What is one to do when your husband cares not for anything you say, because he "knows" better? When was a marriage comprised of a woman whose only role was as a slave, a helpless victim, cared for in every way by her dominant and controlling husband? But, was this dominance and control, or merely just how marriages were? In a short story entitled The Yellow Wallpaper, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the time in which the story was written sets the mood for the whole piece and allows the reader to infer from the text the meaning of the events that lead up to the climatic ending.

The time in which this story was written was the late 1800's. Men feeling that all women were inferior to them in every respect characterized this period. Women were considered frail and useless other than for a man's pleasure or to manage a household. The main character in this story was a perfect example of a woman from that time. She, though full of opinions, was not strong enough to vocalize them to her husband. The

I see her on that long shaded lane, creeping up and down. I see her in those dark grape arbors, creeping all around the garden. .. I see her on that long road under the trees, creeping along, and when a carriage comes she hides under the blackberry vines. .. I don't blame her a bit. It must be very humiliating to be caught creeping by daylight! .. I always lock the door when I creep by daylight. I can't do it at night, for I know John would suspect something at once.(Gilman, 247)

I sometimes fancy that in my condition, if I had less opposition and more society and stimulus-but John says that the very worst things I can do is to think about my condition, and I confess it always make me feel bad.(Gilman, 239)

The climax begins to build, as the narrator is forced to stay in a room that she is very uncomfortable in. She says:

In this quote, the narrator gives living characteristics to something that is not alive. The reader can infer from this that she is beginning to lose her mind. This atmosphere is only adding to her "nervousness" and causing her to analyze everything. Because of her analyzing she is slowly losing her mind. She even goes so far as to believe that the wallpaper is alive. That there is a woman or women actually trapped behind the paper, only able to escape the paper during the day.

In this quote, the narrator shows the reader that she has her own opinion of her condition, yet, she is afraid to tell her husband because he supposedly "knows better".

As the story continues, the narrator's sanity becomes the main concern of the reader. However, besides the ever-apparent isolation of the narrator in this mansion away from all civilization, another reason appears to be more harmful to her welfare. The room that she is staying in is that reason. She starts to imagine a woman in the hideous yellow wallpaper whose smell, she believe, permeates the mansion. The narrator says:

In this quote, the control the narrator's husband has over her is even more present. Even though she does not want to stay in the room, he doesn't care for her opinion because it is really his opinion that matters, and he enjoys the room. The narrator said, "he said there was only one window and not room for two beds, and no near rooms for him if he took another."(Gilman, 240) However, as a husband would do, he tries to explain his reasoning to his wife as to why he doesn't want to change the room, or re-wallpaper it. "He said that after the wallpaper was changed it would be the heavy bedstead, and then the barred windows, and then that gate

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Approximate Word count = 1733
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)