A Story about a Woman

The yellow wallpaper is a story about a woman who is confined and silenced. in the end she is defeated as she finally gives in to madness and is found creeping along the floor of the room The Yellow Wallpaper is gothic allegory literature by Charlotte Perkins Gilman written around 19th century; a period of social change and the beginning of industrial revolution, a time where man dominated everything including, social, economic and domestic issues.

It was also a time of abolition of slavery, but social injustice against women was prevalent where woman symbolises assets to acquire just like furniture or an object of bearing children for the family. The woman at that time lack locus standing and freedom to exhibit their franchise, their life basically depends on the man. The author through writer rationally demonstrates the psychedelic imagery of the woman as the theme of the story A symbolism of hallucination, loneliness, mental disorder and a state of incommunicado is present in the story. I suppose John never was nervous in his life.

He laughs at me so about this wall-paper (C. P. Gilman) In the story the author describes a woman that is locked in a room in a mansion for the purpose of bed rest after delivering a baby, the bedrest is prescribed by the physician husband. True to his ?high standing in the society as a doctor, he can afford to get a wet-nurse, Mary, for the baby which is the hip thing to do in that era. The lady in the story is careful to not reveal her true state of mind and develops separation anxiety because she is not allowed to feed and take care of her baby. Bearing in mind that the culture of that era demands that women are treated as inferior beings and properties, it is easy to understand why she would hide her journal from her husband, the only one that has access to her room.

As a man, I understand the necessity of providing for my wife but the 19th century era taught men that women are fragile hence all decision making must be made by them. As the story progresses, we see the woman transfixed on a yellow wallpaper in the room due to boredom and lack of communication with her baby and the outside world. The wall paper became an object of fascination whereby she began to draw mental images in her mind.

The mental images became vivid to the point of seeing people tangled and stuck, unable to free themselves. Their freedom became a top priority for her and in an attempt to free these people, she tore the paper to pieces. By this act, we see a woman frustrated by her situation, a woman desperate to free the people she conjured in her mind, people that are as helpless as her. From the outside looking in, the reader would only see an insane woman, a mad person that is hallucinating about invisible people.

A mad woman clutching at doorposts and sinking to the floor. The reader is able to feel the pain of a wife and mother who should have being allowed to bond with her baby but instead is reduced to a weak and incapable mother which pushed her into depression and a hallucinated state of mind In conclusion, one can see the husband acting on good fate but ignorantly sent the woman into lucid state of nervous breakdown. 

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