Reading...
Play button
Play button
Use LEFT and RIGHT arrow keys to navigate between flashcards;
Use UP and DOWN arrow keys to flip the card;
H to show hint;
A reads text to speech;
6 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
|
Imagine you’re in a blank space, a blank empty space with yellow bars
all around you and you cannot escape and all you can do is hide. In the short story, “The Yellow Wallpaper”, I believe the wallpaper symbolizes a jail, which imprisons the woman gradually leading to her insanity. Symbolism is displayed throughout the story by the stripes of the wallpaper represent the bars of the prison, the crouching lady described by the woman represents the woman and when the woman begins to rip the wallpaper, this symbolizes defiance. |
a
|
|
|
As the woman gradually begins to change in her opinion of the wallpaper, she realizes that her husband is imprisoning her. The wallpaper is described as, “…a kind of sub-pattern in a different shade” and highly disturbs yet intrigues the woman. The pattern also known as the stripes represents the bars described by the woman when she first enters the room, “It was the nursery first and then playroom and gymnasium, I should judge for the windows are barred for little children”(140).
|
b
|
|
|
The crouching woman lurking inside the wallpaper is none other than the woman herself. The woman tells us that the lady continually tries to break free but is unable to, “…in the very shady spots she just takes hold of the bars and shakes them hard….and all the time she is trying to climb through…it strangles so…”(150). The woman emphasizes the difficulty in escaping the prison and that the patterns refuse to give in and let her escape.
|
c
|
|
|
At the climax of the story the woman realizes that she is being imprisoned, “Behind that outside pattern the dim shapes get clearer everyday”(146). I believe the “dim shapes” represent the jail cell and that the woman’s surroundings are getting “clearer” eventually leading her to the truth that she is a prisoner. The woman decides to finally break free of her prison by ripping the wallpaper, “I’ve pulled off most of the paper, so you can’t put me back!”(154). The woman defies her husband declares that her husband cannot but her back in the wallpaper, this justifies the point that she was imprisoned in the wallpaper.
|
d
|
|
|
Some may say that the wallpaper is just regular wallpaper but the wallpaper clearly is a prison to the woman. The woman is actually imprisoned in the wallpaper and has many a time failed to escape. I personally don’t think the wallpaper is actually wallpaper, but more that it represents the prison the woman is kept in. The woman can also be thought to be insane from the beginning of the story but truly becomes crazy after being locked up within the wallpaper.
|
e
|
|
|
In my opinion, the wallpaper indirectly represents a prison in which the woman is unknowingly held until the climax of the story . The patterns on the wall bind her to the wallpaper until she begins to rip it and break free. When the woman finds away to escape the patterns, she rips the wallpaper and declares herself free from the prison and boasts that neither her husband nor Jennie can imprison her again leaving her husband in shock.
|
f
|
