker 1: a little. The other day and say I seem to 125 00:07:20,280 --> 00:07:23,760 Speaker 1: be flourishing in spite of the wallpaper. I turned it 126 00:07:23,800 --> 00:07:26,000 Speaker 1: off with a laugh. I had no intention of telling 127 00:07:26,080 --> 00:07:28,560 Speaker 1: him it was because of the wallpaper. He would make 128 00:07:28,600 --> 00:07:31,120 Speaker 1: fun of me. He might even want to take me away. 129 00:07:32,000 --> 00:07:34,360 Speaker 1: I don't want to leave now until I've found it out. 130 00:07:34,840 --> 00:07:37,040 Speaker 1: There is a week more, and I think that will 131 00:07:37,040 --> 00:07:44,560 Speaker 1: be enough enough for this sick goad. Break time go. 132 00:08:00,280 --> 00:08:02,720 Speaker 1: I'm feeling ever so much better. I don't sleep much 133 00:08:02,760 --> 00:08:05,040 Speaker 1: at night, for it is so interesting to watch developments, 134 00:08:05,040 --> 00:08:07,920 Speaker 1: but I sleep a good deal during the daytime. In 135 00:08:07,960 --> 00:08:12,400 Speaker 1: the daytime, it is tiresome and perplexing. There are always 136 00:08:12,480 --> 00:08:14,760 Speaker 1: new shoots on the fungus, and new shades of yellow 137 00:08:14,760 --> 00:08:17,760 Speaker 1: all over it. I cannot keep count of them, though 138 00:08:17,760 --> 00:08:22,720 Speaker 1: I have tried conscientiously. It is the strangest yellow that wallpaper. 139 00:08:23,000 --> 00:08:24,720 Speaker 1: It makes me think of all the yellow things I 140 00:08:24,760 --> 00:08:28,880 Speaker 1: ever saw, Not beautiful ones like buttercups, but old, foul, 141 00:08:29,000 --> 00:08:32,960 Speaker 1: bad yellow things. But there is something else about the paper, 142 00:08:33,600 --> 00:08:36,280 Speaker 1: the smell. I noticed it the moment we came into 143 00:08:36,320 --> 00:08:38,960 Speaker 1: the room, but with so much air and sun, it 144 00:08:39,040 --> 00:08:41,600 Speaker 1: was not bad. Now we've had a week of fog 145 00:08:41,679 --> 00:08:43,920 Speaker 1: and rain, and whether the windows are open or not, 146 00:08:44,400 --> 00:08:47,440 Speaker 1: the smell is here. It creeps all over the house. 147 00:08:48,320 --> 00:08:51,720 Speaker 1: I find it hovering in the dining room, skulking in 148 00:08:51,760 --> 00:08:54,520 Speaker 1: the parlor, hiding in the hall, lying in wait for 149 00:08:54,559 --> 00:08:58,920 Speaker 1: me on the stairs. It gets into my hair even 150 00:08:58,920 --> 00:09:01,080 Speaker 1: when I go to ride. If I turn my head 151 00:09:01,120 --> 00:09:05,600 Speaker 1: suddenly and surprise it, there is that smell, Such a 152 00:09:05,640 --> 00:09:09,560 Speaker 1: peculiar odor too. I've spent hours in trying to analyze it, 153 00:09:09,600 --> 00:09:13,240 Speaker 1: to find what it smelled like. It is not bad 154 00:09:14,240 --> 00:09:17,600 Speaker 1: at first, and very gentle, but quite the subtlest, most 155 00:09:17,679 --> 00:09:21,760 Speaker 1: enduring odor I ever met. In this damp weather, it 156 00:09:21,840 --> 00:09:24,240 Speaker 1: is awful. I wake up in the night and find 157 00:09:24,280 --> 00:09:27,280 Speaker 1: it hanging over me. It used to disturb me. At 158 00:09:27,280 --> 00:09:30,679 Speaker 1: first I thought seriously of burning the house to reach 159 00:09:30,760 --> 00:09:34,040 Speaker 1: the smell, but now I am used to it. The 160 00:09:34,080 --> 00:09:35,880 Speaker 1: only thing I can think of it is that it 161 00:09:35,920 --> 00:09:39,800 Speaker 1: is like the color of the paper, a yellow smell. 162 00:09:41,040 --> 00:09:43,320 Speaker 1: There is a very funny mark on this wall, low 163 00:09:43,440 --> 00:09:47,240 Speaker 1: down near the mop board, a streak that runs round 164 00:09:47,240 --> 00:09:50,439 Speaker 1: the room. It goes behind every piece of furniture except 165 00:09:50,480 --> 00:09:54,640 Speaker 1: the bed, a long, straight, even smooch, as if it 166 00:09:54,679 --> 00:09:59,560 Speaker 1: had been rubbed over and over. I wonder how it 167 00:09:59,640 --> 00:10:01,959 Speaker 1: was done, and who did it and what they did 168 00:10:01,960 --> 00:10:07,319 Speaker 1: it for? Round and round and round, round and round 169 00:10:07,440 --> 00:10:13,680 Speaker 1: and round. It makes me dizzy. I really have discovered 170 00:10:13,720 --> 00:10:17,280 Speaker 1: something at last, through watching so much at night when 171 00:10:17,280 --> 00:10:20,439 Speaker 1: it changes, so I have finally found out the front 172 00:10:20,440 --> 00:10:25,920 Speaker 1: pattern does move, and no wonder the woman behind shakes it. Sometimes. 173 00:10:25,960 --> 00:10:28,160 Speaker 1: I think there are a great many women behind, and 174 00:10:28,200 --> 00:10:30,959 Speaker 1: sometimes only one, and she crawls around fast, and her 175 00:10:31,000 --> 00:10:34,079 Speaker 1: crawling shakes it all over. Then in the very bright 176 00:10:34,120 --> 00:10:37,160 Speaker 1: spot she keeps still, and in the very shady spots 177 00:10:37,200 --> 00:10:40,360 Speaker 1: she just takes hold of the bars and shakes them hard, 178 00:10:41,360 --> 00:10:43,360 Speaker 1: and she is all the time trying to climb through. 179 00:10:44,240 --> 00:10:47,400 Speaker 1: But nobody could climb through that pattern. It strangles, So 180 00:10:48,240 --> 00:10:51,240 Speaker 1: I think that is why it has so many heads. 181 00:10:52,480 --> 00:10:55,040 Speaker 1: They get through, and then the pattern strangles them off 182 00:10:55,080 --> 00:10:58,079 Speaker 1: and turns them upside down and makes their eyes white. 183 00:10:59,240 --> 00:11:02,280 Speaker 1: If those heads were covered or taken off, it would 184 00:11:02,320 --> 00:11:06,560 Speaker 1: not be half so bad. I think that woman gets 185 00:11:06,559 --> 00:11:09,520 Speaker 1: out in the daytime, and I'll tell you why. Privately, 186 00:11:10,040 --> 00:11:12,679 Speaker 1: I've seen her. I can see her out of every 187 00:11:12,720 --> 00:11:15,480 Speaker 1: one of my windows. It is the same woman I know, 188 00:11:15,600 --> 00:11:18,080 Speaker 1: for she is always creeping as most women do not 189 00:11:18,240 --> 00:11:22,360 Speaker 1: creep by daylight. I see her on the long shaded lane, 190 00:11:22,480 --> 00:11:25,199 Speaker 1: creeping up and down. I see her in those dark 191 00:11:25,280 --> 00:11:28,960 Speaker 1: grape arbors, creeping all around the garden. I see her 192 00:11:29,000 --> 00:11:31,720 Speaker 1: on the long road, under the trees, creeping along, and 193 00:11:31,760 --> 00:11:34,800 Speaker 1: when a carriage comes, she hides under the BlackBerry vines. 194 00:11:36,040 --> 00:11:38,520 Speaker 1: I don't blame her a bit. It must be very 195 00:11:38,600 --> 00:11:43,360 Speaker 1: humiliating to be caught creeping by daylight. I always lock 196 00:11:43,480 --> 00:11:45,920 Speaker 1: the door when I creep by daylight. I can't do 197 00:11:46,000 --> 00:11:48,320 Speaker 1: it at night, for I know John would suspect something 198 00:11:48,360 --> 00:11:51,559 Speaker 1: at once, and John is so queer now that I 199 00:11:51,600 --> 00:11:53,520 Speaker 1: don't want to irritate him. I wish she would take 200 00:11:53,559 --> 00:11:57,120 Speaker 1: another room. Besides, I don't want anybody to get that 201 00:11:57,160 --> 00:12:01,839 Speaker 1: woman out at night, but myself. I often wonder if 202 00:12:01,840 --> 00:12:04,199 Speaker 1: I could see her out of all of the windows 203 00:12:04,200 --> 00:12:07,199 Speaker 1: at once, but turn fast as I can. I can 204 00:12:07,240 --> 00:12:10,320 Speaker 1: only see out one at a time, And though I 205 00:12:10,360 --> 00:12:13,400 Speaker 1: always see her, she may be able to creep faster, 206 00:12:13,720 --> 00:12:18,160 Speaker 1: but I can turn. I have watched her sometimes away 207 00:12:18,400 --> 00:12:20,880 Speaker 1: off in the open country, creeping as fast as a 208 00:12:20,920 --> 00:12:26,120 Speaker 1: cloud shadow in a high wind. If only that top 209 00:12:26,160 --> 00:12:28,360 Speaker 1: pattern could be got off from the under one. I 210 00:12:28,440 --> 00:12:31,920 Speaker 1: mean to try it. Little by little, I found out 211 00:12:31,920 --> 00:12:34,160 Speaker 1: another funny thing, but I shan't tell it this time. 212 00:12:34,480 --> 00:12:38,240 Speaker 1: It does not do to trust people too much. There 213 00:12:38,240 --> 00:12:40,160 Speaker 1: are only two more days to get this paper off, 214 00:12:40,160 --> 00:12:42,440 Speaker 1: and I believe John is beginning to notice. I don't 215 00:12:42,480 --> 00:12:45,160 Speaker 1: like the look in his eyes. And I heard him 216 00:12:45,160 --> 00:12:48,360 Speaker 1: ask Jenny a lot of professional questions about me. She 217 00:12:48,440 --> 00:12:50,760 Speaker 1: had a very good report to give. She said, I 218 00:12:50,800 --> 00:12:54,120 Speaker 1: sleep a good deal in the daytime. John knows I 219 00:12:54,160 --> 00:12:56,679 Speaker 1: don't sleep very well at night. For all, I am 220 00:12:56,679 --> 00:13:00,560 Speaker 1: so quiet. He asked me all sorts of questions too, 221 00:13:00,600 --> 00:13:03,440 Speaker 1: and pretended to be very loving and kind, as if 222 00:13:03,440 --> 00:13:07,280 Speaker 1: I couldn't see through him. Still, I don't wonder he 223 00:13:07,320 --> 00:13:10,880 Speaker 1: act so sleeping under this paper for three months. It 224 00:13:10,960 --> 00:13:14,320 Speaker 1: only interests me, But I feel sure John and Jenny 225 00:13:14,440 --> 00:13:19,600 Speaker 1: are secretly affected by him. Hurrah. This is the last day, 226 00:13:19,880 --> 00:13:22,400 Speaker 1: but it is enough. John is to stay in town 227 00:13:22,480 --> 00:13:26,400 Speaker 1: overnight and won't be out until this evening. Jenny wants 228 00:13:26,440 --> 00:13:29,040 Speaker 1: to sleep with me, the sly thing, but I told 229 00:13:29,080 --> 00:13:33,480 Speaker 1: her I should undoubtedly rest better for a night all alone. 230 00:13:33,960 --> 00:13:36,240 Speaker 1: That was clever, for really, I wasn't alone a bit 231 00:13:36,640 --> 00:13:38,760 Speaker 1: as soon as it was moonlight, and that poor thing 232 00:13:38,840 --> 00:13:41,080 Speaker 1: began to crawl and shake the pattern. I got up 233 00:13:41,080 --> 00:13:44,200 Speaker 1: and ran to help her. I pulled, and she shook, 234 00:13:44,480 --> 00:13:46,920 Speaker 1: and I shook, and sheep polled, And before morning we 235 00:13:46,960 --> 00:13:50,040 Speaker 1: had peeled off yards of that paper, a strip about 236 00:13:50,080 --> 00:13:52,880 Speaker 1: as high as my head and half around the room. 237 00:13:53,240 --> 00:13:56,000 Speaker 1: And then when the sun came and that awful pattern 238 00:13:56,040 --> 00:13:58,240 Speaker 1: began to laugh at me, I declared I would finish 239 00:13:58,280 --> 00:14:02,600 Speaker 1: it today, but not before we finished the last ad break, 240 00:14:03,200 --> 00:14:21,360 Speaker 1: which is now. We go away tomorrow, and they are 241 00:14:21,440 --> 00:14:24,400 Speaker 1: moving all my furniture down again to leave things as 242 00:14:24,440 --> 00:14:27,720 Speaker 1: they were before. Jenny looked at the wall in amazement, 243 00:14:28,200 --> 00:14:30,240 Speaker 1: but I told her merrily that I did it out 244 00:14:30,240 --> 00:14:33,760 Speaker 1: of pure spite the vicious thing. She laughed and said 245 00:14:33,760 --> 00:14:36,280 Speaker 1: she wouldn't mind doing it herself, but I must not 246 00:14:36,320 --> 00:14:40,840 Speaker 1: get tired. How she betrayed herself that time. But I 247 00:14:40,880 --> 00:14:43,280 Speaker 1: am here, and no person touches this paper but me 248 00:14:43,720 --> 00:14:47,000 Speaker 1: not alive. She tried to get me out of the room, 249 00:14:47,320 --> 00:14:49,920 Speaker 1: it was too patent, but I said it was so 250 00:14:50,040 --> 00:14:52,200 Speaker 1: quiet and empty and clean now that I believed I 251 00:14:52,200 --> 00:14:54,640 Speaker 1: would lie down again and sleep all I could, and 252 00:14:54,680 --> 00:14:57,560 Speaker 1: not to wake me even for dinner. I would call 253 00:14:57,720 --> 00:15:00,680 Speaker 1: when I woke, so Now she is gone, and the 254 00:15:00,720 --> 00:15:02,880 Speaker 1: servants are gone, and the things are gone, and there 255 00:15:02,920 --> 00:15:05,680 Speaker 1: is nothing left but that great bedstead, nailed down with 256 00:15:05,760 --> 00:15:09,080 Speaker 1: the canvas mattress we found on it. We shall sleep 257 00:15:09,120 --> 00:15:12,920 Speaker 1: downstairs tonight and take the boat home tomorrow. I quite 258 00:15:13,040 --> 00:15:16,760 Speaker 1: enjoy the room now it is bare again. How those 259 00:15:16,880 --> 00:15:21,160 Speaker 1: children did tear about here? This bedstead is fairly gnawed. 260 00:15:22,160 --> 00:15:24,400 Speaker 1: But I must get to work. I have locked the 261 00:15:24,440 --> 00:15:26,680 Speaker 1: door and thrown the key down into the front path. 262 00:15:27,320 --> 00:15:29,080 Speaker 1: I don't want to go out, and I don't want 263 00:15:29,120 --> 00:15:32,320 Speaker 1: to have anybody come in till John comes. I want 264 00:15:32,360 --> 00:15:35,800 Speaker 1: to astonish him. I've got a rope up here that 265 00:15:35,880 --> 00:15:38,120 Speaker 1: even Jenny did not find. If that woman does get 266 00:15:38,120 --> 00:15:40,120 Speaker 1: out and tries to get away, I can tie her. 267 00:15:40,640 --> 00:15:42,920 Speaker 1: But I forgot I could not reach far without anything 268 00:15:42,960 --> 00:15:46,520 Speaker 1: to stand on. The bed will not move. I tried 269 00:15:46,520 --> 00:15:49,000 Speaker 1: to lift and push it until I was lame, and 270 00:15:49,040 --> 00:15:50,960 Speaker 1: then I got so angry. I bit off a little 271 00:15:50,960 --> 00:15:54,440 Speaker 1: piece of one corner, but it hurt my teeth. Then 272 00:15:54,480 --> 00:15:56,800 Speaker 1: I peeled off all the paper I could reach standing 273 00:15:56,840 --> 00:15:59,280 Speaker 1: on the floor. It sticks horribly, and the pattern just 274 00:15:59,440 --> 00:16:03,360 Speaker 1: enjoys it. All those strangled heads and balbous eyes and 275 00:16:03,440 --> 00:16:07,560 Speaker 1: waddling fungus growths just shriek with derision. I am getting 276 00:16:07,600 --> 00:16:09,960 Speaker 1: angry enough to do something desperate. To jump out the 277 00:16:10,000 --> 00:16:13,040 Speaker 1: window would be admirable exercise, but the bars are too 278 00:16:13,120 --> 00:16:16,360 Speaker 1: strong to even try. Besides, I wouldn't do it, of 279 00:16:16,360 --> 00:16:18,920 Speaker 1: course not. I know well enough that a step like 280 00:16:18,960 --> 00:16:23,160 Speaker 1: that is improper and might be misconstrued. I don't like 281 00:16:23,240 --> 00:16:25,560 Speaker 1: to look out the windows even There are so many 282 00:16:25,640 --> 00:16:28,920 Speaker 1: of those creeping women, and they creep so fast. I 283 00:16:28,960 --> 00:16:30,920 Speaker 1: wonder if they all come out of the wallpaper as 284 00:16:30,960 --> 00:16:34,160 Speaker 1: I did. But I am securely fastened now by my 285 00:16:34,240 --> 00:16:36,760 Speaker 1: well hidden rope. You don't get me out in the 286 00:16:36,880 --> 00:16:40,360 Speaker 1: road there. I suppose I shall have to get back 287 00:16:40,400 --> 00:16:43,360 Speaker 1: behind the pattern when it comes night, and that is hard. 288 00:16:44,240 --> 00:16:46,120 Speaker 1: It is so pleasant to be out in this great 289 00:16:46,200 --> 00:16:49,880 Speaker 1: room and creep around it as I please. I don't 290 00:16:49,880 --> 00:16:52,720 Speaker 1: want to go outside. I won't even if Jenny asks 291 00:16:52,760 --> 00:16:55,640 Speaker 1: me to. For outside, you have to creep on the ground, 292 00:16:55,640 --> 00:16:58,880 Speaker 1: and everything is green instead of yellow. But here I 293 00:16:58,920 --> 00:17:02,120 Speaker 1: can creep smoothly on the floor, and my shoulder just 294 00:17:02,200 --> 00:17:04,720 Speaker 1: fits in that long smooch around the wall, so I 295 00:17:04,760 --> 00:17:08,720 Speaker 1: cannot lose my way. Why there's John at the door. 296 00:17:09,320 --> 00:17:11,359 Speaker 1: It is no use, young man. You can't open it. 297 00:17:12,000 --> 00:17:14,840 Speaker 1: How it does call and pound. Now he's crying for 298 00:17:14,920 --> 00:17:17,360 Speaker 1: an axe. It would be a shame to break down 299 00:17:17,359 --> 00:17:22,000 Speaker 1: that beautiful door. John dear, said I, in the gentlest voice. 300 00:17:23,000 --> 00:17:25,000 Speaker 1: The key is down by the front steps under a 301 00:17:25,000 --> 00:17:29,520 Speaker 1: plantain leaf. That silenced him for a few moments. Then 302 00:17:29,520 --> 00:17:33,520 Speaker 1: he said, very quietly, indeed, open the door, my darling. 303 00:17:34,440 --> 00:17:36,840 Speaker 1: I can't, said I. The key is down by the 304 00:17:36,880 --> 00:17:40,360 Speaker 1: front door, under a plantain leaf. And then I said 305 00:17:40,400 --> 00:17:43,280 Speaker 1: it again several times, very gently and slowly, and said 306 00:17:43,280 --> 00:17:45,119 Speaker 1: it so often that he had to go and see. 307 00:17:45,119 --> 00:17:48,560 Speaker 1: And he got it, of course, and came in. He 308 00:17:48,600 --> 00:17:52,080 Speaker 1: stepped short by the door. What is the matter, he cried, 309 00:17:52,440 --> 00:17:55,800 Speaker 1: for God's sake, what are you doing? I kept on 310 00:17:55,920 --> 00:17:58,680 Speaker 1: creeping just the same, But I looked at him over 311 00:17:58,720 --> 00:18:02,479 Speaker 1: my shoulder. I've got out at last, said I, in 312 00:18:02,520 --> 00:18:05,240 Speaker 1: spite of you and Jane. And I've pulled off most 313 00:18:05,280 --> 00:18:09,360 Speaker 1: of the paper, so you can't put me back now. 314 00:18:09,359 --> 00:18:12,359 Speaker 1: Why should that man have fainted? But he did, and 315 00:18:12,440 --> 00:18:14,960 Speaker 1: right across my path by the wall, so that I 316 00:18:15,000 --> 00:18:21,400 Speaker 1: had to creep over him every time. That's the end 317 00:18:21,480 --> 00:18:25,520 Speaker 1: of the yellow wallpaper. The story, and so I want 318 00:18:25,520 --> 00:18:28,399 Speaker 1: to talk about the story really quick. Clearly I really 319 00:18:28,520 --> 00:18:31,119 Speaker 1: like it. It really sticks in my mind, you know, 320 00:18:32,000 --> 00:18:36,840 Speaker 1: much like the wallpaper itself. It's actually fairly effective how 321 00:18:37,200 --> 00:18:42,399 Speaker 1: much it captures that experience. Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the author. 322 00:18:43,119 --> 00:18:46,359 Speaker 1: She herself spent three months on rest cure, which is 323 00:18:46,400 --> 00:18:49,280 Speaker 1: what this is called, this way of torturing women where 324 00:18:49,320 --> 00:18:51,440 Speaker 1: you tell them that they're not allowed to do any 325 00:18:51,440 --> 00:18:53,560 Speaker 1: work or creative pursuits and that they have to lay 326 00:18:53,560 --> 00:18:56,560 Speaker 1: in bed with and it's not it's a different thing 327 00:18:56,640 --> 00:18:59,680 Speaker 1: than when people require bad rest because of physical injuries. 328 00:18:59,760 --> 00:19:03,399 Speaker 1: You know. She was forbidden from writing and doing things 329 00:19:03,440 --> 00:19:08,000 Speaker 1: in order to cure her from postpartum depression. After three 330 00:19:08,040 --> 00:19:10,520 Speaker 1: months of that, she was like, you know what, fuck this, 331 00:19:10,600 --> 00:19:13,479 Speaker 1: I'm not fucking doing this. And then a little bit 332 00:19:13,520 --> 00:19:15,840 Speaker 1: later she wrote the Yellow Wallpaper about her experience, and 333 00:19:15,880 --> 00:19:17,760 Speaker 1: she sent it to the doctor who had told her 334 00:19:17,800 --> 00:19:21,280 Speaker 1: to do this whole rest cure thing, basically as a 335 00:19:21,280 --> 00:19:23,919 Speaker 1: fuck you. He ended up like continuing to go on 336 00:19:24,040 --> 00:19:28,520 Speaker 1: to you know, set up institutions for the rest cure 337 00:19:28,720 --> 00:19:33,399 Speaker 1: to cure women or whatever. But what Charlotte did she 338 00:19:33,440 --> 00:19:35,400 Speaker 1: went and found a woman doctor instead, which is hard. 339 00:19:35,400 --> 00:19:37,920 Speaker 1: You're talking about the eighteen nineties, right, eighteen eighties maybe, 340 00:19:38,480 --> 00:19:41,280 Speaker 1: And this woman doctor was like, you know, maybe when 341 00:19:41,320 --> 00:19:46,439 Speaker 1: you're depressed, like exercise and meeting people and stuff like 342 00:19:46,480 --> 00:19:50,359 Speaker 1: that is better for you than the rest cure. And 343 00:19:50,359 --> 00:19:53,800 Speaker 1: lo and behold it was, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman got better. 344 00:19:55,640 --> 00:19:57,440 Speaker 1: There was this thing that people talked about a lot 345 00:19:57,480 --> 00:20:02,720 Speaker 1: at the time, hysteria, which honestly truly basically means women 346 00:20:02,800 --> 00:20:07,240 Speaker 1: having opinions. The disease and the cure was submission to men, 347 00:20:07,640 --> 00:20:11,320 Speaker 1: submission to society, submission to patriarchal society. Like it was 348 00:20:11,359 --> 00:20:14,960 Speaker 1: a medicalized thing. Rest cure was about submission. It was 349 00:20:15,000 --> 00:20:19,080 Speaker 1: a way too, you know, stop being nervous because you 350 00:20:19,200 --> 00:20:21,919 Speaker 1: just accept that you don't have any control over your 351 00:20:21,960 --> 00:20:25,399 Speaker 1: own life. That's bad, but you probably didn't need. My 352 00:20:25,680 --> 00:20:28,800 Speaker 1: subjective opinion about that probably came to a similar conclusion, 353 00:20:29,480 --> 00:20:34,200 Speaker 1: dear listener. I've read some scholarly stuff about this. This 354 00:20:34,680 --> 00:20:37,400 Speaker 1: story gets taught a lot in schools and things like that. 355 00:20:37,920 --> 00:20:41,920 Speaker 1: I tend to disagree with most scholars of literature when 356 00:20:41,960 --> 00:20:45,920 Speaker 1: they look for like intense symbolism in every story. I 357 00:20:45,960 --> 00:20:50,240 Speaker 1: think that symbolism is sometimes intentional. I mean, like obviously 358 00:20:50,280 --> 00:20:52,560 Speaker 1: there's like there's a woman behind the paper, it's the bars, 359 00:20:52,600 --> 00:20:57,480 Speaker 1: you know, Like that's not very subtle, right, But overall, 360 00:20:58,280 --> 00:21:01,040 Speaker 1: I would argue that symbolism is generally created in the 361 00:21:01,080 --> 00:21:04,400 Speaker 1: sort of primordial goo of writing. And Okay, the example 362 00:21:04,440 --> 00:21:05,760 Speaker 1: I want to use, I listen to a lot of 363 00:21:05,760 --> 00:21:08,359 Speaker 1: black metal, and black metal is frankly one of the 364 00:21:08,359 --> 00:21:11,400 Speaker 1: genres of music that is closest to white noise. Right. 365 00:21:11,520 --> 00:21:15,320 Speaker 1: It is a lot of very heavily distorted things that 366 00:21:15,920 --> 00:21:18,680 Speaker 1: blend into each other and tend to have low production values. 367 00:21:20,520 --> 00:21:23,080 Speaker 1: And the thing is that you can hear phantom melodies 368 00:21:23,320 --> 00:21:29,280 Speaker 1: inside black metal, and these were not written, They're generated 369 00:21:29,760 --> 00:21:33,240 Speaker 1: by the noise. And I think most symbolism works that way. 370 00:21:33,320 --> 00:21:37,800 Speaker 1: I think most symbolism it's real in that we imagine it, 371 00:21:37,840 --> 00:21:41,639 Speaker 1: but it wasn't put there. It comes out of the 372 00:21:41,680 --> 00:21:46,680 Speaker 1: creation itself, which I really like thinking about because I 373 00:21:46,680 --> 00:21:50,040 Speaker 1: think it's like metas shit, because it acts like the 374 00:21:50,119 --> 00:21:54,720 Speaker 1: yellow wallpaper, right, the patterns in the noise become meaningful 375 00:21:54,800 --> 00:21:58,040 Speaker 1: and matter, And I think symbolism itself is the patterns 376 00:21:58,080 --> 00:22:01,160 Speaker 1: in the noise. And if you think too much about them, 377 00:22:01,240 --> 00:22:04,399 Speaker 1: they drive you crazy. I don't think that's what the 378 00:22:04,400 --> 00:22:07,680 Speaker 1: story is about. It's not about symbolism, but it's absolutely 379 00:22:07,720 --> 00:22:09,120 Speaker 1: about how if you stare at the wall long enough, 380 00:22:09,160 --> 00:22:12,120 Speaker 1: you'll go fucking crazy. And I don't read too much 381 00:22:12,200 --> 00:22:15,800 Speaker 1: into it as like you don't need a symbolism representing patriarchy. 382 00:22:15,800 --> 00:22:18,280 Speaker 1: The story itself, the actual prison she is in is 383 00:22:18,320 --> 00:22:21,359 Speaker 1: the patriarchy, right. I spent the first year and a 384 00:22:21,359 --> 00:22:23,800 Speaker 1: half of COVID living in a tiny cabin in the woods, 385 00:22:24,280 --> 00:22:28,119 Speaker 1: and after months of isolation, I would stare at the 386 00:22:28,240 --> 00:22:30,800 Speaker 1: rafters and I would swear they were moving, and I 387 00:22:30,800 --> 00:22:33,520 Speaker 1: would swear that the way that they related to each 388 00:22:33,520 --> 00:22:36,879 Speaker 1: other would change, you know, and that they were trying 389 00:22:36,880 --> 00:22:38,640 Speaker 1: to tell me something. And actually, one of the things 390 00:22:38,640 --> 00:22:41,080 Speaker 1: I would remind myself is I was like, I've read 391 00:22:41,080 --> 00:22:44,200 Speaker 1: the yeah, fucking yellow wallpaper. I know it's fucking happening, 392 00:22:44,600 --> 00:22:48,879 Speaker 1: And so I don't think this is like a symbolic description. 393 00:22:49,119 --> 00:22:51,880 Speaker 1: I think that this is an accurate description of what 394 00:22:53,160 --> 00:23:00,800 Speaker 1: Charlotte herself experienced under her patriarchal rest cure diagnosis. Yeah, 395 00:23:00,920 --> 00:23:02,840 Speaker 1: the effects of the yellow wallpaper are just the literal 396 00:23:02,840 --> 00:23:04,639 Speaker 1: description of what it feels like to be laid up 397 00:23:04,720 --> 00:23:11,680 Speaker 1: like that. Anyone who knows me and my history stuff 398 00:23:11,720 --> 00:23:14,359 Speaker 1: from my podcast cool People did cool stuff, saving myself 399 00:23:14,400 --> 00:23:17,080 Speaker 1: the plug at the end by doing it here knows 400 00:23:17,119 --> 00:23:19,840 Speaker 1: that I love drawing spurious red yarn connections on the 401 00:23:19,840 --> 00:23:22,000 Speaker 1: Great Wall of History, you know, like that meme the 402 00:23:22,040 --> 00:23:25,120 Speaker 1: guy with the red yarn. That's me. And so I'm 403 00:23:25,119 --> 00:23:29,560 Speaker 1: going to say. In eighteen ninety two, Gilman published The 404 00:23:29,640 --> 00:23:32,760 Speaker 1: Yellow Wallpaper, and this is one of the first weird tales, 405 00:23:33,160 --> 00:23:36,119 Speaker 1: like weird fiction tales in American literature, after Egar Allan Poe, 406 00:23:36,160 --> 00:23:39,560 Speaker 1: who had been writing about fifty years earlier. But this 407 00:23:39,680 --> 00:23:44,199 Speaker 1: like slow descent to madness type thing. Right. Three years later, 408 00:23:44,840 --> 00:23:48,160 Speaker 1: Robert W. Chambers published his book The King in Yellow, 409 00:23:48,480 --> 00:23:51,199 Speaker 1: which is another weird fiction classic, and it is generally 410 00:23:51,280 --> 00:23:53,800 Speaker 1: seen as a direct precursor to the most influential horror 411 00:23:53,800 --> 00:23:57,120 Speaker 1: author of the twentieth century, HP Lovecraft, whose whole thing 412 00:23:57,200 --> 00:24:00,960 Speaker 1: was cosmic horror and the slow descent into and his 413 00:24:01,000 --> 00:24:03,040 Speaker 1: whole other thing was being a racist piece of shit. 414 00:24:03,119 --> 00:24:06,600 Speaker 1: But that's beside the point. So you got The Yellow Wallpaper, 415 00:24:06,640 --> 00:24:08,480 Speaker 1: and then a couple years later you got The King 416 00:24:08,520 --> 00:24:11,679 Speaker 1: in Yellow. Why is yellow in both of them. I 417 00:24:11,720 --> 00:24:13,720 Speaker 1: think it's because of the influence on one on the other. 418 00:24:13,800 --> 00:24:15,960 Speaker 1: There's a few people mentioning this in various places, but 419 00:24:16,119 --> 00:24:19,720 Speaker 1: it's a little bit spurious. But in which case I 420 00:24:19,720 --> 00:24:22,400 Speaker 1: can be like, oh, HP Lovecraft, cosmic car all that 421 00:24:22,440 --> 00:24:26,640 Speaker 1: shit comes out of a real good writer who spent 422 00:24:26,720 --> 00:24:30,439 Speaker 1: three months locked up on rest cure. I'm not locked up, 423 00:24:30,480 --> 00:24:33,600 Speaker 1: but you know, like stuck in bed on rest cure. 424 00:24:34,560 --> 00:24:37,320 Speaker 1: I'm not the only person to draw this connection, but 425 00:24:37,640 --> 00:24:41,919 Speaker 1: I love that Lovecraft's whole thing. If you felt like 426 00:24:42,280 --> 00:24:43,920 Speaker 1: you could say it was birth by a woman dealing 427 00:24:43,960 --> 00:24:48,160 Speaker 1: with patriarchy. And Lovecraft himself did praise the Yellow Wallpaper 428 00:24:48,200 --> 00:24:51,600 Speaker 1: decades later, and an essay he wrote in the nineteen twenties, 429 00:24:51,920 --> 00:24:54,520 Speaker 1: and the family named Gilman appears in two of his stories, 430 00:24:54,520 --> 00:24:56,760 Speaker 1: and that may or may not be a coincidence. Or 431 00:24:57,440 --> 00:25:00,399 Speaker 1: you can stare at the wall of red yarn and 432 00:25:00,480 --> 00:25:03,880 Speaker 1: realize that behind it there's a woman and she's trapped there. 433 00:25:04,400 --> 00:25:07,359 Speaker 1: Maybe you are that woman, maybe you're trapped behind the 434 00:25:07,400 --> 00:25:11,679 Speaker 1: wall of redyarn, or maybe it's me. I'm the woman. 435 00:25:11,920 --> 00:25:14,440 Speaker 1: I'm just going to end the episode now. Next week 436 00:25:14,480 --> 00:25:16,880 Speaker 1: I'll be back with another story for a cool Zone 437 00:25:16,920 --> 00:25:22,520 Speaker 1: Media book club. Thanks for listening It could Happen Here 438 00:25:22,560 --> 00:25:25,240 Speaker 1: as a production of cool Zone Media. For more podcasts 439 00:25:25,240 --> 00:25:28,439 Speaker 1: from cool Zone Media, visit our website coolzonemedia dot com 440 00:25:28,520 --> 00:25:31,119 Speaker 1: or check us out on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 441 00:25:31,200 --> 00:25:34,200 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to podcasts. You can find sources 442 00:25:34,240 --> 00:25:37,360 Speaker 1: for It could Happen Here, updated monthly at coolzonemedia dot 443 00:25:37,400 --> 00:25:39,600 Speaker 1: com slash sources. Thanks for listening.