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Tiffany Wilson
Lindsey Wilson College
Tracie Jones
August 7, 2016
The Yellow Wallpaper
Imagine being locked in a room, forbidden to leave, forbidden to think only able to
express your underlying thoughts in a secret journal. In Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s, The Yellow
Wallpaper, this is exactly what the narrator has been forced to do. Her husband, John, has forced
her to stay in a room that ultimately drives her insane. The underlying theme in The Yellow
Wallpaper is that of dominance men often exert over their wives. In addition, the dominance that
the narrator’s husband employs over her ultimately leads to her insanity. This theme is seen
through the use of actual medical practices of the 19th century, the narrator’s plunge into
insanity, and finally the liberation of the narrator.
Dr. Rama Rao’s article “The Yellow Wallpaper – A Dynamic Symbol: A Study of
Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s Story” argues that five themes exist within “The Yellow Wallpaper”.
The five themes that Rao discusses are marital relationship, treatment of depression patients, the
self and the other, problems confronted by a woman writer, and the problem of communication.
Rao’s argument relies on how Charlotte Perkins Gilman relies “in the attitude of ambivalence
adopted by the author towards her unnamed protagonist”. Jeannette King and Pam Morris article
“On Not Reading Between The Lines” Models Of Reading In ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’” suggest
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that woman are often portrayed as very simplistic creatures, but often like in “The Yellow
Wallpaper” woman tend to be much more complex. Both of the authors suggest that the
Gilman’s use of imagery helps the reader gather insight into the mind of the unnamed narrator.
They also suggest that woman are ultimately “doomed.” Rula Quawas’s article “A New
Woman’s Journey Into Insanity: Decent And Return In “The Yellow Wallpaper”” offers insight
into the concepts of womanhood. She claims that there are four ideas that makeup the concept of
“true womanhood.” These ideas are a sharp contradiction between the home and the economic
world outside the paralleled a sharp contrast between female and male nature, the designation of
the home as the female’s only proper sphere, the moral superiority of woman, and the
idealization of her function as a mother and a wife. Rula Quawas elaborates on these four idea’s
