The yellow wallpaperToday, women have more freedoms than at the beginning of the 19th century. We have the right to vote, to seek positions normally reserved for men, and most importantly, the right to use our minds. However, in the late 1800s, women were raised to be submissive housewives, who were not allowed to express their own 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 underwent a treatment called "rest cure" prescribed by her doctor, Dr. Weir Mitchell. This includes bed rest, no emotional or physical stimuli, and limited access to people. However, due to isolation, the woman creates a delusional relationship with the yellow wallpaper in her room. His diagrams represent everything that is happening in his current life. She is a lonely woman who longs to escape the walls around her and be free. As the story begins, the woman in the story is suffering from a temporary nervous breakdown and has just been released from a sanitarium. Because she is ill, her husband John has received instructions from his doctor on how to help her recover. “He is very careful and loving, and hardly lets [his wife] move without special instructions” (Gilman, 451). This treatment confines her to her room upstairs. She also has to stay in bed enough and cannot access people or stimulation. However, it can be said that such instructions will lead to the continuation of the disease due to lack of activity, isolation from the outside world, especially from family members. It seems that the woman in the story wants to...... middle of paper ......rld and the woman represents her. In the end, John's wife concludes that her only escape from the room is to rip off the wallpaper. In doing so, she frees herself and takes control of her life. Gilman based this story on his own experience. She gives readers insight into how women were limited in mental stimulation and creative thinking because they were forced to conform to society's standards. The woman in the story is a prime example of how women were denied participation in their own marriages. Works Cited Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. “The yellow wallpaper.” 1892. p. 450-461. Johnson, Greg. Gilman's Gothic Allegory: Rage and Redemption in "The Yellow Wallpaper", in Studies in Short Fiction, Vol.26, No.4, Fall 1989, p. 521-30. Korb, Rena. A preview of “The Yellow Wallpaper,” in Exploring Short Stories, Gale Research, 1998.