The Yellow Wallpaper

The narrator is diagnosed with nervous depression, which is why her  husband and family members take caution when around her. The narrator's husband is especially cautious when it comes to her health. Her husband takes her to a house, where they will be staying for a small while. The narrator becomes extremely fascinated with the wallpaper that is in the room her and her husband stay in. The wallpaper is a significant symbol in the story, because it starts out as a small annoyance, into a big ordeal for the narrator. In the beginning of the story, the narrator despises the wallpaper that is in the room: "I'm really getting quite fond of the big room, all but that horrid paper,"(pg.268). The author enjoys the room they are staying in, except for the wallpaper that contains a pattern, which she finds makes no sense. The narrator then begins to write in a journal, where the main thing she writes about is the wallpaper in the room, which is a sign of the increase in her fascination of the wallpaper. She then starts to convince her husband, and Jennie, her husband's sister, that her condition is improving, however, she is only just getting better at lying to them. The narrator's fascination with the wallpaper becomes increasingly alarming when she claims that she can smell the yellow paper: "The only thing I can think of that it is like is the color of the paper! A yellow smell,"(pg.275). Not only is she bothered by the sight of the yellow wallpaper, but now her irritation of the yellow paper contains a significant smell. The narrator claims she can smell the yellow paper everywhere she goes, and it is not a good smell. The sight and now the smell of the yellow paper was starting to reach its toll with the narrator. Writing about the yellow paper and examining it everyday seemed to be the only thing the narrator had control of, even though she had to hide it from her husband and Jennie. The yellow wallpaper started to surround the narrator's imagination and every thought, leaving her trapped. The yellow wallpaper represents how the narrator was belittled by her husband and some family members, which left her trapped and she had nothing else to do. Eventually the narrator's unhealthy infatuation with the yellow wallpaper led her to believe the wallpaper was moving and there were many ladies creeping around the obscure pattern of the wallpaper, so she decided to lock herself in the room while she smudges the wallpaper. The narrator has become deranged, and her husband faints when he sees what she has done: "Now why should that man have fainted? But he did, and right across my path by the wall, so that I had to creep over him every time!" (pg.278).