(*2)Hysteria is a “neurotic disorder in which psychological and/or physical functioning is disturbed without any evidence of physical pathology, and with some indication of psychological motivation. The term derives from the Greek word for womb (hysteron) because in antiquity the complaint was thought to be an exclusively female one related to the functioning of that organ” (Cheshire 291).
(*3)Neurasthenia is “a condition marked by fatigue, loss of energy and memory, and feelings of inadequacy, once thought to result from exhaustion of the nervous system. Now rare in scientific use. Also called ‘nervous breakdown,’ ‘nervous exhaustion,’ ‘nervous prostration’” (“Neurasthenia” 882-883).
(*4)“The Story of an Hour” was published in 1894. It is a story about a woman who is notified of her husband’s death. The protagonist is shocked at first but then is secretly filled with joy of her newfound freedom from her repressed marriage. However, after an hour the husband comes home. Finding out that her husband is alive; the shocked protagonist dies of a heart attack.
(*5)Kate Chopin (1850-1904) was born in St. Louis, Missouri. Her major work is The Awakening, which was published in 1899. (Baym 1604)
(*6)“The Cottagette” was first published in August 1910 in the Forerunner.
(*7)Henry Brown Blackwell (1825–1909): Ohio abolitionist and the husband of Lucy Stone. Editor of the Woman’s Journal and the Woman Suffrage Leaflets. (“Lucy Stone” 285; Dock 107)
(*8)Lucy Stone (1818-1893)was born in Massachusetts. She was one of the first women to graduate from Oberlin College’s regular course in 1847 (Friedan 81). Lecturer for the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society and headed the first national woman’s rights convention. Married Henry B. Blackwell in 1855. Later on the couple helped establish the American Woman Suffrage Association (1869), a nationwide organization that worked for woman suffrage by state legislation (“Lucy Stone” 285).
(*9)“Making a Change” was first published in December 1911 in the Forerunner.
(*10)“An Unnatural Mother” was first published in February 1895 in the Impress.
(*11)The reaction of the society can be imagined through Gilman’s quote, “To hear what was said and read what was printed one would think I had handed over a baby in a basket” (Living 163).
(*12)“A Partnership” was first published in June 1914 in the Forerunner.
(*13)“If I Were a Man” was first published in July 1914 in Physical Culture.
(*14)“Bee Wise” was first published in 1913 in the magazine Forerunner, which Gilman was editor.
(*15)The story of “The Surplus Woman” first published in May 1916 in the Forerunner, is set in London. Therefore it could be assumed that the war Gilman is referring to is World War I. Also, the United States fought with Spain in 1898 in the Spanish-American War sending thousands of soldiers to battle so this American history can also be reflected in the story (Dupuy and Dupuy 317-319). The United States entered World War I in 1917. Even so, the United States had been enlarging the United States Army and the National Guard since the 1916 National Defense Act, which was the year this short story was written. Therefore war was in the air in the United States during this time. (Dupuy and Dupuy 355)
(*16)The cartoon is entitled "The Transition Period" by Paul Reilly in Life magazine of January 30, 1919.
Behling writes that, “Having been pressed into the masculine economy during World War I, women were now to return to their traditional femininity, clearly represented by the difference between the ‘man-tailored’ work clothes and the unmistakably feminine dress…. This utter dismissal of the female body, captured en route from masculine to feminine identity, suggested that a woman could be one or the other but clearly not both in society at peace” (159-160).
(*17)Silas Weir Mitchell (1829-1914) was a neurologist from Pennsylvania who invented the “rest cure” that treated hysteria, nervous breakdown, and related disorders (Baym 1661).
(*18)The Jumping-Off Place” was first published in April 1911 in the Forerunner.
(*19)“Three Thanksgivings” was first published in November 1909 in the Forerunner.
(*20)“Their House” was first published in December 1912 in the Forerunner.
(*21)“Old Mrs. Crosley” was first published in 1911.
(*22)All reference to “The Yellow Wallpaper” is extracted from the original version published in The New England Magazine in January 1892 titled “The Yellow Wall-paper” available in Julie Bates Dock’s Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wall-paper” and the history of Its Publication and Reception A Critical Edition and Documentary Casebook.
(*23)The “rest cure therapy” was designed for “the business man exhausted from too much work, and the society woman exhausted from too much play” (Gilman, Living 95). The treatment is intended to deal with physical symptoms of overwork and fatigue (Shumaker 67). The treatment went to extremes allowing the patient not to move a finger. S. Weir Mitchell writes, “The only action allowed is that needed to clean the teeth. In some instances I have not permitted the patient to turn over without aid. And this I have done because sometimes I think no motion desirable” (Mitchell 49).
(*24)Dr. Isaac Baker Brown performed clitoridectomy during 1859-1866 in London. In the 1860's he went beyond clitoridectomy to the removal of the labia (Showalter 77).
(*25)Schizophrenia is “a mental illness, in which there is fundamental disturbance of the personality characterized by disturbances of thinking, motivation and mood…. The acute syndromes are characterized by positive psychological symptoms, such as delusions, hallucinations and thought disorder as well as disturbance in mood and behavior” (Mayou 545).
(*26)Epilepsy is an “acute and transitory brain dysfunction which may take the form of motor disturbances, such as convulsions, or of psychological and behavioral abnormalities…. It is usually accompanied by disturbances of consciousness” (Catalan 207).
(*27)Doppelgänger is of German Etymology and has the definition of “a ghostly double of a living person, especially one that haunts its own fleshly counterpart” (“Doppelgänger” 391).
(*28)“Dr. Claire’s Place” was first published in June 1915 in the Forerunner.