The Last Day — The Yellow Wallpaper

This is the last day, but it is enough. John stays in town overnight. Jennie wants to sleep beside her. The narrator says she will rest better alone. That is a cover. As soon as moonlight starts and the woman in the wall begins to shake the pattern, she gets up to help. They pull and shake together. Before morning they have peeled a strip as high as her head and half around the room.

The sun comes and the pattern seems to laugh. She will finish it today. They leave tomorrow, and the household is moving furniture down to restore the room. Jennie stares at the wall. The narrator says she did it out of spite. Jennie laughs and almost offers to help, then warns her not to get tired. That slip betrays her. No living person but the narrator will touch this paper.

Jennie tries to get her out. It is too obvious. She says the room is quiet, empty, and clean, so she will sleep and not be woken for dinner. Then everyone is gone. Only the nailed bedstead remains. They will sleep downstairs tonight and take the boat in the morning. She enjoys the bare room. The bed is gnawed. She must get to work.