ime men were still the magistrates and governors of women's lives and for the author to make such an observation was in itself unorthodox for the day. This passage serves a two-fold purpose. The ability to lock the door restores the narrator's power over her environment at the very least, and possibly her inner domains as well. The husband having to pay attention to the wife so that he may once again be with her also displays that she may finally be getting through to her husband, that the manner in which he can help her most is to listen to her and try to understand her."The Yellow Wallpaper" presents a very interesting perspective of how a man can influence a woman's life from a very feminist point of view, but with a present day interpretation can be given a whole new depth because the many conflicts flow from being woman vs. man to a much more complex struggle of woman vs. herself sothat she may successfully win the battle of person vs. society. Gilman successfully portrays a dominated woman in this story, but I believe that is all the narrator is, adominated woman not a woman dominated by a man. Gilman does portray the man as insensitive and lacking in emotional support, but neither of these qualities imply or affect dominant characteristics. I believe that in the end the woman discovers that she is not being dominated as much as allowing herself loss of control. The discovering of where control falls in this story is very interesting when compared with literature in general. Much as the narrator comes to the realization that control over her life is ultimately her responsibility, a reader, who often times is 'controlled' by a story, must come to the realization that a work of literature only becomes a personal experience when he/she finally determines his/her interpretation or 'control' over the story. It is this realization of control or the reader's interpretation that is the final block that gives the building that is known as ...
