The yellow wallpaper

“The Yellow Wallpaper”




In the short story “The Yellow Wallpaper,” author Charlotte Perkins Gilman describes the life of a woman who is suffering from depression and a controlling husband back in the 1890’s. Gilman uses different images in the pattern of the wallpaper to describe how the unnamed woman handles depression and a very controlling husband.
There are several physical conditions of the unnamed woman’s environment that led to her state of mind. The house has so many significant meanings. For instance, the house was isolated away from everyone like a prison. Her husband felt if he isolated her from everyone it will improve her health. She stated, “Standing alone, standing well back from the road, quite three miles from the village,…for there are hedges and walls and gates that lock, and lots of separate houses for the gardeners” (595). The bedroom that she was staying in was like a prison. The wi...