As her madness progresses the narrator in The Yellow Wallpaper becomes increasingly
aware of a woman present in the pattern of the wallpaper. She sees this woman struggling
against the paper's "bars". Later in her madness she imagines there to be many women lost
in its "torturing" pattern, trying in vain to climb through it. The woman caught in the
wallpaper seems to parallel the narrator's virtual imprisonment by her well-meaning
husband. While the narrator's perception of the wallpaper reveals her increasing madness, it
effectively symbolizes the struggle of women who attempt to break out of society's
feminine standards.
The narrator writes furtively in her room, having to hide her writing from her family. They
feel that her only road to recovery is through total R & R, that she should not have to lift a
finger, let alone stimulate a single neuron in her female brain. While she appreciates their
concern she feels stifled and bored. She feels......
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Approximate Word Count: 904
Approximate Pages: 4 (260 words per double-spaced page) |