The Yellow Wallpaper: A Theory

It seems that the main character, only known as the female narrator, begins the story as the only one who believes there is something wrong with her. She explains that her husband, a physician, does not believe she is sick, but despite that she still often refers to herself as so. It is revealed that she has just given birth to a baby and shorty after moved to the countryside to "rest" away her Nervous Condition according to John's healing process. He doesn't want her writing, which she resents secretly. Her reaction is passive yet internally erratic, "I get unreasonably angry with John sometimes. I'm sure I never used to be so sensitive. I think it is due to this nervous condition." Her condition seems to create confusing and uncontrolled emotions, and is heightened at the thought of her child. She says about her newborn, "And yet I CANNOT be with him, it makes me so nervous…" It may be postpartum depression she is suffering but it also seems to be more. Her fascination with the created woman in the wallpaper is key to exposing the complexity of the narrator. By the end of the story, she takes on the mind of the woman in the wallpaper and leaves her self behind. Leading up to this final breakdown, the author paints clues throughout the story to show the resemblances between the two. "By daylight she is subdued, quiet. I fancy it is the pattern that keeps her so still. It is so puzzling. It keeps me quiet by the hour." Here, she describes the woman in the wallpaper and instantly states a similar description of herself without noting the similarity. She additionally comments on her growing belief that John and Jennie are fascinated and affected by the wallpaper, but it seems this is her diluted version of their responses to her volatile recovery. The woman in the wallpaper has always been a reflection of herself. Her subconscious desire of ultimate freedom like the woman in the wallpaper is foreign to her and

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