Yellow Wallpaper - Essay Example

Charlotte Gilman was a creative feminist writer who penned a compelling book titled The Yellow Wallpaper. This paper will highlight and evaluate the significance of wallpaper imagery in The Yellow Wallpaper.

The Yellow Wallpaper is a concept that the narrator has to interpret. As its imagery develops, she first feels repulsed and then becomes obsessed. According to the narrator, the text symbolizes something that has a direct effect on her. Consequently, the significance of the wallpaper develops through the narration. In the beginning, the wallpaper seems to be merely unpleasant. For example, it is soiled and ripped. Additionally, it is an “unclean yellow” (Gilman, 1999). After gazing at the paper for a considerable amount of time, she figures a sub-pattern shrouded by the main pattern. However, the pattern is only visible under a certain light. Ultimately, the sub-pattern transforms into a woman, desperately trying to untangle herself from the primary pattern which resembles a cage.

The wallpaper imagery represents the family and tradition structure in which the narrator finds herself trapped. The cage emanating from the wallpaper has been festooned with the heads of women who had tried to escape. All these women were strangled in the process of escaping. Therefore, The Yellow Wallpaper is symbolic of the concept of true womanhood.  The cult or concept binds and restricts women to the family and home.  These parameters were determined by men. The heads festooned on the cage illustrate the fate that befalls women who try to tamper with the laid-down concepts that make a true woman. Any woman who defied was termed an enemy of civilization and God. The imagery of the wallpaper is significant since it highlights or is used to represent the domestic life that snares a lot of women in society.