The Yellow Wallpaper

Within the "Yellow Wallpaper," by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the narrator transitions from a state of subordination to a state of authority; finding an escape from her husband and society's dominance through utter insanity.  Throughout the story, the narrator is treated as if she were a child and is placed in a nursery to emphasize her lack of authority within society, having as little power as an infant when it comes to her relationships and her status. John, the narrator's husband, never listens to her concerns and brushes off the severity of her case, postpartum depression, because he has "more serious cases" to tend to. When the narrator wishes to discuss important matters with John, he often speaks with the most condescending tone calling her his "blessed little goose" (1686 Gilman) and he even carries her to her room and reads to her until she falls asleep one night following a disagreement.  It is not until the narrator fully loses herself (her dependable and accepting nature that all women are "supposed" to possess) that she is able to experience a sense of freedom that she lacked in her marriage.  Earlier in the story the narrator mentions how inappropriate it is for a woman to creep in the open causing her to creep in private: "It must be very embarrassing to be caught creeping by daylight...I always lock the door when I creep by daylight" (1693 Gilman). The narrator is bound to society's rules and expectations so she hides whatever society deems unpleasant because she does not want to bring to light what the rest of the world does not wish to see. At the end however, the narrator is freed from her subordinate role through her lunacy and overcomes her husband when he finds her creeping by daylight: "Now why should that man have fainted? But he did, and right across my path by the wall, so that I had to creep over him every time!" (1695 Gilman).  John no longer has power over the narrator; she, on the other hand, brings to light the dire situation of her case and no longer allows him to prevent her from doing what she, not society as a whole, deems fit.

                Gilman attacks the "rest cure" within the "Yellow Wallpaper" because she believed that this treatment represented the inferiority of women during this time period. She wrote this cautionary tale not only to combat the "rest cure" but also to warn against the inevitable outcome if society did not change its view.  Gilman warns that women will eventually break free from their lesser positions in one of two ways, whether it be through society's change of heart or through madness.