"The Yellow Wallpaper", written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is an account of a mentally disturbed woman. The woman portrayed in this short story plays the role of a dominated, inferior lady who is not outspoken and willing to take a stand on behalf of her own well being. She does not realize she can have her own ideas and stand up for herself; this is her main problem in the story. By applying all the concepts of style, symbolism and time era Charlotte Perkins Gilman has conceived a well-written story.
The time frame has a great importance to the overall story. The account does not just deal with a woman going insane but a woman's standing in society in the late 1800's. During the time in which Gilman's piece was written, women were not often prominent figures in society. Men frequently dominated them, and it was rare to find a very outspoken female willing to stand up for her own well-being. It is a very disturbing look at how a man could have dominated a lady in the time frame in which the story was set. It exemplifies how woman were disregarded at times and treated like frail beings at others. All woman really needed was moral or emotional support to break free of a male dominated society. .
Throughout the story symbolism is a strong key point. The wallpaper has many symbolic examples in it. The pattern at one point in time start to look like bars and the woman behind them is constantly shaking them at night to escape. The key factor is that the woman is somehow freed from the bars during the day, yet trapped behind them at night. This is symbolic of her husbands not being home during the days, while he is working. During this time she is alone and free to be herself, without anyone's rules to suppress her emotions. Because of this she does not feel the urgent need to escape. At night however when her husband returns home she is thrown back behind those imaginary bars that symbolize her feelings of control.