The yellow wallpaper is a story about a girl who has become depressed. Her husband, John decides that the best way to treat her condition is to send her to a old mansion and allow her to do nothing but rest. This only results in her going crazy after a strange fascination with a yellow wallpaper begins to grow.
Project
So for our project, we decided to create a sample of what the narrator described the wallpaper as, and then explain the significance of the patterns in the wallpaper.
Background Knowledge:
The story the Yellow Wallpaper is based on the 19th century, when women didn't have many rights. Women in that time period were categorized as being owned by their father or husband. They had very few rights; women couldn't vote, sue or be sued, were discouraged to go to higher education, and they had very limited control of personal property after marriage. Most women either stayed home working or got a very low paying job. Gender inequality in this time was very evident.
Wallpaper and Narrator Analysis:
The wallpaper in the Yellow Wallpaper is a huge symbolization in the story, because of its many patterns that are viewed by the narrator. The narrator is a normal women during the time who became depressed, probably because of her lack of importance in her daily life. Her husband being a physician, sent her to a mansion to do the rest treatment. That was a treatment primarily for women where they basically rested all day and were banned from doing any work (cleaning, writing, etc.). As the narrator rests however, she is bothered by the yellow wallpaper in her room. She describes its many patterns, but we as a reader can interpret what the symbols mean based on her situation and the time period.
Moonlight Analysis:
In the moonlight, the reader says she sees two things in the wallpaper, bars and a women creeping. Also, later on in the story, she describes that the women "just takes a hold of the bars and shakes them hard". So what does this mean? The bars in the paper represent all the traditions and expectations that women have, as well as how they don't have any rights. So, the bars generally mean just all the barriers of inequality that women have to face. Then, the women shaking the bars represents how many women (including the narrator) want to have a better, more equal life to the men. Eventually, the narrator becomes to believe that she is the women in the wallpaper, after she becomes engulfed in trying to figure out the pattern of the wallpaper.
Daylight Analysis:
In the daylight, the narrator says that there is two patterns, a fungus in the foreground, and strangled heads with large white eyes. Although, the daylight pattern isn't as referenced in the story as the moonlight pattern, we can still gather this information. I think the fungus in the pattern represents how the narrators frustration and fascination with the wallpaper grows, much like a fungus. It also represents how eventually her fascination with the wallpaper will begin to control the narrator, like how a fungus takes over a field. Then, the strangled heads connect to the moonlight pattern, since the narrator thinks that the heads were strangled after trying to escape the bars. This shows how many people were unsuccessful in trying to break the barrier of gender inequality.
The story the Yellow Wallpaper is based on the 19th century, when women didn't have many rights. Women in that time period were categorized as being owned by their father or husband. They had very few rights; women couldn't vote, sue or be sued, were discouraged to go to higher education, and they had very limited control of personal property after marriage. Most women either stayed home working or got a very low paying job. Gender inequality in this time was very evident.
Wallpaper and Narrator Analysis:
The wallpaper in the Yellow Wallpaper is a huge symbolization in the story, because of its many patterns that are viewed by the narrator. The narrator is a normal women during the time who became depressed, probably because of her lack of importance in her daily life. Her husband being a physician, sent her to a mansion to do the rest treatment. That was a treatment primarily for women where they basically rested all day and were banned from doing any work (cleaning, writing, etc.). As the narrator rests however, she is bothered by the yellow wallpaper in her room. She describes its many patterns, but we as a reader can interpret what the symbols mean based on her situation and the time period.
Moonlight Analysis:
In the moonlight, the reader says she sees two things in the wallpaper, bars and a women creeping. Also, later on in the story, she describes that the women "just takes a hold of the bars and shakes them hard". So what does this mean? The bars in the paper represent all the traditions and expectations that women have, as well as how they don't have any rights. So, the bars generally mean just all the barriers of inequality that women have to face. Then, the women shaking the bars represents how many women (including the narrator) want to have a better, more equal life to the men. Eventually, the narrator becomes to believe that she is the women in the wallpaper, after she becomes engulfed in trying to figure out the pattern of the wallpaper.
Daylight Analysis:
In the daylight, the narrator says that there is two patterns, a fungus in the foreground, and strangled heads with large white eyes. Although, the daylight pattern isn't as referenced in the story as the moonlight pattern, we can still gather this information. I think the fungus in the pattern represents how the narrators frustration and fascination with the wallpaper grows, much like a fungus. It also represents how eventually her fascination with the wallpaper will begin to control the narrator, like how a fungus takes over a field. Then, the strangled heads connect to the moonlight pattern, since the narrator thinks that the heads were strangled after trying to escape the bars. This shows how many people were unsuccessful in trying to break the barrier of gender inequality.