This uneasiness or nervousness is not only expressed throughout Gilman's diaries, but through Jane, the narrator of the story who has a baby boy. Jane, who is honestly portraying Gilman, remarks, "[I]cannot be with him, it makes me so nervous"(Other 5)(Yellow 336). .
I do believe, however, that this unavailability gave Gilman the insight, later in life, to develop the strength to follow her convictions that "women should be able to have marriage and motherhood and do her work in the world also- (Hedges 45). Her beliefs in the equality of men and women are peppered throughout her writings. During the nineteenth century, the social/gender roles of women were to take care of and nurture the home and family without the interference of an active mind. These types of activities, reading, writing and thinking only took unnecessary time away from a woman's household duties. In both the story and Gilman's life, the women's lack of interest or ability for the domesticity left a considerable void in their lives. The inability of both the author and the narrator of The Yellow Wallpaper to conform to society's norms or expectations caused each considerable grief, a grief that weighed heavily upon them, released in bouts of depression that would plague them for the rest of their lives. But this grief would foster an irrepressible need to fight for the independence of women and reconstruction of society's view. This is one of the major themes that the short story The Yellow Wallpaper is based upon. .
Kuhns 3.
One point that I find very intriguing in the short story is the yellow wallpaper itself and the description of it by the narrator. It is given an almost human quality with eyes that watch the woman's every move, judging and criticizing, continually commenting on the ineptness of her role as a wife and mother. This coincides with Gilman's own feelings of contempt for the "domestic ideology in which men and women by definition occupy "separate spheres," the men's "sphere" being the public realm of commerce and politics, and women's the contained environment of the home"(Gill 17).
