In the first person narrative short story "The Yellow Wallpaper " written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the story takes place in a summer house where her husband, which is also her doctor, takes care of her due to her nervous depression. Her treatment requires that she do almost nothing active, and she is especially forbidden from working and writing. She feels that activity, freedom, and interesting work would help her condition and reveals that she has begun her secret journal in order to "relieve her mind. " In an attempt to do so, the narrator begins describing the house. Her description is mostly positive, but disturbing elements such as the "rings and things " in the bedroom walls, and the bars on the windows, keep showing up. She is particularly disturbed by the yellow wallpaper in the bedroom, with its strange, formless pattern, and describes it as "revolting. ".
The summer house, it was described as big and airy, with the windows barred from the time young children once played there. The main character's stay here symbolizes a sort of imprisonment similar to that of a jail. She is allowed to look outside through the windows, but can never interact with the world beyond the irons.
As she spends more time in the room, she cannot avoid the sight of the crude and repugnant yellow wallpaper. She initially finds the pattern displeasing and stressful, but eventually begins to watch it more and more, fascinated with the odd design. The main character eventually begins to see a woman "creeping and stooping down " in the design of the wallpaper.
The wallpaper symbolizes societal norms and how they can restrict our lives. Our main character seeing a woman trapped in the wallpaper could represent her feelings of entrapment and her need to conform to society.
Knowing this, we can understand why our main character decided to viciously tear off the wallpaper. Though she has clearly gone insane at this point, she believes that once she removes the wallpaper she will be able to free the woman trapped inside.
