Yellow Wallpaper

The Yellow Wallpaper


The protagonist in Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s literary tale, “The Yellow Wallpaper” is often depicted as more of a child than as a woman or a mother. While her husband John cares for her in a professional and fatherly way, rather than appearing as a husband or lover. Thus, John and other men of this time appear as power hungry individuals trying to rule the life of weak women who are expected to be subservient to men’s wishes and commands. The story begins with a young family who travels to a remote country home, which is set miles apart from other inhabitants. The family goes there seeking solace and a place for the young mother who suffers from postpartum depression and “temporary nervous depression—a slight hysterical tendency (833)” to heal.
Like a child, the protagonist does not work in fact she is forbidden. Rather, she takes medication prescribed by her husband and rec...