The Yellow Wallpaper Symbolism

Words: 731
Pages: 3

In the story “The Yellow Wallpaper” symbolism is a major aspect to the story and how it plays out. In “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Gilman, even the title is an example of symbolism. So what does being “mad” really mean if all you doctor said to do was rest? In the story, symbolism is a major aspect as I said. One example of symbolism in this story is the wallpaper itself. This is a symbolism to jane as a friend, another woman, a trap, and many other things. As jane sees it through the story, a woman begins to get trapped in the wallpaper. The woman she sees is herself and another woman. She sees herself because when she's stuck in her disorder, she feels trapped in the room with bars on the window feeling her locked up. The bars on …show more content…
Her writing is an example of symbolism because she is not supposed to be writing. Her writing makes her feel and pour the emotions out that he has. Her husband tells her not to write being afraid of something like this happening. He says in the text that writing to yourself just brings out more emotions. By writing in a journal, you aren’t writing to a specific person at that time, only to yourself. Sometimes writing is good to get away from problems. In “The Yellow Wallpaper” her writing is what makes her problem worse. She explains in her writing how being locked up in the room gives her certain feelings of emptiness. Emptiness is a feeling of being alone. This feeling is symbolic to her and her writing because it explains how she went mad. In the text on page 1 it states “I sometimes fancy that in my condition if I had less opposition and more society and stimulus stimulus-- but John says the very worst thing I can do is to think about my condition.” Her condition is what makes her mad, but her writing doesn’t make it any better. In the text later in the story she explains to John how the house makes her feel worse. She explains how the walls have secrets and they are hiding things. She then begins to see a woman trapped in the wallpaper wanting to get