The Yellow Wall-Paper
Reflecting their role in society, women in literature are often portrayed in a position that is dominated by men. Especially in the nineteenth century, women were repressed and controlled by their husbands as well as other male influences. In “The Yellow Wall-Paper,” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the protagonist is oppressed and represents the effect of the oppression of women in society. This effect is created by the use of complex symbols such as the house, the window, and the wall-paper which facilitate her oppression as well as her self expression.
It is customary to find the symbol of the house as representing a secure place for a womans transformation and her release of self expression. However, in this story, the house is not her own and she does not want to be in it. She declares it is “haunted,” and that “there is something queer about it.” Although she acknowledges the beauty of the house and especially what surrounds it, she constantly goes back to her feeling that “there is something strange about the house.” Her impression is like a premonition for the transformation that takes place in herself while she is there. In this way the house still is
woman, story, women, house, husband, because, wall-paper, narrator, herself, believe, being, society, gilman, yellow, man, control, very, room, own, men, fact, end, dominated, womans, view, transformation, through, successfully, passage, oppression, much, life, interpretation, finally, creep, about, window, trapped, thing, symbols, symbol, speaks, says, realization, reader, possibly, over, out, one
