The Yellow Wallpaper and Hysteria

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The idea that your uterus was something that would like move around inside your body and it caused all sorts of problems for women dates back to the Greeks. The experience of Jane in the story is related to the, the treatment that she was prescribed by a physician named Silas Weir Mitchell. Charlotte Perkins Gilman's experiences are related to her post-partum depression.

We double-dip a bit in this week's show, reading two short stories and proving that you don't have to have a ton of time to read something thought-provoking. The theme is "female authors writing about controversial-at-the-time ideas," and the stories are The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and The Lottery by Shirley Jackson.

One is about a misdiagnosed "hysterical" woman slowly going insane through lack of mental stimulation, one is about a seemingly innocuous small town that is slavishly devoted to its own traditions. Both remain subversive and retain their impact even today.

Oh yeah and we also talk about which grocery store animal mascot would win in a fight.

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