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Symbolism And Imagery In The Yellow Wallpaper

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The story, “The Yellow Wall-Paper” was written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and published in the year 1891 (Gilman). The Yellow Wall-Paper starts out as the narrator who is a nameless character and an upper middle class mother who is suffering from depression. The story is told through journal entries where she writes down her thoughts and she uses the journal as her source of freedom from the room she feels “trapped” in. Throughout the story, Gilman uses symbolism and imagery to truly convey the meaning of the sick and restrictive society. Symbolism is the use of symbols to represent ideas and emotions. The author conveys her meaning of the sick and restrictive society through multiple symbols including, the characters, the house, bedroom, characters and more. The narrator introduces a nameless …show more content…

When looking out the bedroom window, John’s wife can see the moonlight. The moonlight signifies the nocturnal activity that takes place. It symbolizes the narrator’s madness and insanity. The narrator begins to peel and tear off the wallpaper to free the trapped woman who she sees struggling to find freedom. John and Jennie are starting to come to the conclusion that John’s wife is going insane. When John, goes to check on her he opens the door and faints in the doorway after seeing the horror of the bedroom. Throughout The Yellow Wall-Paper, the reader has seen symbolism and imagery several times. Gilman used symbolism and imagery to help the comprehensive aspect for the readers. If a reader were to read the story, word for word without thinking “outside the box”, the story might not develop and unfold as she intended. Gilman uses figurative language to not only tell a story but to relate to the outside world and how other woman may feel too. Back when this story was written, in the year 1891, this is the type of strict and restrictive society families and woman were raised into

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