The yellow wallpaper in the story, "The Yellow Wallpaper", by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, represents the narrator's feeling of imprisonment as a woman. The narrator hides her writing from her husband in a room with yellow wallpaper. The room traps her while she gains back her health from "nervous condition", and her writings become consumed with notes about her hatred of the yellow wallpaper. The narrator hints at her oppression when she states "I did write for a while in spite of them; but it does exhaust me a good deal-- having to be so sly about it, or else meet with heavy opposition" (Perkins Gilman 368). This quote alludes to the side of the narrator that wishes to accomplish greater goals in life. However, after journal entry that reflects this personality, the narrator apologizes for opposing her husband. Near the end of the story the narrator gives way to her illness and this rebellious side of her personality. She exclaims this quote to her husband: "'I've got out at last,' said I, 'in spite of you and Jane? And I've pulled off most of the paper, so you can't put me back!'" (Perkins Gilman 380). This quote shows the narrator breaking free of the room with the wallpaper that traps her under her husbands command. The yellow wallpaper signifies the narrators ripping away at her husbands rules for both her health and life.
Perkins Gilman, Charlotte. "The Yellow Wallpaper." Trans. Array Anthology of the American Short Story.
Boston, Massachusetts: Houghton Mifflin Company, 367-380. Web. 23 Jan.
2014.
<https://bblearn.saintmarys.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-234339-dt-content-rid-322604_1/courses/HUST103.03-04.201420/Gilman
- Yellow Wallpaper.pdf>.
