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The Yellow Wallpaper By Charlotte Perkins Gilman

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In Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story The Yellow Wallpaper the main character is a symbol of the authors personal experience. It is also symbol for all the repressed woman of that her time. You never no the name of this woman who is suffering so, throughout the entire story. She seems to lack any of her own identity. She is treated as weak and un-knowledgeable even when it comes to her own health. Her concerns are considered frivolous. She never questions her husband but instead seems to just hide things from him. Based on the society around her she accepts all the treatment and doubt from her husband as normal. He belittles her. Her illness is supposed to be fixed with just a rest cure and fresh air. She is also isolated to save her strength. She then puts all of her focus into the wallpaper. She becomes obsessed with it. She starts to hallucinate and see a woman in the paper. It seems that the hallucination of the woman in the wallpaper is a reflection of herself. She projects her problems onto this woman. The woman is trapped in the paper, behind bars, then when she is alone the woman is free and she is seen walking around both in and outside. I think this is the author showing the woman trying to break free from the suppression of man. She herself rarely goes outside and most of her time is spend trapped in this musty room, with no company. The nameless woman even starts ripping at the wallpaper trying to release the images in the pattern

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