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Criticism: Symbolism In 'The Yellow Wallpaper'

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The “Yellow Wallpaper” describes the mentality of men of nineteenth century when the women had no rights of a citizen and she was limited to home and upbringing of children. This short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” revolves around a sick wife who is suffering from the nervous breakdown and her physician asks her to take some bed rest but her husband John who is also a physician, does not take the advice of her wife Gilman’s physician, serious and ask everyone that there is nothing with her wife, she is quite well and her wife is performing just dramatic actions. This short story takes place in the times of great change, and it was a time when women were oppressed by the men and a men dominance society was prevailing there. At that time women …show more content…

The wallpaper of the room of the narrator gives an impression of imprisonment when she narrates that “The faint figure behind seemed to shake the pattern, just as if she wanted to get out” where this statement gives an impression of her helplessness and feels herself a prisoner and she wants to go out from this imprisonment. The yellow paper is taken as a symbol of imprisonment because of the reason that the narrator does not want to live in this yellow wallpaper room and she does not feel well here but her husband does not agree upon her decision for changing the room and force her to live in this room. This makes her fed up from this jailbird life and finally finds treatment of her husband towards her dubious and wishes for her freedom from this jail. The symbolism yellow paper in the “The Yellow Wallpaper” made clear from another statement of Gilman which is “At night in any kind of light, in twilight, candle light, lamplight, and worst of all by moonlight, it becomes bars! The outside pattern I mean, and the woman behind it is as plain as can be” [5]. The narrator feels more and more obsessed when she thinks that behind the bars of these lights there is no other but women and so she wants to leave this room but does not able to do this because her husband does not permit her to do so. This deep symbolism became clear from the name of this

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