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Adam Vesey
Elizabeth O'Brien
Yan Pan

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“But I know she was studying that pattern, and I am determined that nobody shall find it out but myself!”(Perkins Gilman).

At this point in the story, the narrator is becoming very protective of the wallpaper, no one is allowed to figure out the pattern or even study it. The narrator is hopelessly obsessed with the pattern on the wall- thinking about it day and night. The wallpaper is now having a very negative impact on the narrator causing her to be very territorial and protective of the paper.

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“There are things in that paper which nobody knows but me, or ever will.

Behind that outside pattern the dim shapes get clearer every day.

It is always the same shape, only very numerous.

And it is like a woman stooping down and creeping about behind that pattern. I don’t like it a bit. I wonder—I begin to think—I wish John would take me away from here!”(Perkins Gilman).

As the story progresses the narrator moves further and further into her imaginative fantasy. Although the true mysteries of the wallpaper strike fear into the narrator, she is also jealous of anyone else solving the wallpaper’s mystery first. She becomes more and more protective of the wallpaper and even begins to talk less to John as to not give away her secrets about the wallpaper. Therefore, the wallpaper is causing her to move towards insanity but also into even more isolation than before.

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“I wish I could get well faster. But I must not think about that. This paper looks to me as if it knew what a vicious influence it had!”(Perkins Gilman).

The narrator’s declining mental state is causing her to begin to see the wallpaper as an animated entity. Her social isolation and countless hours spent studying the wallpaper have distracted her from getting any better. Not only is the wallpaper distracting but she is also allowing it to influence her emotions; its vicious influence causes frustration and confusion.

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“She is all the time trying to climb through. But nobody could climb through that pattern-it strangles so; I think that is why it has so many heads.” (Perkins Gilman).

The woman trying to get through the front pattern of the wallpaper is symbolic of Jane trying to escape her situation and mental decline. As her mental health worsens her imagination becomes more vivid and she has realistic delusions. The woman in the wallpaper is always trying to escape her confines, crawling round and shaking the bars.

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“‘I’ve got out at last,” said I, “In spite of you and Jane. And I’ve pulled off most of the paper, so you can’t put me back!’” (Perkins Gilman).

At the very end of the story Jane’s mental state completely degrades into her delusions. As she talks in their person she is referring to herself escaping her situation through the decline of her mental state. Jane believes that she is free when in reality she isn't. Though she had continuously been trying to find ways out of her situation with being in the house and with her husband.

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“Did not that sound innocent? But I know she was studying that pattern, and I am determined that nobody shall find out but myself!” (Perkins Gilman).

As the social isolation worsens worsens her mental health she believes she sees a woman in the wallpaper. At this point in the journal entries she becomes possessive of the wallpaper as Jane wants to be the only one who frees the woman. This plays to her social isolation and her need to be freed.

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“So I take phosphates or phosphites-whichever it is- and tonics, and air and exercise, and journeys, and am absolutely forbidden to “work”“ (Perkins Gilman).

As this quote comes from the first journal entry the reader can see how Jane doesn’t agree with the prescribed treatment. Jane believes that if she can have mentally stimulating work with change and excitement, it would do her better than the rest cure. This is also when her mental health is the best in the entire three months.

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How is the color used in "The Yellow Wallpaper"?

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How is the color used in "The Yellow Wallpaper"?

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In “The Yellow Wallpaper,” Perkins Gilman uses a deeper, darker yellow that is more indicative of weakness, jealousy, and sickness in order to represent the narrator’s declining mental state. “The color is repellant, almost revolting; a smouldering unclean yellow, strangely faded by the slow-turning sunlight”(Perkins Gilman). The fading colors of the wallpaper demonstrate a similar fading of Jane’s marriage and mental state. The color yellow is also used to represent the narrator’s jealousy of men because she is unable to escape the boundaries/expectations for women.

Another interpretation could label the yellow color of the wallpaper as a type of irony because yellow is ordinarily known for being a very vibrant and radiant color. “It makes me think of all the yellow things I ever saw - not beautiful ones like buttercups, but old foul, bad yellow things”(Perkins Gilman). The irony is that the reader may expect a happy, bright yellow but the yellow is actually a disgusting mustard yellow.

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Why did you choose the base for your wallpaper?

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Why did you choose the base for your wallpaper?

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I chose a deep, mustard yellow with a consistent pattern as the padlet background in order to parallel the color yellow described in the short story. Similarly to the story, the yellow used for the background as well as the image is quite unsettling and may cause the viewer to think of disturbing things associated with the color much like the yellow that is used in the story. The image of the wall with the intricate and confusing pattern represents the hard to interpret wallpaper in the short story.

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What can the color yellow symbolize in literature?

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What can the color yellow symbolize in literature?

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The color yellow in literature is usually associated with joy, happiness, sunshine, etc. However, when the yellow is a stronger mustard shade or deep yellow, the color is associated with caution, illness, jealousy, dishonesty, and cowardice.

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“It is the strangest yellow, that wallpaper! It makes me think of all the yellow things I ever saw - not beautiful ones like buttercups, but old foul, bad yellow things”(Perkins Gilman).

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“One of those sprawling flamboyant patterns committing every artistic sin. It is dull enough to confuse the eye in following, pronounced enough to constantly irritate and provoke study, and when you follow the lame uncertain curves for a little distance they suddenly commit suicide”(Perkins Gilman).