Symbolism in The Yellow Wallpaper.

                     There is a lot of symbolism throughout the short story “The Yellow Wallpaper.” To understand most of the symbolism in this short story you need to remember that this story was written in the 1890’s and many women wanted to establish and gain rights for themselves in society. First, the husband in “The Yellow Wallpaper”, John, symbolizes the average man and husband in the 1890’s. Like many of the men during this time period, John will not listen to his wife when she tries to communicate with him. She tries to tell him how she feels about the wallpaper and how much she dislikes but he just passes it off to her as her “nervous depression” and speaks nothing else of the situation. John always thinks he knows what is best for his wife, as most men though at this time. During this time in history women often weren't given a voice for making changes or decisions and therefore the men would make these decisions and in this case at the cost of his wife’s happiness and mental well-being. Another avenue of symbolism in this short story is how the wife represents a woman of this era who wants to be heard and not remain inferior. Throughout the story the author mentions how the wallpaper makes her feel trapped, this is why I believe the wallpaper symbolizes society or “The Man” keeping her enclosed. Society wanted to keep women in the position they were already in, the men always having the say and the upper-hand. That is why in this short story anytime the wife questioned the wallpaper, the husband would give her a medical response or relate it back to this “illness” she had. When you read this short story you notice that the wallpaper changes throughout the story. In the beginning she sees the paper as displeasing to the eye, it is ripped and spoiled in places and has this sickening yellow color, but as you read on she talks about this pattern that she can’t follow and she starts to see this women inside the pattern. This woman represents the other women who have been pushed into insanity by this wallpaper, or society. By the end of the short story the wife starts to refer herself as a woman in the paper after she rips it off the walls out of pure hate for the paper and everything it represented. This only helps my case when I say that the “women in the paper” are those other women who suffered from the same depression that the wife did. This wallpaper encloses her in the traditions that society had in the 1890’s when women want to be heard but men, or John, would not listen to them. In conclusion, the yellow wallpaper mainly symbolizes this era where women were going through a depression because they wanted a voice that society wouldn’t give them. They wanted women’s rights and freedom and independence rather than always having a man there to help them and look after them. As I explained earlier, the largest symbol in this story is that the wallpaper is society keeping the women enclosed and pushing them into insanity.