#7: Why We Read "The Yellow Wallpaper"

In a literature class, there are thousands upon thousands of things you can use to teach students, yet only a relatively handful are chosen. That's because they have stood the "test of time" and they're messages will almost always be relevant to the readers who read these stories. "The Yellow Wallpaper" is a story about woman slowly going insane from having too little stimuli, a reaction that occurs in the real world as well. This can be metaphorically taken in many regards: a woman going insane because she's not allowed to be creative, a person going insane from not being allowed to be his/herself, or a person going insane from not having his/her mind fed with knowledge. This is an issue almost everyone can relate with and is presented in a sympathetic manner, letting the reader feel a connection to the author and the story she wrote. This is why "The Yellow Wallpaper" has stood the test of time to me.