After staring at the wallpaper long enough, she finds that the pattern moves because of the woman behind it trying to get out. She describes the woman as “all the time trying to climb out. But nobody could climb through that pattern – it strangles so” (353). This is another reference to how the lives of women are restricting. The barred windows represents the world of possibilities, but the narrator says, “I don't like to look out of the windows even – there are so many of those creeping women and they creep so fast”(353), because of how the women must “creep” around without being seen or
She is introduced as a temptress or “looker” but later reveals a deeper character in the novel. Curley’s wife is powerless due to her gender. In the book, women are portrayed as troublemakers and Curley’s wife is defiantly included in this portrayal. She is described as a “tart”, “bitch”, and a “tramp”. The workers speak of her, basically, as Curley’s problem that needs to stay at home away from the other workers.
I can’t do it at night, for John would suspect something at once.”(124) This creeping of the woman in the wallpaper and the narrator describes some of the extreme lengths that women went to get some freedom for themselves. Creeping around physically and politically, women had to sneak for a while before being acknowledged as independent and intelligent beings. As aptly expressed by Thomas when written, “Women attempted to over through the traditional definition of women’s roles. This perfectly describes what women had to do in this time to have some small amount of freedom. They had to reduce themselves to subversion and trickery.
He then comes home to cook, clean, and tend to the boy. Her internal conflict eventually leads to the climax when she completely isolates herself in a separate room, only coming out when the husband and the boy are away. While most women want families, she despises hers. In this room, she could imagine she was anywhere but where she actually was. She would dream of being a virgin, locked away in a tower, reiterating the fact she did not want to be a mother or a wife and instead she would be in a fairy tale.
These narrations are looking for a faithful way to uncertainty in these stories. Charlotte Perkins Gilman story, “The Yellow Wallpaper” is narrated by a woman who is mentally unstable. The story evolves as the narrator slips into madness. Her husband a physician is concerned about his wives insanity and well-being he forbids her from using her imagination and writing. This only worsens her condition causing her to become obsessed with the yellow wallpaper in her room.
She somehow sneaks a rope into her room, without John knowing. The thing is that she really didn’t have a place to do it. The bed is nailed to the floor and the windows are barred. So the fact that she is very dangerous to herself and who knows is she is a danger to anybody else. Another thing is it’s not like the baby isn’t being cared for, John sister is taking care of the baby.
By tearing it down, the narrator emerges from the wallpaper and asserts her own identity, albeit a somewhat confused, insane one. Though she must crawl around the room, as the woman in the wallpaper crawls around, this "creeping" is the first stage in a feminist uprising. From the beginning of the story, the narrator’s creativity is set in conflict with John’s rationality. As a writer, the narrator thrives in her use of her imagination, and her creativity is an inherent part of her nature. John does not recognize his wife’s fundamental creativity and believes that he can force out her imaginative fancies and replace them with his own solid
Gilman uses symbols to explain the how women are trapped in domestic life. The symbol that Gilman uses the yellow wallpaper in the room she is confined in. At first, the wallpaper is just awful as she says “The color is repellent, almost revolting; a smoldering unclean yellow.” She is disgusted by it and understands why children, who have been in this room, would want to tear it down. Then, the wallpaper becomes a point of curiosity as she wants to discover the organization of the pattern. She said, “...and I determine for the thousandth time that I will follow that pointless pattern to some sort of a conclusion,” as if the wallpaper was made with symmetry in mind.
In Gilman’s short story, “The Yellow Wallpaper,” the 19th century female narrator experiences societal restrictions but does not yet have the confidence within herself to break free and fulfill her ambitions, giving the world all she has to offer. Through the use of the symbols, the wallpaper and the nursery she is confined in, the restrictions on this woman’s ambition are exemplified. Especially in the 19th century before the feminist movement, society restricted many types of people from satisfying their dreams; consequently, these oppressed groups were forced to submit to this dominating force. Gilman writes, “Then in the very bright spots she keeps still, and in the very shady spots she just takes hold of the bars and shakes them hard.” describing the sub pattern, a woman, of the wallpaper. While this woman depicted in the wallpaper is in the light, the view of society, she doesn’t move or rebel; equally, when the woman is in the dark, alone, she resents society and the “bars” it places in front of her.
Her husband is gone from the house more often, to take care of the patients with serious conditions, leaving her with Jennie, his sister. She feels alone and her imagination makes up these apparitions in the wallpaper to keep her amused. She starts seeing a woman creeping in the wallpaper. The woman scares her and she wants to move into a different room to escape her phantom presence. Her imagining this woman is representing the narrator subconsciously realizing that she might me going crazy and that fact scares her and she wants to escape the empty room that leaves her to her