Elfriede Jelinek once said, “I only enjoy what I can see, because I don’t feel anything. The Yellow Wallpaper is about a married woman who suffers from post-partum depression and her husband, John, thinks it is best she stays confined in a room. She began to go crazy thinking about the yellow wallpaper that covered the bedroom walls. The Yellow Wallpaper uses literary devices such as foreshadowing, situational irony, and symbolism. Those literary devices lure the reader into the consciousness of the protagonist as she begins as descent into insanity, which applies to the overall theme. Confinement is not always the best option for an insane person.
Foreshadowing is when the narrator indicates that a certain event in the future will occur. Foreshadowing is skillfully used in this story to describe the …show more content…
Symbolism is skillfully used in The Yellow Wallpaper because the wallpaper itself symbolizes how certain lifestyles can make women feel trapped. John does not approve of the narrator getting much time outside, writing in her journal, or being able to work. In the beginning of the story, the wallpaper just seemed unpleasant but as the story goes on the wallpaper changes in a completely unexpected way. “The faint figure behind seemed to shake the pattern, just as if she wanted to get out (Gilman 652).” The narrator had nothing better to do than study the wallpaper during the day and at night.
To conclude, The Yellow Wallpaper uses literary devices such as foreshadowing, situational irony, and symbolism. Foreshadowing is used to show that the narrator was eventually trapped. Situational irony occurs many times throughout the story. The yellow wallpaper is a symbol for this story because woman can feel trapped by their lifestyle. An insane person does not always need to be confined. One does not always know what is best for someone