What Does The Yellow Wallpaper Symbolize

In “ The Yellow Wallpaper” by Gilman, an important symbol is the Yellow Wallpaper, which represents the unknown woman’s illness and life. Throughout the story as the woman’s mental health gets worse, the wallpaper pattern gets more unbearable. She becomes obsessed with the atrocious pattern, and repulsing color. When the narrator and her husband arrive at the mansion, she knows she is depressed but nothing too serious. And when she first sees the wallpaper, she thinks it’s disturbing, but she can handle it. The narrator says, “ It slaps you in the face, knocks you down, and tramples upon you. It is like a bad dream.” The narrator is using personification to express how the wallpaper is almost abusing her and how she has no control over it.