Although she preferred the downstairs room, the narrator finds herself confined to the dungeon-like nursery on the second floor, appropriately equipped with rings in the walls. This imagery further develops the theme of confinement. ... These views reinforce the theme of confinement and isolationism; they can be seen from the room, but not touched or experienced. ... The exterior of the mansion is described as a series of closed-off sections, while the room she rests in, with its numerous barred windows and immovable bed, was probably formerly used to house an insane inhabitant. ... T...

• Word Count: 1237
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

The Dreadful Yellow Wallpaper The theme of "The Yellow Wallpaper" is the narrator's sickness towards the yellow patterned wallpaper. ... John (the narrator's physician husband) has diagnosed her with a nervous depression. The narrator tells her story through first person point of view. ... In "The Yellow Wallpaper" the theme is developed through the use of a first person point of view, and by the use of symbolism. ... The narrator states, "The most beautiful place, the rooms are on different floors and have different setups in every room" (705)...

• Word Count: 520
• Approx Pages: 2
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Guilman cleverly manipulates the setting to support her themes and set the eerie mood. ... Because the room was an old nursery this idea is strongly enforced. ... Her regression is also demonstrated by her comparison of her present room with the bedroom of her childhood (Kennedy and Gioia 427,428). The underlying theme of woman's rights emanates from every part of "The Yellow Wallpaper." ... Hedges also suggests that the wallpaper symbolizes the way men view women (Short 120). ...

• Word Count: 1026
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

These two stories deal with the position of women in the late 1800's. ... I will try to make their themes apparent by examining a brief summary of their stories, relate them to their authors" personal life stories, and show their similarities. ... On the other hand, "The Yellow Wallpaper" is set in a room that induces the feeling of imprisonment. ... This setting helps Gilman to convey her theme of oppression of some women in marriage. ... The end of these two stories can be seen from a common point of view. ...

• Word Count: 1179
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

In marriage the husband could be viewed as the warden and the wife as the inmate. ... The wife is a creative spirit with her own ideas and thoughts, which she tries on numerous occasions to express to the husband only for him to view the ideas as insignificant and reply "blessed little goose." ... The writings in the wife's journals and the symbolic description of the wallpaper show the rising theme of feminism. ... "I'm getting really fond of the room in spite of the wallpaper. ... "It is so pleasant to be out in this great room and creep around as I please." ...

• Word Count: 831
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

It is obvious in this short story that Gilman's view of this style of treatment only worsened things. ... John is also very patronizing through out the story; he refers to her as a "little girl" and insists that she take a room she does not like, as if she were a child. In fact, the room she is to stay in used to be a nursery. ... From the narrator's point of view we had this fact hidden throughout the story. ... In this story the theme and point of view interlace and work together to create an intense description of an almost child-like prescription for overcoming depression. ...

• Word Count: 1298
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Gilman's main character is over come by the wallpaper in her room, but she is also faced with society discriminating against her because she is a woman. ... The bars on the window in her room symbolize her being locked in a jail cell. ... All night long she paces around the room trying to catch the woman who is trapped inside the wallpaper. ... Jack London and Charlotte Perkins Gilman both use naturalistic themes throughout their short stories "To Build a Fire" and "The Yellow Wallpaper". ... Although London and Gilman have very different styles of writing, their characters face the s...

• Word Count: 1421
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

Gilman develops the theme by using allegories, first-person point of view, and imagery to tell her work of fiction. ... When the narrator describes her room, the wallpaper in the nursery, she uses brilliant imagery. ... She starts observing the nursery that her husband has made her stay in because he did not see any reason to more her to a different room. ... Therefore, she could start all over with a clean slate, and she will become happy with herself. The reader could also see it as starting over with a new wall to decorate. ...

• Word Count: 1530
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

To me, somebody with a sickness confined to one room for an extended amount of time should not feel this way about the room they are in. ... In literature, traditionally this would symbolize a prospect of possibilities, but now it becomes a view to a world she may not want to take part in. ... The wallpaper basically enhanced the overall theme of depression and everything that went into it, repressed sexuality being one. ... To go along with the preceding examples is the underlying fact that Jane is pregnant with John's child throughout the story. ... All people look at this story fr...

• Word Count: 1684
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

She spends most of her time in a room with yellow wallpaper and very little to occupy her mind with. ... Then she locks herself in the room and throws the keys out of the window. ... John imprisons her in a room that has no escape with bars on the windows and an immovable bed which is "nailed down." ... Kate Chopin's The Awakening (1899) carried ou the same theme of struggling women in a dominant/submissive relationship. ... Kate Chopin and Charlotte Perkins Gilman held different views on motherhood. ...

• Word Count: 2531
• Approx Pages: 10
• Grade Level: High School

Unfortunately, they do this from a male's point of view and are completely oblivious to the unseen environment around them. ... Her husband, a doctor, has taken her to a summer vacation home for rest therapy; however, the woman's condition worsens and she sees images of faces in the wallpaper of the room. ... In the end, she locks herself in her room and tears off the wallpaper. ... The title to the play adds to our understanding of the play's characters and the theme by showing that the birdcage also represented something "trifle" to the investigation. ... Women today would not...

• Word Count: 1242
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

But this grief would foster an irrepressible need to fight for the independence of women and reconstruction of society's view. This is one of the major themes that the short story The Yellow Wallpaper is based upon. ... Here again, Gilman has the uncanny ability to combine aspects of her life with that of the story. ... "It disgusts and fascinates her" (Hedges 51) at the same time, as did her relationship with her husband. ... The Connecticut Writer's confirm that in the summer of 1886, Charlotte, herself, was in fact, isolated in a room in a l...

• Word Count: 1862
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

The narrator is a married woman who wants to do something important with her life. ... It is nailed to the floor, with no way to get around it. ... She becomes obsessed with the wallpaper, and then with the actions of the women she sees in the wallpaper. ... She has no freedom, and she certainly does not choose to be kept in one room, basically hospitalized. ... Life just happens to her the way it is "supposed to" and for that reason we can conclude that the story is based on naturalistic views. ...

• Word Count: 1101
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School