The Yellow Wallpaper

With our protagonist, we see some parallels drawn in her psychosis. She begins to project herself into the wallpaper. From here we can see already where this is headed and already have a good idea of the ending. She needs stimulation and human interaction; neither of these needs met. With this basic human need unmet, she begins to personify the wallpaper. Soon she sees a woman trying to escape from the wallpaper. The wallpaper may be symbolic of her isolation, or her suppression by John and ultimately, men. I would prefer to interpret the story as the former, rather that the later. If this was an argument for feminism, I would think feminisms champion would instead be one of sound mind. As her isolation drags on- her need for interaction unmet- she begins to see other women in the wallpaper struggling to get out. The story’s ending was a natural progression in her schizophrenic state. She became the woman in the wallpaper, trying to escape. She states, ‘I’m getting really fond of the room in spite of the wallpaper.’ She continues, ‘Perhaps because of the wallpaper.’ The wallpaper allowed her to meet the need for interaction and stimulation. We do see a shift in the tone when she begins to see John as insincere: ‘He asked me all sorts of questions, too, and pretended to be very loving and kind.’ This is when her mental state slipped from bad to worse, as she had now worsened her condition by isolating herself from him as well. Following her isolation from John, is her isolation from Jennie and corresponding decline. Reading the story, she seemed to have suffered from some form of schizophrenia as a child: ‘there was one chair that always seemed like a strong friend.’ In the end, her supposed postpartum depression and isolation set her off into a schizophrenic episode that she ultimately lost herself to. She could not be silenced anymore, the wallpaper had come down. Her ‘creeping’ over her husband could be interpreted as a symbol of her delusions of victory over men and/or isolation.