Bryan Palacios Professor Jacobs ENC 1101 April 16th, 2014 Charlotte Perkins Gilmans The Yellow Wallpaper:

Theme and symbolism. In the 1800s, a womans role was to take care of household chores and look after the children. In Charlotte Perkins Gilmans The Yellow Wallpaper, she tells a story that is known to be a feminist literature based on some experience she struggled with womens rights. In the story, the narrator is stripped from her freedom due to gender roles and confined to a room due to the fact that her husband said it will help her postpartum depression. She inevitably becomes insane and in the end, Jane is standing over her fainted husband, displaying switched gender roles in society. Gilman portrays the struggle and oppression women endure in society through theme, symbolism, and biographical criticism. In one source, Ed Thomas illustrates on the major themes in the Yellow Wallpaper with the lack of authority and loss of personal freedom. The narrator is confined to a room with no contact with friends and her voice in the matter is pushed to the side due to gender roles. During this time a womans say in the matter was useless to a dominant male figure like the antagonist in the story. This source helps to emphasize on the theme of the story. In the end of the story the narrator stands over her fainted husband, this is illustrating a womans climb over the superior man and a womans role in society. The criticism that best fits the story would be, biographical criticism because the author has faced similar obstacles in her life like the narrator in the story.