The Yellow Wallpaper Entrapment Analysis

During the late 1800’s, men had unlimited control over women in every aspect. The husband of a house usually made all of the decisions while the wife stayed home and cared for the children and took care of the house. Men were driven by an egotistical stereotype that they knew what is best. Charlotte Perkins Gilman lived during this time period and underwent the same suppression and subordination that countless women experienced. During this time period, Gilman wrote one of her most famous and controversial short storie which expressed the consequences of this suppression. In the “Yellow Wallpaper”, the subordination of women is continuously noted by the reader. The author illustrates the imagery of entrapment, through the control the main …show more content…
During the beginning of the book, the readers understands that she is not fond of the wallpaper and that she rarely mentions the yellow wallpaper. As the story continues the main character slowly becomes intrigued by the wallpaper and continually refers to it, until she is entirely obsessed with the wallpaper and this object becomes the only thing she discusses. It reaches a point where she gives the wallpaper human characteristics. She mentions that she sees it moving throughout the night and she later states that “this paper looks at me as if it knew what a vicious influence it had!”(394) She eventually says that a woman is stuck behind the wallpaper and that she is shaking it because she wants to get out of the wall. This woman that she is referring to as being stuck behind the wall could be the main character herself. She has been stuck in the room for such a long time that she feels like she needs to escape and be free. Another reason why the main character says that she wants to escape from the wall is because she feels that she has become part of the room. She feels that she is one with the room. John’s sister mentions that she started finding the yellow wallpaper on the main characters clothes and on John’s clothes which shows that she continually feels the paper since she is a part of …show more content…
The control the main character’s husband has on her, and the suppression of the main character 's writing and motherhood leads to the main character 's insanity. She frequently makes an effort to escape the prison-like room she is kept in, in order to remain sane, but her efforts are rejected by her controlling husband. The main character also tries to write her thoughts in a journal in hopes of relieving herself, but once again her husband disapproves of writing and believes it only makes her condition worse. This short story does an excellent job to depict the life on many middle class women during the early 1900’s, since this time period was very difficult for married