In all honesty, I had to read the Yellow Wallpaper a few times to truly understand the meaning and how it related to our class. I was extremely confused by the wallpaper and the ways in which the main character was interacting with it. However, after reading over my notes and recalling conversations from previous classes, I determined the wallpaper to represent the oppressive nature of marriage and domesticity for women. In many ways, the house the woman was staying at can symbolize society as a whole for women. Windows are barred, and the main character is not allowed to access certain parts of the house when her husband says so. In many ways, that is exactly how it feels like to be a woman in society, especially ours. Yes, technically we are a part of this society, and so in a sense this “house” is as much ours as it is anyone else’s. However, women cannot go out late at night alone without risk of violence. Women cannot enter certain academic spaces without a myriad of backlash. Women are punished when they do not conform to the ideal set out by the patriarchy. I believe Gilman tried to personify this construct through the house. More specifically, the wallpaper represented the way the main character felt in her marriage. No matter where she would go, the smell and color would follow her, not allowing her to focus on her life, or heal from the illnesses she was suffering. No matter where women go, we are followed by the patriarchy and all its oppression in one way or another. Before anything else, we are women. For POC women, we are black/brown women. No matter where we go in our patriarchal society, the label of female walks in before we do.
I think it’s important to recognize the cultural context of the stories we read before trying to analyze them. The main character was living during a time of great female oppression, and I believe that, along with her mental illness, aided in my own interpretation of the story. Our culture influences the literary works we produce, and in a sense I do not believe that Gilman would have written this if the oppression she was feeling was not as intense as it was.
I agree that the house in Yellow Wallpaper definitely serves as a symbol for the oppressive structures of society built around women and that, like the house and barred windows, it feels impossible to escape.
This story was definitely difficult to understand during the first read. I like how you dove into the theme of the oppression of women, especially in relation to marriage. I definitely got that from the story too, but I thought of it more as a symbol for mental health. In the case of this story, her marriage and position as a woman definitely goes hand in hand with her deteriorating mental health. Her husband refused to attempt to bring her sanity and comfort and laughs at her condition until the end when he passed out because he was so terrified (which I honestly thought was really funny and ironic).
It also took me a little bit to fully understand the reading, but I think it’s interesting how we can still get a clear message from it upon looking a little closer. Althought the issues that this story brings light to have gotten better since this was written, there’s still a lot of progress that needs to be made.