Symbolism In 'The Yellow Wallpaper'

235 Words1 Pages
Settings function as a symbol and how it relates to the symbolism of the novel is chief to understanding the novel. The setting of the deteriorating house acts as a symbol for the deteriorating lives of the Lisbon girls. The narrator depicts, “As he lifted rugs and threw out towels, he unleashed the odors of the house in waves, and many people thought he wore the surgical mask to protect himself not from dust but from the exhalations of the Lisbon girls that still lived in bedding and drapes, in peeling wallpaper, in patches of carpet preserved brand-new beneath dressers and nightstands” (222). In this way the setting of the girls in a deteriorating house just mirrors the deterioration of the girls as they slip into a deep depression. The setting