The battle against sexism is a great and daunting one. Women such as Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the author of “the Yellow Wallpaper,” know this all too well. But how does one begin to understand and recognize sexism, much less resist it? This is where stories such as ‘the Yellow Wallpaper’ come in. The purpose of “the Yellow Wallpaper” is to is to act as an example, to explain, instruct, and inspire the dismantlement of a great and confusing tyranny by showing it in a more relatable, less intimidating fashion: as some ugly wallpaper.
The overarching evidence of this purpose is the use of symbols in the book. The most extensive symbol is that of the yellow wallpaper. As the story progresses, we see the narrator’s tone change when referencing the wallpaper. She goes from explaining its unsightly appearance to complaining how it ‘strangles so.’ The tonal shift makes it clear to the reader that the narrator is becoming less and less sane as the story progresses. However, Gilman’s bout is not with poor interior design, as was mentioned before. Gilman is using this symbol as an aid to her use of pathos; the feeling of being faced with an ugly and confusing visual image is a familiar one. With the use of pathos, a once possibly blind and apathetic audience could begin to feel and understand the discomfort and annoyance that Gilman thought towards the greater issue of sexism.
Another of these symbols is the bed the narrator must lie in for most of the time. Gilman writes, “I lie here on this great immovable bed-it is nailed down.” This bed represents both her physical inability to move within the confines of the bed but to also her inability to move and take action in the world she lives in. The narrator may escape on occasion, physically getting up and walking around the house, but must always find her way back to the bed, to her position in the world.
It is not really the bed that keeps her in her position as much as her husband and caretaker, John, who continually implores her to rest. John is an ongoing example of irony in the text. Although his words are affectionate and he says he is concerned about her wellbeing, he is constantly invalidating and dismissing her feelings and thoughts, as well as shames her for not following what he says. Gilman writes, “John laughs at me, of course, but one expects that in marriage.” and John is quoted saying, “There is nothing so dangerous… as a temperament like yours. It is a false and foolish fancy.” Although an antagonist, John isn’t a bad person; he genuinely cares about the narrator but is unable to immediately stop invalidating his wife because of the environment he was raised and lives in, or see that his behavior needs to stop at all.
In the text, the narrator suspects that John is subconsciously influenced by the paper, as well as Jennie, the servant and female foil to John. John and Jennie are also symbols within themselves, representing the men and women of society. The narrator’s suspicion of the wallpaper’s influence has an underlying message about society and the sexism the wallpaper represents. John and Jennie are both influenced by the wallpaper in the same way both men and women are influenced by the oppressive society they live in. Just as the yellow paper leaves stains in the house, the oppressive society leaves unsightly marks on the world.
After Gilman creates a full and detailed metaphor of her society by way of the yellow wallpaper, she adds action to the scene; the narrator takes on the persona of the woman in the wallpaper and starts to tear it down, saying “I got out at last…in spite of you and Jane. And I’ve pulled off most of the paper, so you can’t put me back!” The narrator tears down the wallpaper as Gilman would like her audience to tear down the oppressive society around them and to be free. Perhaps Gilman thought the catharsis, the shared joy of the narrator’s freedom, would inspire people to seek freedom of their own.
Through the extensive use of symbolism, Gilman created a controlled environment in which she could observe and ultimately defeat a timeless and global force. This symbolic defeat of an oppressive society and a proclamation of freedom is meant to give a vague instruction for the audience to rebel (i.e. tear out of your hypothetical cage), and also inspire the audience to rebel in the first place.
