The yellow wallpaper Today, women have more freedom than they did in the early nineteenth century. We have the right to vote, to seek positions normally reserved for men and, above all, the right to use our minds. However, women in the late 1800s were raised as submissive housewives who were not allowed to express their interests. In the story "The Yellow Wallpaper", by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, a woman is isolated from the world and her family because she suffers from a temporary illness. Under her husband's care, she undergoes a treatment called the "rest cure" prescribed by her doctor, Dr. Weir Mitchell. It includes bed rest, no emotional or physical stimulation, and limited access to people. However, due to the isolation, the woman forms a delusional relationship with the yellow wallpaper in her bedroom. His patterns represent everything that is happening in his current life. She is a lonely woman who longs to escape the walls that surround her and be free. At the beginning of the story, the woman in the story suffers from temporary nervous depression and has just been released from a sanatorium. Because she is ill, her husband John has received instructions from her doctor on how to help her recover. “He is very attentive and loving, and hardly lets [his wife] move without special direction” (Gilman, 451). This treatment confines her to her room upstairs. She is also required to rest in bed for a long time and is prohibited from access to people and stimuli. However it can be said that such instructions will cause the disease to continue due to lack of activity, isolation from the outside world, especially from family members. It seems that the woman in the story wants......middle of paper......rld and the woman represents her. Eventually, John's wife concludes that her only escape from the room is to tear down the wallpaper. In doing so, he frees himself and takes control of his life. Gilman based this story on his own experience. It gives readers a glimpse into how women were limited in mental stimulation and creative thinking because they were forced to conform to society's norms. The woman in the story is a great example of how women were denied participation in their own marriage. Works Cited Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. "The yellow wallpaper." 1892. pages. 450-461. Johnson, Greg. Gilman's Gothic Allegory: Anger and Redemption in “The Yellow Wallpaper,” in Studies in Short Fiction, vol.26, no. 4, autumn, 1989, p. 521-30.Korb, Rena. An overview of “The Yellow Wallpaper,” in Exploring Short Stories, Gale Research, 1998.