Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper

The Yellow Wallpaper, written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, exposes the horrid truth regarding the limited amount of expression allowed for female individuals and the toll it can have on them and their families. Gilman furthers the understanding of the reader concerning social standards for women by depicting a parallelism between the woman and a wallpaper. Instead of staying quiet, Gilman took action by creating a voice for the women of the 19th century-all through a simple piece of literature.
The drastic difference between the standards of women and men caused many problems for women of that time. Mens words were far more valuable in everyone's eyes while women’s thoughts and opinions were often put off to the side and valued much less. They were expected to have the mind and actions of a proper housewife; it mostly consisted of cleaning, cooking, and taking care of the kids. Fortunately, in this time and age there are many more suitable alternatives to handle depression but, back then if a woman were to tell her husband about her irregular feelings, she

would just be labelled as “nervous”.
John, the spouse and doctor of the narrator, was held highly in society which meant his words were far more reliable than his wife, Jane, even if it was concerning her own health.

No matter how much she would try to convey the severeness of her illness, he would laugh it off with no respect towards her. The severity of her depression oftenly is pushed off to the side along with her thoughts, opinions and rights. She was not able to do simple actions such as write, take a walk, or even visit relatives. The way she was treated led her to feeling as though she wasn’t allowed to have normal humane feelings, like anger, towards John. Her thoughts would be limited to an extent before she felt bad for things she shouldn’t have. John and his actions are all a representation of most men and their mentality towards women. Even in present day, women are not treated with equal respect and dignity within society as men

are.
Due to the lack of attention and care, women had no one to turn to. In this case however, the narrator’s closest companion was her paper. Even this simple form of alleviation was restricted, as she had to hide in order to do it. These days, most women would go to their husbands in times of distress or solitude. When the narrator would go to her husband he wouldn’t try to understand her or help her in ways that wouldn’t be compatible from his own teachings. The lady in the yellow wallpaper would constantly try to escape the wallpaper but to no avail. It becomes quite apparent that the lady in the wallpaper represents the narrator's thoughts, opinions, and all other women in society.
There were two layers to the wallpaper. The first one is where the woman is desperately trying to escape the bars, and then the layer that contains the bars restricting her from leaving. She is in a cage that she cannot escape due to the bars, just like the narrator is surrounded by her mental illness which she cannot escape due to John. The bars are a representation of all the restrictions that are put in place because of John, or men in society. In a way, the narrator is in denial along with the lady in the wallpaper. The lady desperately wants to escape the bars and the narrator desperately wants to believe that her illness is nonexistent. When the narrator finally rips off the wallpaper, it was a final attempt to free herself from the cage that society had placed her in. All the bottled up feelings in her exploded out and this action was her final step into insanity.
A dark and lonely place can be dreadful to someone on the inside, while to someone on the outside it may seem very innocent and beautiful. No one truly knows what lies behind closed doors. The house appeared to be a perfect household from the outside but the true horrors were only visible to the people who were truly aware of the problems going on. It was a beautiful mansion with a woman sadly trapped in her own mind without knowing how to escape. To someone passing by, they would think that there’s a beautiful household wife with a smart doctor husband but in reality it is nowhere close.
The Yellow Wallpaper represents 2 things, women and men in society. The lady in the wallpaper is the narrator’s thoughts held captive by the bars, also known as her mental illness. Her mental illness restricts her from doing everyday things- just like John. John is a representation of all of man's mentality and actions regarding societal standards. All of these factors led up to the narrator slowly spiralling into madness.