The Yellow Wallpaper

I was extremely intrigued by Charlotte Perkins Gilman's ability to write not only a work speaking about women's oppression but also her ability to leave us chilled with horror and fright in that same piece of writing.

When reading The Yellow Wallpaper I couldn't help but notice that many of the pieces of the narrator's family and house reflected problems or issues in her own life. For example, when she describes the room she is placed in (the nursery), she describes a feeling of enclosure and dullness, but when she describes the room she wishes her husband would let her stay in (downstairs) she speaks of lightness and the ability to see beauty and have freedom. The comparison I drew was that the nursery represents her oppression, while the downstairs room represents the freedom she wishes she had.

As if the chilling descriptions of the wallpaper in the later part of the story wasn't enough, I was mostly frightened by the link Giman makes between the main character's oppression and her fall into insanity. It is easy to see that this story is most frightening to both men and women because we all fear having a lack of control in our lives and of our surroundings as well as our mental capabilities. Gilman draws on that fear, creating a story that makes us afraid of being placed in a similar haunting situation, against our will.