The Living of Charlotte Perkins Gilman: An Autobiography

Wisconsin Studies in Autobiography

by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

This early work by Charlotte Perkins Gilman was originally published in 1935. It is the autobiography of the American sociologist, novelist and poet who is best remembered for her semi-autobiographical short story 'The Yellow Wallpaper'.

Genres: Biography, Memoir, Nonfiction, Feminism, Womens, Biography Memoir, History

363 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 6, 2013

About the author

Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860-1935), also known as Charlotte Perkins Stetson, was a prominent American sociologist, novelist, writer of short stories, poetry, and nonfiction, and a lecturer for social reform. She was a utopian feminist during a time when her accomplishments were exceptional for women, and she served as a role model for future generations of feminists because of her unorthodox concepts and lifestyle. Her best remembered work today is her semi-autobiographical short story, "The Yellow Wallpaper", which she wrote after a severe bout of post-partum depression.

She was the daughter of Frederic B. Perkins.

Reviews

[Kristi Siegel · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are a woman, you want children.
If you are a woman, your love for your children is immediate and absolute.
If you are a woman, your maternal instinct pops into gear upon the birth of your first child, providing you with a complete set of mothering skills.
If you are a woman, you would never leave your child(ren).

Many women, married and without children, have commented on the invasive questions they receive. The assumption is that they’re unable to have children. Upon learning that the choice was deliberate, people react with incomprehension or even suspicion. Why wouldn’t you want to have children? Won’t you be lonely? Can’t you adopt? Was this your husband’s idea? And, consider the words used to describe women who’ve made this choice: childless, barren, infertile, unfruitful, unproductive, and so forth. The words are derogatory, implying both a lack and a failure. And, for that matter, single women without children often get similar comments: Don’t you want children? The clock’s ticking—you’re not getting any younger!

A woman failing to fulfill any of the other norms listed above receives the same condemnation. In the early twentieth century, Charlotte Perkins Gilman spent much of her life questioning these assumptions. Her autobiography The Living of Charlotte Perkins Gilman brims with energy. Gilman’s love of life is insatiable: she works systematically to improve her mind and, in an age where women didn’t worry much about physical fitness, she sets up a regimen of exercise at a gymnasium. Reputedly, she was so strong she could carry a man across a room. Her daily schedule would exhaust most of us.

Then, she has her first child, and her world comes crashing down around her. Rather than an instant outpouring of love and maternal devotion, Gilman sinks into a depression so absolute, it reminded me of Emily Dickinson’s words:

And then a plank in reason, broke,
And I dropped down and down--
And hit a world at every plunge,
And finished knowing--then--

Following a popular rest cure recommended for “hysterical women,” Gilman nearly dies. Although she cannot bear to be with her baby daughter, the cure requires keeping the baby close and having Gilman drink copious amounts of milk and resting most of the day. Most damning was the injunction that she avoid all intellectual stimulation.

Gilman first presents this situation, what Freud would deem her “core issue,” as a fictional story, “The Yellow Wallpaper,” which brilliantly depicts a woman’s descent into madness following the birth of her first child. Gilman’s portrait of what we now define as post-partum depression was greeted with shock and horror.

Gilman next attacks the problem with a series of nonfiction texts, the most famous being Women and Economics, in which Gilman posits the idea of communal living, where women share tasks—including childrearing—rather than coping in isolation. In her utopian novels, and especially Herland, Gilman lays out a completely female society, where selected women reproduce parthenogenetically (without mating), and only a few women, those gifted and learned in childrearing, take on this precious role. By limiting who bears children and who rears them, Gilman posits that having children and being able to care for them is not innate. In Herland, women may excel at any number of specialized tasks, but there is no shame if childbearing or mothering is not among them.

Despite the progressive ideas Gilman posits in her texts and in the society envisioned in her utopian novels, she’s unable to acquit herself. In her autobiography—Gilman’s last book—written after Gilman learns she has breast cancer, she describes the birth of her baby and its aftermath, head on. Gilman’s pain is palpable. Though she tries to care for her baby daughter, her depression overwhelms her. Finally, Gilman takes a short trip, unaccompanied by her daughter. Immediately, the depression subsides, and her energy returns. When Gilman comes back, she is again overcome with depression. The realization stuns her. She must leave her child. Ultimately, an unusual arrangement provides Gilman with the freedom she needs. Her best friend marries her husband and takes on the care of Katherine, her daughter.

But it doesn’t matter. Despite Gilman’s prodigious output of publications and speeches, she cannot overcome her guilt, and the rest of her autobiography limps along. She provides a pale litany of her work, but the memoir is devoid of the energy and joy that characterizes the first half.

…I don’t have any answers. It’s not abnormal to want children, to love them, and to have some childrearing skills. However, the opposite is not abnormal, either, and it doesn’t seem as though our society understands this even yet. Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a fascinating thinker, far ahead of her time and possibly ours.

[Sylvia Dickey Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, wow, wow. Love this book! I have been a big fan of Gilman's since the 80s and have loved her fiction. This autobiography really takes us right into her world! Highly recommend it! More after I finish reading!

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

An autobiography of who I consider one of the first feminists of the late nineteenth century, Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Gilman was an author, poet, lecturer, social reformer, and, in my opinion, an extraordinary human being. I recently read Gilman’s now-famous The Yellow Wallpaper and Herland. Like Gilman, they are also extraordinary.

Gilman led an unconventional life—separating from and then co-parenting their daughter with her first husband—considered scandalous in her time. I was exhausted too, reading about Gilman’s travels; she delivered well over a hundred lectures across the country about women's roles, education, and societal reform. Gilman was paid virtually nothing for her lectures, and despite the popularity and wide distribution of her book, Women and Economics: A Study of the Economic Relation Between Men and Women as a Factor in Social Evolution, published in 1898 and translated into numerous languages, Gilman lived in debt and poverty for much of her life.

The book is somewhat scattered, incoherent at times, and lacks details of her writings and personal life; however, it provides a glimpse into aspects of the life of this avant-garde woman who was very much ahead of her time. I discovered another book that might provide further insight into Gilman: Wild Unrest: Charlotte Perkins Gilman and the Making of “The Yellow Wallpaper." It’s next up on my to-read list.

[Linda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read Gilman’s short story The Yellow Wallpaper and was really impressed by the underlying feminist message, so I decided to read her autobiography. It revealed how much of the fictitious story was fact, and her pleasure at having helped other women avoid the ‘resting cure’ as s a result of its publication. There was some great insights into the gender issues of the time, such as how her mother “held that a girl should, as she put it, ‘remain in her mother’s sphere until she entered her husband’s,” to which her reply ‘Does a girl never have a sphere of her own?’ was ignored. I also loved some of the one-liners like “Real beauty I cared for intensely, fashion I despised.”

Overall however, there is a strange tone that runs through the novel which makes it uncomfortable. It’s not that she feels sorry for herself, she goes to great lengths to suggest that she doesn’t, yet her intermittent depression seeps through most of the pages and puts a dampener on it – which in a way is the point – but it makes for some sigh-worthy reading.

“I have never made any pretense of being literary,” she writes, and unfortunately, in this instance, it shows. Not my cup of tea, but it doesn’t stop me enjoying her short stories though.

[Meredith · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'll be honest, I didn't read all of it thoroughly. Since it was for a school paper, I read and annotated maybe 4 chapters and skimmed through the rest.

As it is an autobiography of a divorced older mother, I can't say that I related to her that much as a single young teen. This played a big role in my enjoyment of the book, but it was still well-written and interesting.

[Courtney · Rating 2 out of 5]

An incredibly dry read that I had to get through for an equally dry Biographies & Memoirs Literature course. Love Gilman's short stories but this was pretty difficult to get through.

[Aric Cushing]

Obviously, of all people, I am going to say that this is the perfect autobiography. Honest in its telling, and perfect in its execution.