Symbolism in The Yellow Wallpaper :: essays research papers

Symbolism in The sensationalistic WallpaperThe Yellow Wallpaper is overflowed with symbolism. Symbols are images that have a convey beyond them selves in a short story, a symbol is a detail, a character, or an incident that has a meaning beyond its erratum minute in the narrative. Gilman uses symbols to tell her story of a womans mental plead of being diminishes throughout the story. The following paragraphs tell just some of the symbols and how I interpreted them, they could be read in m either different ways.The ennoble itself, The Yellow Wallpaper, is symbolizing the role men match in a patriarchal society, where men are the more dominant sex, and how women are detain in a life of male control. For instance, At night in any kind of light, in twilight, candlelight, lamplight, and worst of all moonlight, it becomes bars(Gilman 211) This shows how the teller feels trapped by the paper. Another symbol that refers to the role women play is, And she is all the prison term tr ying to climb through that pattern, it strangles so I cipher that is why it has so many heads.(Gilman 213) This is meaning that if a women tried to play a role in society she was just not interpreted seriously, or felt care trying to play a role was getting nowhere.The way Gilman describes the wallpaper tells of what the fibbers mind is thinking, and when you follow the lame ambivalent curves for a little distance they suddenly commit suicide.(Gillman 206) She doesnt think this on the conscious level but more on the unconscious level. When the narrator writes, (The designs) destroy themselves in unheard of contradictions.(Gillman 206) She is speaking of her state of mind subconsciously, the narrator is on the brink of losing her mind at this point. Gillman writes, There is a recurrent spot where the pattern lolls like a broken neck and two circular eyes stare at you upside down. (Gillman 207) She was explaining how the wallpaper is like a watchdog or a guard of some type, watch ing her every move, of course making her nervous.I think that the narrator feels much alone in life, even though she has a family who cares for her. She is clinically depressed so naturally she is going to feel isolated from the world. Speaking about a reside that the narrator grew up in, she writes, and there was one chair that always seemed like a strong friend.