The Yellow Wallpaper

The protagonist in this story is also the narrator. A woman suffering from what her husband calls “temporary nervous depression” (Pg. 367), ends up believing she is a women trapped behind yellow wallpaper, finally free and aloud to “creep” as she pleases. She had been suffering from postpartum depression, and in those times rest and isolation was the “cure”, when in fact it was not. When her husband John brought her to the home the woman seemed to optimistic about the gardens and even fond of one of the bedrooms on the main floor. But she still felt “there is something strange about this house” Pg. 367. John did not let her have a say in what room they would stay. She described the wallpaper as being “One of those sprawling flamboyant patterns committing every artistic sin.” Pg. 368.
Despite the fact that she did not like the room and complained of the wallpaper, her husband insisted she stay in that room. She was not aloud to use her brain, her mind was supposed to rest. The women would stare at the walls trying to follow the pattern while due to the many windows in the room different tones of light and shadows were cast on the walls. This would cause the patterns to appear to be moving. This would be enough to drive any person trapped in that room insane, let alone a depressed person.
A major shift in the plot occurs when she tries to talk to her husband about leaving. “….so I told him that I really was not gaining here, and that I wished he would take me away.” (Pg. 373 paragraph 135). Her husband ends by telling her they will be staying three more months. It’s as if she gives up then and there and continues trying to figure out the pattern on the wall. She comes to the conclusion that there is a woman in the wall. “I didn’t realize for a long time what the thing was that showed behind, that dim sub-pattern, but now I am quite sure it is a women.” Pg 374 paragraph 154. The woman also starts to believe that John and the caretaker Jennie knew about the women.
Another shift in the plot is when it seems the women is getting better, when in reality she has become worse. She has become obsessed with the women behind the wallpaper and it has given her meaning in life. “I’m feeling ever so much better! I don’t sleep much at night, for it so interesting to watch developments; but I sleep a good deal in the daytime.” Pg. 374 paragraph 170. She soon begins to think that the woman can get out from the wallpaper during the day and “creeps” around outside. This soon leads to her believing that she is the woman in the wallpaper.