... a little distance they suddenly commit suicide(p.158)." In other instances, the wallpaper is given the feel of an object with disturbed human characteristics. The author notes that, "there is a recurrent spot where the pattern lolls like a broken neck and two bulbous eyes stare at you upside down (p.158)." She then ... her mind is deteriorating and only can be used in it's normal capacity under certain conditions. As with a mentally ill person, the author notes on page 161 she is becoming confused and is losing touch with reality when she claims that the wallpaper is no longer her enemy...

• Word Count: 931
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... patches all around the head of the bed, about as far as one can reach. She states that she has never seen worse paper in her whole life. The narrator notes that the paper is, "dull enough to confuse the eye in following, pronounced enough to constantly irritate and provoke study, and when you follow the lame uncertain curves for a little ... wait for me on the stairs (282)." The ongoing smell also symbolizes the continuing thought of the wallpaper in her mind. She describes that she even is woken up at night by the smell hanging over her. This statement adds a twist to the story because...

• Word Count: 1123
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... stream-of-consciousness narrative. Earlier in the text, one of the narrator's caretakers, Jennie, states that she finds the color of the wallpaper in the narrator's clothing. Later the narrator notes that a "streak runs round the room as if it had been rubbed over and over" (Gilman, 310). This example illustrates the dissociation that the narrator begins to suffer ... narrative, confusion between whether the woman behind the wallpaper is the narrator or someone else entirely increases. "I suppose I shall have to get back behind the pattern when it comes night, and that is hard!" (Gilman...

• Word Count: 1342
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... attitude, calling her "little girl" and "little goose". He treats her as a child at times, plus doesn't really listen to her. John prescribes the narrators whole day, from morning to night. She is not even allowed to hold her child because it causes too much intellectual stimulation. John believes that too much stimulation can make her condition worse. When she writes ... the paper and she tells herself how she really feels. The narrator calls the paper "dead paper" because she knows that she will be the only one reading her own notes. Writing her thoughts down onto paper lets her commu...

• Word Count: 1014
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School