In Charlotte Perkin Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper,” Gilman expresses the struggle of Jane’s personal freedom. Jane has postpartum depression, an illness which restricts a mother from seeing their newborn baby until defeating the depression. In order for Jane to make progress, she needs some type of freedom. The illness, her husband, and the awful yellow wallpaper have completely taken control of her life and her freedom has been snatched away as well. As the story progresses, the wallpaper has a hold on Jane, eventually driving her to insanity along with help from both her husband and the depression. As a woman with postpartum depression, Jane needs some sort of social interaction and activities to keep her busy in order to survive with
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The moment Jane walks into the room, she can almost feel the wallpaper. This is most likely because of her progressing insanity, yet she eventually begins to see movements and people stuck in the wallpaper. Jane says in the story, “Sometimes I think there are a great number of women behind, and sometimes only one, and she crawls around fast, and her crawling shakes it all over.” (Gilman 318) She also believes the woman is desperately trying to get out of the wallpaper when she say, “And she is all the time trying to climb through.” (Gilman 318) Symbolism is used in these quotes to show that in Jane’s mind, she is trying so hard to get out of such a dark time in her life, but she can not seem to get out, which symbolizes the “woman trapped in the wallpaper. Her illness and husband are the most of the problem, yet the wallpaper seems to drive her overboard and symbolize her need for freedom. In the end the wallpaper drives her to insanity, and she now feels as though she has gained back her freedom. “Now why should that man have fainted? But he did, and right across my path by the wall, so that I had to creep over him every time.” (Gilman 320) The wallpaper consumed her mind; she could not handle the constant control that her husband and the wallpaper had on her. She has forced herself to believe
The moment Jane walks into the room, she can almost feel the wallpaper. This is most likely because of her progressing insanity, yet she eventually begins to see movements and people stuck in the wallpaper. Jane says in the story, “Sometimes I think there are a great number of women behind, and sometimes only one, and she crawls around fast, and her crawling shakes it all over.” (Gilman 318) She also believes the woman is desperately trying to get out of the wallpaper when she say, “And she is all the time trying to climb through.” (Gilman 318) Symbolism is used in these quotes to show that in Jane’s mind, she is trying so hard to get out of such a dark time in her life, but she can not seem to get out, which symbolizes the “woman trapped in the wallpaper. Her illness and husband are the most of the problem, yet the wallpaper seems to drive her overboard and symbolize her need for freedom. In the end the wallpaper drives her to insanity, and she now feels as though she has gained back her freedom. “Now why should that man have fainted? But he did, and right across my path by the wall, so that I had to creep over him every time.” (Gilman 320) The wallpaper consumed her mind; she could not handle the constant control that her husband and the wallpaper had on her. She has forced herself to believe