The short story, “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Gilman, concentrates on the narrator’s deep depression and her struggle to get better. The narrator spends her summer vacation confined in a nursery on the top floor of a mansion. This is in an attempt to cure her illness by her husband John, who is a doctor. The room has barred windows on all sides and yellow wallpaper with “sprawling flamboyant patterns” (514). The narrator at first is in disgust with the wallpaper and thinks it is an artistic sin. Then with nothing to do, and her imagination running free, she turns her imagination onto the wallpaper. She uses the wallpaper as a form of entertainment and tries to figure out the pattern. The central symbol of the short story is the wallpaper. The meaning behind the wallpaper represents the narrator’s entrapment and her struggle with depression. This essay will describe her descent into a maddening depression in a chronological manner.
First of all the narrator is told by John that she is not to do any exercise or anything mentally stimulation, as this might cause too much stress for her. “Personally, I disagree with their ideas.” (513) is her disagreeing with John’s views. She thinks that some work or stimulation might do her good. Her first act of rebellion is by writing her thoughts and emotions into a secret journal. She writes about things that she sees in the room. She is fixated on the yellow wallpaper, which she thinks is repellent and revolting. She asked John if something could be done to change the wallpaper. John didn’t want her to be worried with the change so nothing was done with the yellow wallpaper. As a rebellion to John’s lack of interest in what she wants done she turns her imagination onto the wallpaper.
Furthermore she sees the wallpaper as a form of entertainment, as she attempts to figure out its patterns. “I will follow that pointless pattern to some sort of conclusion.” (517). She follows the