The Giant Wistaria

by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Charlotte Perkins Gilman (3 July 1860 – 17 August 1935) was a prominent American sociologist, novelist, writer of short stories, poetry, and non fiction, 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. - Wikipedia

Genres: Short Stories, Classics, Horror, Gothic, Fiction, School, 19th Century

12 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1891

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

[♡ Dakota ♡ (Sarcasm is my middle name) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three Stars.

[Minnie · Rating 5 out of 5]

4,5*

This author has some incredible range and talent! The Yellow Wallpaper impressed me immensely when I first read it in October, so much so that I ordered an anthology of her works (The Yellow Wall-Paper, Herland, and Selected Writings from Penguin), where The Giant Wistaria is featured as well. It's another haunted house story, one, too, dealing with motherhood and forced isolation, but otherwise one that is very different from the slow first-hand portrayal of madness in The Yellow Wallpaper.
For one, it doesn't follow a gradual development but includes a jump in time: In the first part we witness the domestic drama of a family whose daughter has gotten pregnant out of wedlock and is to be married away to a cousin as quietly as possible. She keeps asking for her baby but is straight-up told that she is not to meet it, ever, and will be locked in the house until the wedding if she keeps stirring up trouble. At the height of the tension the curtain is drawn and we are catapulted several centuries into the future with the words:

"O, George, what a house! what a lovely house! I am sure it's haunted! Let us get that house to live in this summer! We will have Kate and Jack and Susy and Jim of course, and a splendid time of it!"

There couldn't be a more shocking contrast! It's the classic beginning to a haunted house tale, including the (for a change not so ignorant) new tenants, but, having read about the suffering of the new mother just moments before, we feel that there is something frivolously wrong with the summer party's obsession with extracting a ghost story from the house's history - they want the "creep", the thrill of excitement, but not the ugly reality.
I won't go further for fear of spoiling this excellent and very short short story - take 15min out of your day and find out about the plot twist yourself! (Full text and short, non-spoilery introduction to be found here.)

What impressed me most was the structural inversion of the classic haunted house story - first you see the "source" of the haunting in the past, and only then the "real", ghost-free present. But even that distinction, "real" vs. "surreal", is deconstructed here as only being valid from the point of view of the party of friends; to them, a haunting springs from itself, its only function is to entertain, and a too close contact with reality utterly terminates even its existence. Typically, once the reason for a haunting is discovered in a ghost story, the ghost is banished and life can usually run its normal course again; no validity is conceded to the motives of the ghost, no thought bestowed on it outside of how the nuisance can be made to cease. Gilman, as in so many of her short stories, turns the table on this trope, and reminds us that the suffering behind these thrilling stories is very real for those who had to experience it.
(I'm not saying that ghosts are real, of course, just drawing the logical consequence that story characters who eventually turn into ghosts at one point were life-like characters like the ones being haunted, with whom we, as readers, are meant to sympathise and identify.)

And one more word before I hit post, on the detraction of half a star in my personal reading system: I would have liked to have had a deeper connection of the story to the titular wistaria plant besides the few short sentences at the beginning and end of the story. That's all!

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. This is not a traditional ghost story; it is more of an expose of the horrors that some women have faced over the years. Written in 1895 when women had few rights, what better way to display this disparity than in a little ghost story?
The story starts out with an unwed mother whose family has taken her child from her and has decided to marry her off to a cousin who she doesn't even like. Her shame is to be used against her to force this marriage and she will never see her baby again. Fast forward to a future date where a couple are walking by a house with a giant wistaria and decide to rent it for the summer because it has a haunted quality to it and they seem fanciful. Three couples stay at the house and get the feeling that it is haunted, as they had hoped.
The writing is absorbing without the spookiness of a traditional ghost story. This would have been a five star story for me if it had been longer with the characters and theme more fleshed out. As a short story it is a terrific example.
This can be found in Weird Women: Classic Supernatural Fiction by Groundbreaking Female Writers, 1852-1923.

[Federico DN · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good.

This was good, but not going to review it.

For the moment at least.

It’s public domain. You can find it HERE.

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PERSONAL NOTE :
[1891] [12p] [Classics] [Not Recommendable]
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★★★★☆ The Yellow Wallpaper and Other Stories <--
★★★☆☆ The Yellow Wallpaper

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Bueno.

Esto estuvo bien, pero no voy a reseñarlo.

Al menos por ahora.

Es dominio público, lo pueden encontrar ACA.

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NOTA PERSONAL :
[1891] [12p] [Clásicos] [No Recomendable]
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[Katrisstryder · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed studying this short story, but I would have liked the story to have a conclusive ending and learn what really happened.

[kathryn]

the reviews saying "this didn't end on a very obvious conclusive statement telling me exactly what happened so i didn't understand it" are making me laugh Very Hard.

unrelated but this story is sooooo insanely good, holy shit.

[Carolane · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good writing but I just didn't get it

[Bruce · Rating 3 out of 5]

Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a great writer. This short ghost story is well written and moves along smoothly. Rather than being a horror ghost story, it is one of deep sadness and sorrow.

[Arlo Gray · Rating 4 out of 5]

everyday i become more and more lesbian

[Ru · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is frustrating because my dislike of this book is based solely on the fact that I couldn't stay focused.
This review is probably the most unfair, personal taste-y review I've ever written for that exact reason. So take my opinion with an entire shaker of salt.

I refuse to leave a book unreviewed. It's not a bad book (probably), the writing was just not for me.

The prose is one I really struggle to read, old-English speak is just irritating to me, I appreciate it but I just don't like it on a personal level. I never have and probably never will, call me uncultured if you like. I know it was written in the 1800s, but her other works have a far more engaging writing style. This one just feels like a chore to read. Which I fully admit is a little unfair, honestly, because it comes down to personal taste; it's not even a bad style, just one I don't get on with.

The story itself (I read a summary and analysis of it because I couldn't get past the 3 page mark) sounds incredibly good, continuing the feminist messages I've read in previous Gilman stories, it seems to have a lot of similarities to The Yellow Wallpaper. I just don't want to reread sentences again and again to discern what I'm reading. It's not that I can't, it's just that I kind of don't want to and I don't think it was necessary to overcomplicate the prose.

If you enjoy this type of prose, then you will probably enjoy this! It's very likely a great story with great messages. Just not one I can get through unfortunately. Maybe I'll come back to it eventually for a second attempt but I don't feel any strong desire to do so.

[Sonia ☾ · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story not having a conclusive ending it's what makes it even better.

Gilman uses the title of this short story and the story itself to discuss the perception of female individuals and the role they played and how they played it in a patriarchal system. The word "wistaria" having a resemblance to the word "hysteria" is a smart way to insinuate how women were perceived all over the years.

The wisteria is a wild plant which can be related to how females were depicted when they tried to break free from a male dominant world.

The wistaria surrounding the house (which is always considered the domestic space for women) is a perfect image of how women were and still are oppressed by a patriarchal structure.

[Margo Laurie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A complex and fascinating short story by the author of 'The Yellow Wallpaper'. I loved how clever the idea and structure were - starting back in the 1700s, and then fast-forwarding a century to the house being rented to a young couple who love its gothic aura and are jokingly convinced it must have ghosts. The tone flitted from light-hearted to immensely sad. It's only a few pages long, but leaves a vivid impression of Gilman's talent as a writer.

[Amara · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't know you could fall asleep in such a short story. My least favorite of her short stories, maybe I'll reread it one day and see if it was just my mood.

[Deepika · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it, been loving her short stories lately.
She has a way of engulfing her readers into the story.

[Cassie Fleurs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great horror story and you can see the authors distinct feminist takes as always.

[Elizabeth Northcote-Smith · Rating 1 out of 5]

Didn't quite get this

[Jake Longstaff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid 3.5

[Abbie Leigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5✨

[Farah · Rating 4 out of 5]

A ghost short story, wish it was a little longer and wish we got more of a backstory of the ghost.

[Lily Kent · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spectacular everyone go read it

[Andria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read from Weird Women: Classic Supernatural Fiction by Groundbreaking Female Writers: 1852-1923

[hamatesus · Rating 5 out of 5]

POE ÖYKÜLERİNE BENZİYORDU????? Çok çarpıcıydı.
Ben ilk başta kızı küçük sanıyordum oyuncak bebekten bahsediyor sanıyordum meğerse olay bambaşkaymış. Kendi kendime plot twist yedirdim.

[Emma Ghiz]

2025:
Why did they always think ghosts were indigestion in the 1800s???

2023: I LOVE HORROR FEMINIST FICTION

[summer · Rating 4 out of 5]

i love this story and i understand it but i feel like i still couldn't reach that mind-blowing understanding when you get a short story completely, you know what i mean?? i'll get there someday

[em petlev · Rating 3 out of 5]

kind of like a more digestible version of To The Lighthouse. the beginning was a bit piratey. i would like more