Would a man deeply concerned for his wife's mental state constantly leave her alone to tend after patients with "serious" conditions (Kennedy et al. 426)? Any time John speaks to his wife, he uses the third person voice or refers to her as "little girl" or some other term of endearment (Kennedy and Gioia 430,431). He never uses her name, therefore he never really recognizes her as a person nor an equal. This dialog can easily be compares to one between a parent and his child. Because the room was an old nursery this idea is strongly enforced. Hance, there is no oddity in the fact that the narrator comes to think of herself as a child (Twentieth 111). She comments on the fact that the children tore the wallpaper and later admits to doing it herself (Kennedy et al. 426,428). Her regression is also demonstrated by her comparison of her present room with the bedroom of her childhood (Kennedy and Gioia 427,428). The underlying theme of woman's rights emanates from every part of "The Yellow Wallpaper." In an essay by Elaine R. Hedges, she points out how the wallpaper symbolized the gross lack of women' rights (Short 119). The yellow "smooches" that Jennie finds on the clothes of the narrator and her husband, symbolize the stain that this social situation leaves on everything it touches (Short 120). Though she tries to break free of the overwhelming oppression she suffers, she says the pattern, "slaps you in the face, knocks you down, and tramples on you (Kennedy et al. 431)." The intensity of frustration the narrator feels is further described when she describes the designs in the pattern: "(They) suddenly commit suicide - plunge off at outrageous angles, destroy themselves in unheard-of contradictions (Kennedy et al. 429)." Hedges also suggests that the wallpaper symbolizes the way men view women (Short 120). The "absurd, unblinking eyes" in the wallpaper indicate the lack of intelligence women have in the perception of men (Kennedy et al.