In the story “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman uses many different symbols to illustrate the subjection of women in marriage. Women of the 19th century felt restricted to the roles that they were expected to play in marriage. This short story really shows the distinction of the domestic functions of the wife and the active work of the husband. The author makes the narrator really fixate her attention to the yellow wallpaper that is in her room, and she gains a fascination/hatred for it. She becomes occupied with the wallpaper because she is so bored. The narrator then has a nervous breakdown because she is afraid about what others are gonna say about her illness. Lastly, the journal can represent her rebellion against John.
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Everyone believes that she is just crazy instead of her just having a mental illness, so no one tries to help her. She is afraid of what the other people will say about her illness so she just keeps to herself. She is frustrated because her husband believes that there is something physically wrong with her, so instead of helping her situation, her makes it much, much worse. At the end of the story, she becomes so crazy and craves freedom so much she kills herself, “But I am securely fastened by now by my well-hidden rope--you don’t get ME out in the road there!”. The little role that she had to play drove her to wanting freedom so much that she committed suicide.
All in all, the different symbolism that Gilman used showed how far women will go to feel the freedom that they crave so badly. She was in a toxic relationship, and that made her see things in the yellow wallpaper, such as the trapped woman, which is exactly how she felt, trapped. The journal is used to show her rebellion against her role and rebellion against men. Finally, the nervous breakdown showed how far a woman will go to get that freedom. The author used these symbols to show what happens when strict roles are placed on
Everyone believes that she is just crazy instead of her just having a mental illness, so no one tries to help her. She is afraid of what the other people will say about her illness so she just keeps to herself. She is frustrated because her husband believes that there is something physically wrong with her, so instead of helping her situation, her makes it much, much worse. At the end of the story, she becomes so crazy and craves freedom so much she kills herself, “But I am securely fastened by now by my well-hidden rope--you don’t get ME out in the road there!”. The little role that she had to play drove her to wanting freedom so much that she committed suicide.
All in all, the different symbolism that Gilman used showed how far women will go to feel the freedom that they crave so badly. She was in a toxic relationship, and that made her see things in the yellow wallpaper, such as the trapped woman, which is exactly how she felt, trapped. The journal is used to show her rebellion against her role and rebellion against men. Finally, the nervous breakdown showed how far a woman will go to get that freedom. The author used these symbols to show what happens when strict roles are placed on