"The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

                Throughout Gilman’s short story “The Yellow Wallpaper”, the creative usage of the wallpaper is a symbol which reflects the narrator’s feelings and image of herself. At first the narrator refers to the wallpaper in their summer house as “almost revolting” (267) and “unclean” (267) because the pattern and color were so eccentric. However, after she begins examining the wallpaper more thoroughly she notices the paper’s “sub pattern in a different shade […] [which] you can only see […] in certain lights” (269) which eventually contributes to her sleepless nights. Her attempt to master the wallpapers design becomes a fixation as she is suffering depression, nervousness, and anxiety from her controlling and manipulative husband.

                While reading this story I began thinking that the wallpaper represented the narrator and the problems she’s facing. For example, after her husband once again belittles her she refers to the wallpaper as “torturing” (273). The fact that the wallpaper “changes as the light changes” (273) signifies instability which mirrors her moods as well as her relationship with her husband. The overall meaning of the wallpaper is exemplified when the narrator introduces her vision of the “woman behind shak[ing]” (273) the paper. The fact that the woman is behind the paper shaking it gives the reader the image of a prison which reflects upon the narrator’s feelings of the house itself and her relationship with her husband. The fact that the narrator then mentions that there “ are a great many women behind” (275) the paper forces the reader to ask how many woman in real life are really being abused by their husbands or boyfriends in a non direct way. The narrator further “wonders if [the women] all come out of the wallpaper” (278) as she did which hints that she’s escaping her husband’s indirect abuse.

                Overall, I really enjoyed reading this story because the symbolism was used in such a creative way. At first this story was difficult to grasp, but after reading it over again everything started to make more sense.