Symbols of the Yellow wallpaper
In Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s story, “The Yellow Wallpaper.” Gilman uses the pattern, the color, and the smell, of the wallpaper, as a representation of oppression and the barriers that women in the late 1800’s suffered at the hands of the dominant male society. Gilman writes “The Yellow Wallpaper” from her personal experience as a victim of the male society. ... In reality, the male society of “The Yellow Wallpaper,” saw women as helpless, fragile creatures that lacked the capabilities of handling professional matters. ... Again, the narrator used “color” in “The Yellow Wallpaper,” as a metaphor to expose the characteristics of the pattern that society used to oppressed women. In addition, the narrator appropriately used yellow, which signifies scandal, according to the Merriam Webster dictionary, because the “rest cure” treatment proved to be scandalous in the end. In her state of mind, the narrator began to hallucinate that there were many women trapped in the inside pattern of “The Yellow Wallpaper.” She said that the pattern of the wallpaper was dull enough to confuse the eyes, because she wanted to point out to her readers the skillfulness of these men in covering up their motives for this type of treatment.