and oppression of those who portend caring for her. She tries to use the wallpaper to replace the missing identity others have tried to silence in her by refusing to allow her any intellectual thought or endeavor. As she says “But I am here, and no person touches this paper but Me—not alive!” (Perkins Gilman 17). Yet, unlike the real author undergoing the famous rest cure of the era, a treatment for neurasthenia, the short story character does not form her own stable identity. Instead, she merely sees the wallpaper as a refuge, a piece of herself no one can affect but also one which continues to serve as a source of her confinement because of those around her who would keep her oppressed. This is why she states “I supposed I shall have to get back behind the pattern when it comes night, and that is hard!” (Perkins Gilman 18). In conclusion, it is easy to discov |
