Karen Ford's feminist criticism brings up several interesting points pertaining to "The Yellow Wallpaper" that are not necessarily clear to the reader of this short story at first glance. However, once the story is scrutinized, these points become evident. When read with a feminist perspective, certain parts of the story start standing out more and taking on a different meaning. Not all readers will agree with Ford's observations, but she makes several astute inferences that help the reader to ascertain the true meaning of the story and what the author meant when she wrote it.
Some of Ford's main points, such as the fact that the main character's lack of a name indicates her sense of meaningless and lack of identity, could persuade the reader to think that this was what the author was trying to convey. Readers might agree with Ford that by not giving the main character a name the author was trying to indicate her condition was what most defined her and everything else about her was mearly irrelevant. Ford points out that Mary is described as "good with the baby" and Jennie as "a perfect and enthusiastic housekeeper, and hopes for no better profession." These characters obviously serve as a representation of women's expected roles for this particular era and as foils to the main character. The main character is the only woman who doesn't fall into an expected feminine role of that nature and, coincidentally, is the one who is considered mentally unstable. This is, no doubt, an attempt for the author to point out the oppressive nature of our predominantly patriarchal society and to demonstrate how radical progressive thinkers are viewed in the eyes of the public.
Although it is easy to see Ford's basis for many of the points in her essay, some may not agree with a few of her opinions. One can interpret the wallpaper as being symbolic of all that is oppressive to women and that the figures in the wallpaper symbolized women being stuck in traditional roles.
