The yellow wallpaper

The Yellow Wallpaper is a short story written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman in 1892. It is a classic piece of feminist literature and is often cited as a prime example of early feminist writing. The story is told from the first-person point of view of a woman who is suffering from what is likely postpartum depression. She is confined to a room with yellow wallpaper, which she begins to obsess over as her mental state deteriorates.

The story begins with the narrator describing the house they are staying in for the summer. She is with her husband, John, and their baby, and they have rented a large, old-fashioned mansion. The narrator is already feeling unwell, but she is convinced that it is only a temporary illness and that she will soon recover. However, her husband, who is a physician, does not take her illness seriously and tells her that she is simply suffering from nervousness.

The narrator's bedroom is on the second floor of the house and has yellow wallpaper that she finds repellent. She describes it as "a smouldering unclean yellow, strangely faded by the slow-turning sunlight". She wants to change rooms, but her husband insists that she stay in the room with the yellow wallpaper because it is the best room in the house.

As the days pass, the narrator becomes increasingly obsessed with the wallpaper. She spends hours staring at it and begins to see strange patterns and shapes within the design. She becomes convinced that there is a woman trapped behind the wallpaper and that she is trying to escape. She starts to feel a deep connection to the woman and begins to see her as a symbol of her own oppression.

The narrator's mental state deteriorates further, and she begins to have hallucinations. She sees the woman behind the wallpaper shaking the bars of her prison and trying to escape. She becomes more and more obsessed with the woman and spends all of her time trying to free her from the wallpaper.

Meanwhile, her husband continues to dismiss her illness and treats her as if she is simply being irrational. He does not believe that her condition is serious and insists that she simply needs to rest and take care of herself.

Eventually, the narrator's obsession with the wallpaper becomes too much to bear, and she begins to tear it down in an attempt to free the woman trapped behind it. Her husband finds her in a state of complete mental breakdown and is shocked by her behavior. He finally takes her illness seriously and sends her to a mental institution.

In the end, the narrator's mental state continues to deteriorate, and she becomes completely disconnected from reality. She believes that she has become the woman trapped behind the wallpaper and spends all of her time crawling around the room and shaking the bars of her prison.

The Yellow Wallpaper is a haunting and deeply disturbing story that explores the theme of women's oppression and the effects of patriarchal society on women's mental health. The narrator's husband is a symbol of the patriarchal society that suppresses women's voices and ignores their needs. The yellow wallpaper represents the mental prison that women are forced to live in under patriarchal society.

The story is a powerful critique of the medical establishment's treatment of women's mental health and the way that women are often dismissed and ignored when they seek help for mental health issues. It is a call to action for women to take control of their own lives and fight back against the oppressive forces that seek to silence them.

In conclusion, The Yellow Wallpaper is a powerful and deeply unsettling story that explores the theme of women's oppression and the effects of patriarchal society on women's mental health. It is a call to action for women to take control of their own lives and fight back against the oppressive forces that seek to silence them. It is a testament to the power of feminist literature and the importance of women's voices in shaping