The title itself, The Yellow Wallpaper, is symbolizing the role men play in a patriarchal society, where men are the more dominant sex, and how women are "trapped" in a life of male control. For instance, At night in any kind of light, in twilight, candlelight, lamplight, and worst of all moonlight, it becomes bars!"(Gilman 211) This shows how the narrator feels trapped by the paper. Another symbol that refers to the role women play is, "And she is all the time trying to climb through that pattern, it strangles so; I think th

The way Gilman describes the wallpaper tells of what the narrator's mind is thinking, "and when you follow the lame uncertain curves for a little distance they suddenly commit suicide."(Gillman 206) She doesn't think this on the conscious level but more on the unconscious level. When the narrator writes, "(The designs) destroy themselves in unheard of contradictions."(Gillman 206) She is speaking of her state of mind subconsciously, the narrator is on the brink of losing her mind at this point. Gillman writes, "There is a recurrent spot where the pattern lolls like a broken neck and two bulbous eyes stare at you upside down. "(Gillman 207) She was explaining how the wallpaper is like a "watchdog" or a guard of some type, watching her every move, naturally making her nervous.

As she sits in the room for hours on end, her mind allows her to see herself as an acquaintance portrayed as a stranger trapped behind the design in the wallpaper. "But int the places where it isn't faded and where the sun is just so-I can see a st

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Approximate Word count = 692
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)