John’s wife sets the tone early in the story, because she has been told by her doctor and her husband John who is also a physician that she is not to …show more content…
This is the beginning of the wall paper being the central symbol in the story. Throughout the story, the wall paper is the focus because it progresses from hatting it, to becoming obsessed with it. The woman uses unique details when describing the wall paper such as the lines going together, incomplete lines, etc. Afterward, “the faint figure behind seemed to shake the patter, just as she wanted to get out” (p.652, p15). I can say that this is her own problem because John’s wife stays awake all night staring at the paper, and then sleeps during the day. Or, it can symbolize that John’s wife is trying to come out of the wall paper but is unable to do so because she is not …show more content…
She says “the woman behind shakes it!... keeps still, and in the very shady spots she just takes hold of the bars and shakes them hard”(p.654, 14). John’s wife continues to say that people are creeping around and also talks about freeing the woman from the wall paper. There are several aspects that I can say about the woman’s story. One, is that she may be inside an institution and those people she sees creeping are actually other patients. Secondly, the expression that the woman is coming out of the wall paper could be a reflection of herself being 100% healthy and leaving the house. Or worst case scenario, is that John’s wife is severely mentally ill since her vocabulary changed towards the end of the story from present to past tense which confuses the reader on what may be