The Representations of Wallpaper (Essay Sample)

The Representations of Wallpaper

The yellow wallpaper brings out mostly freedom and identity. In the story, John, who happens to be the husband, has restrictions on the narrator to make her feel better. However, this brings other outcomes since physical limitations don't hurt her but destroys her emotionally. One of the techniques used in this story is the setting. The yellow wallpaper shows a house full of locks with other tiny houses. The house itself is remote, and no other people are living nearby. The narrator sits in one of the big rooms, then decorated with the yellow wallpaper. The wallpaper represents the household structure, traditions and medicine. The room windows have large bars giving the room a jail-like structure for the narrator. This shows that the narrator does not have freedom. The wallpaper itself gives a different type of optic and energy.
Symbolism is another technique used that intensifies the suppression of women. After reading the book, the reader is left thinking that the husband is less responsible. The narrator feels closed in the marriage, and there is no freedom at all. Personification is another technique the writer used. The narrator displays how the smell remains with her throughout the house, and she doesn't release the smell itself is decay, and the reason it follows her is that it emerges from her. The setting plays a major role in bringing out the thesis in this story since the themes of gender and quarantine would not have come out clearly without taking place in a remote area.