Symbolism In The Yellow Wallpaper By Charlotte Perkins Gilman

“The Yellow Wallpaper” took place in the late 1800’s in the upper room of an old mansion that John had rented in hopes for a more efficient recovery of the narrator, his wife. The story was written in the present tense so the author’s message would come across more clearly and seem more intense. The author, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, uses “The Yellow Wallpaper” to reveal her feelings and thoughts through her own story, the poor treatment of women and medical, and symbolism. Charlotte relates very closely to the main character and narrator in this story. She married young, got pregnant, and soon after having the baby she fell into depression. Her doctor diagnosed her with a rest cure, which eventually led her to insanity. Charlotte finally …show more content…
It demonstrates the barrier that is set between the narrator and her husband. In other words, it set a barrier between male and female roles of the 1800’s. In that day, women were looked at as weak, dependent, passive and timid whereas, men were serotyped as strong, brave, independent, and powerful. To be a woman in that day was no treat, women were thought to be in private and men in public. In other words, the men worked and the women were made to stay in the home depending on their income class. If women were of the lower class they could only work in jobs such as a servant or prostitute. However, women in the upper classes of income could sometimes work in a family business. The separate gender roles throughout the story had an effect of holding women in a childish state of ignorance and this prevents full mental development. In the story, because of the gender division, John seems to misjudge, patronize, and dominate his wife. He does these things all in hopes to help her and cure her. Everyone should be treated equal because we were all made the same. John makes it to where his wife has no say-so at all in her life. Another symbol found in the story is the bedroom that narrator stays in. It symbolizes how John treats her and the power he has over her. The room was even thought the be a nursery for small children because of the bars over the windows …show more content…
One could take this story as a lesson not to let others take any kind of power over them because making ones own decisions is important. Also, letting emotions out instead of keeping them bottled up inside is ver important as well because a lack of emotional expression can lead to health problems such as depression or