Symbolism In The Yellow Wallpaper

"The Yellow Wallpaper," is a short story that is filled with symbolism throughout the whole story. The story in general is a basic symbol of how men thought that women weren't as mentally stable and capable as men were. There are multiple specific examples of this symbolism though. For example, the color yellow. It is often linked with illness or weakness. Throughout the whole book the woman was made to feel like she was sick and not well. Her husband isolated her in the country so that she could get "better" although at the beginning of the book she was sane. The husband not taking the wallpaper down is him being oppressive and dominant over her. This is how all men thought that women should be treated during this time period. Men thought that they were incompetent and incapable of making any types of decisions. Also, when she tries to talk to John about her condition he tells her that she should not think about it. This is symbolic of woman's suffrage because if women attempted to free themselves from the inequalities then men would just oppress them and make them feel inferior. Another example, when she is peering out her window she sees the garden which is representative of the outside world and society and of all that things that woman cannot have. She is confined to her room and the windows are barred, leaving her and all women isolated from the outside world because men don't think that they can handle it. The most significant symbol is the woman inside the wallpaper. After a couple of nights in the room she begins to notice this woman inside the wallpaper and is very intrigued by her. She begins to stay up every night and watch the woman. The woman is locked inside these bars and struggles so deeply to get out. She shakes and shakes the bars but she is stilled locked inside of them. This symbolizes how all women feel because they are being confined by men when they want to be let out and freed to do whatever they want because they feel that they are just as good as men and can do everything just as good, maybe even better. One night before they are about the leave the house and move back to the city the woman decides that she is going to let the woman in the wallpaper out. It takes her hours and hours but she keeping pulling and pulling until she gets all of the wallpaper off the wall. The woman is now freed from the bars and the wallpaper. This act also makes the wife feel like she has been freed from all her restraints and when her husband gets back she doesn't listen to everything he says, she starts to be independent and say what she feels. This is the major action of the story and makes the woman free from the reign of men. This is by far the most symbolic thing in the short story.