Literary Analysis - "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

     In the short story "The Yellow Wallpaper," Charlotte Perkins Gilman tells the story of a young wife who is suffering from a mental breakdown while facing self affliction over her role as a woman. Through portraying the narrators mental deterioration and personal liberation Gilman emphasizes the necessity of changing how gender roles are defined within society. Within the short story, Gilman utilizes the narrators isolation as well as her bedroom to strengthen her argument on gender equality.

     In the story, the narrator’s husband requires her to be isolated from society for the majority of her time in order to improve her mental health. Contrary to John’s beliefs, the narrator becomes more mentally unstable throughout her time in isolation because she is kept from expressing her creativity and is forced to yearn for freedom from her husbands control, causing her mental state to deteriorate. This portrays Gilman’s message because the narrator is compliant to the requests of her husband, keeping her journal a secret as well as not expressing the her discontent with her living situation. Due to the isolated setting the narrator lives in, Gilman’s message becomes clear as the readers witness the affects the narrator experiences due to her inability to voice her issues with John, as he views her as incompetent and even childish because she is a woman, resulting in her rapidly spreading mental illness. 

     To further the story, the narrator’s room contributes to the author’s overall message due to the symbolism within the different parts of the room. First, the room is illustrated as a prison-like nursery where “the windows are barred… and there are rings and things in the walls” (1067). This symbol of the room contributes to the characterization of John, portraying him as a controlling and dominant figure within the marraige. Similarly, Gilman uses the yellow wallpaper to not only symbolize the growth in the narrators mental illness, but also to show how her perception of liberation has changed as she begins to view herself as equal to John, eventually as his controller. Overall, the symbolism used within the narrators bedroom illustrates the shift in perspective as the narrator moves closer towards gender liberation and away from the typical wife role. 

     In conclusion, without the setting that the story takes place in, the authors message would not have been as accurately perceived. This piece of the story emphasizes the importance of gender equality within relationships due to how controlling and overbearing people have the ability to literally drive someone insane. The various ways that Gilman used the setting of the story to portray her message that the gender equality is a necessity in society makes her overall argument successful.