She discovers a woman behind the pattern of the wallpaper, and eventually she determines that the pattern moves, because this woman behind is shaking it. Eventually, she begins to grow accustomed to the vicious paper and develops a kind of friendship with it. .
One distinctive part of the house that symbolizes not only her potential but also her trapped feeling is the window. In literature, traditionally this would symbolize a prospect of possibilities, but now it becomes a view to a world she may not want to take part in. Through it she sees all that she could be and everything that she could have. But she says near the end, "I don't like to look out of the windows even - there are so many of those creeping women, and they creep so fast- (Gilman 1143). She knows that she has to hide and lie low; that she would have to creep in order to be accepted in society and she does not want to see all the other women who have to do the same because she realizes they are a reflection of herself. She expresses how women have to move without being seen in society. The window does not represent a gateway for her. She can not enter what she can see outside of the window, literally, because John will not let her, (there are bars holding her in), but also because that world will not belong to her, she will be oppressed like all other women. She will be controlled, and be forced to suffocate her self-expression. The only prospect of possibilities that this window shows is all negative. It shows a world in where she will be oppressed and forced to creep like all the other women. The wallpaper basically enhanced the overall theme of depression and everything that went into it, repressed sexuality being one. The reader generally feels sorry for Jane, and the wallpaper is a big reason why. The fact that she has somewhat of a friendship with the wallpaper is somewhat disturbing. It is often documented how a hostage in any type of situation can become close to the person holding them hostage; in this situation one can look at Jane as the hostage and the wallpaper as the person holding her hostage.