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Charlotte Stetson's The Yellow Wallpaper

619 Words3 Pages

In stories, there are many intricate details hidden beneath the pattern of the storyline. Many things represent another, it’s part of a bigger picture. Things, such as the setting or significant items, are a vessel that authors use to add to their story. This symbolization helps show the author’s hidden message. Charlotte Stetson uses symbols and images of the setting, the woman in the wallpaper, and ripping off the wallpaper to display her thoughts and opinions in how certain people were treated back in the late 1800’s. The setting plays a key role in the information that the author wants to show the reader. She writes about a nameless girl in an unknown place. The only thing mentioned about the setting of the story was that it was “A colonial mansion, a hereditary estate… a haunted house, and [reached] the height of romantic felicity…” (647). The reason for the vague description is that Stetson wanted to show that anyone could become like the narrator, to be in that situation. The way people were treated had been a real problem and Stetson wanted to show how this affects people psychologically. This treatment had affected so many people, including the author, and Stetson had wanted to …show more content…

The narrator had seen “ a woman stooping down and creeping about behind that pattern” (652) and that she was “trying to climb through” (654) the pattern of the paper. The woman had been trapped in the wallpaper, just as the narrator had been trapped in her own house. This is how many people felt at that time. They were oppressed and trapped and had no way to escape, they were thrown behind metaphorical bars, just as how the figure in the wallpaper was. The author, Charlotte Stetson, wanted her audience to experience the injustice of the treatment of mental illness was like; she wanted to demonstrate how twisted the treatment system

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