The Yellow Wallpaper

Jacqueline Procter
Journal 17
March 7, 2008
charlotte Perkins Gilman

Quote:
“But there is something else about that paper – the smell! I noticed it the moment we came into the room, but with so much air and sun it was not bad. Now we have had a week of fog and rain, and whether the windows are open or not, the smell is here.”

Summary:
The room she is forced to sleep in smells bad.

Response:
My first thought when reading this was that the room was moldy. Could it have been black mold? Black mold, in addition to causing respiratory disease, can affect the nervous system, which would have a negative impact on her already fragile nervous system. If it wasn’t black mold and just a common mold then perhaps she suffered from an allergy to mold. Allergy sufferers do experience lethargy, which can manifest into depression. The fact that the smell dissipates to a great extent when the room is filled with sunshine and fresh air does suggest that it could be mold, especially when the smell is more prevalent when it has been raining or is foggy.

The other unpleasant alternative is that the smell is stale urine.
The “long, straight, even smooch” encircling the room suggests that it could be, although when I looked up smooch, the definition was the standard “kissing” smooch with no other definition offered. If it was urine it answers the question “how was it done?” In regards to “who did it?” -- Obviously someone imprisoned in the room – “What they did it for?” -- who knows, but the visual on that is disturbing and hilarious at the same time. A small child could have done it, but is ruled out, as a small child could not have stripped off paper above the bed “as far as [she could] reach,” and would therefore have been done by an adult or at least an older child, an adolescent perhaps.