allows her to escape is the wallpaper. She cannot go out, because her husband hastaken such control over her activities that all she can do is sit and watch this paper. She also saysin her first reference to it that, “I should hate it myself if I had to live in this room long.” Shebecomes absorbed in the patterns of the paper and tries to follow them to an end. In this processshe has begun her transformation, allowing herself to be completely drawn in to her fantasiesand not being afraid of what is happening to her. John, her husband, tells her to resist them, butshe does not. Her awareness of the changes in her and her efforts to foster them and see themthrough to an end demonstrate a bravery that is not often acknowledged in women. She is goingmad, however she is not scared. She also realizes, finally, that the image in the wallpaper is notanother woman; it is herself as well as all women in general and therefore all the women trappedby society. These complex symbols used in "The Yellow Wallpaper" create Gilman's portrayal of theoppression of women in the nineteenth century. Her twist on traditional symbols that usuallyprovide a sense of security and safety adds to this woman's own oppression, contribute to thetrapped feeling. Gilman pushes this to the limit by taking those characteristics closely associatedwith women and uses them against the narrator, to assist in her own oppression....
