The story "The Yellow Wall-paper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman shows the binary relationship between oppression and freedom for women in the late 1800's. Set during a time of growing political tensions regarding women's rights, this story shows the struggle for and realization of freedom. "The Yellow Wall-paper" examines one young woman's belief, acquired through oppression, that proper women in society are to do what they are told without questioning what is right or wrong. Because of this, the narrator allows herself to be oppressed in many layers, including her husband, society, and the stigma of mental illness. In the end, she achieves freedom from these oppressors through the symbolic, delusional escape in the yellow wallpaper. .
From early in this story, the reader gets a clear sense that the narrator is being oppressed by her husband and doctor, John. When the narrator is afflicted with a case of post-partum depression, her husband does not believe she is truly sick. This is shown when she says that, .
You see he does not believe I am sick! And what can one do? If a physician of high standing, and one's own husband, assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing the matter with one but temporary nervous depression- a slight hysterical tendency- what is one to do? My brother is also a physician, and also of high standing, and he says the same thing. (608) .
The narrator accepts the belief that because a man is a doctor and in high social standing, he must know what is right for her. This is the case even though she clearly states in the text that for herself, "congenial work, with excitement and change, would do [her] good," (608). She feels that continuing her life in a new, exciting environment might allow her to overcome her depression, but she does not question John when he prescribes seclusion. In response to her objection with the men in her life, she states over and over "What is one to do?" (608).
