Free writing journal

The Yellow Wallpaper was a story about a woman’s slow descent to madness. Her mental health was gradually destroyed because her creativity was inhibited by her husband. She wasn’t even allowed to write. Gilman used the first person narration to emphasize the desire of the woman to write. The chapters are created like a daily journal. This stressed out that even if the woman’s husband tried to diminish her imagination and desire to be creative, she still found ways on how to make her mind work. The woman trapped within the wallpaper also stands for her inner self. She was trapped within the bars that her husband set up for her. Her husband didn’t want her to be creative because it will make her question him. And he can’t afford that because of his stature as a doctor. Her husband doctor was the stereotypical doctor, controlled, firm and practical. And he didn’t like the imagination of his wife because it made her a non-traditional wife.
Both the protagonist and the woman in the wallpaper symbolized the restrictions placed on women during Gilman’s time. It was not easy to have lived in the time when women were treated as second class citizens. It was like being born a woman is a curse because you won’t be able to do anything but serve and follow your husband’s wishes. Gilman’s protagonist was not the typical woman. The Yellow Wallpaper taught us that a woman’s strength is her creativity and imagination, to the point that men would think she’s crazy. Men inhibit her creativity and imagination because they are scared that she might take away his throne and his crown. This was actually the triumphant moment at the end of the story when the woman declared that she was out of the wallpaper. This showed us that women are continuously fighting for their rights, and soon they will be jumping out of the wallpaper and become the centerpieces of the room. They will catch all the attention that was deprived of her when she was set aside.