Symbolism and Repression in The Yellow Wallpaper Charlotte Perkins Gilman's story, "The Yellow Wallpaper" is a wonderful example of the Gothic horror genre. It was only with the rediscovery of the story in the early 1970s that “The Yellow Wallpaper” became recognized as a feminist indictment of a male-dominated society. The story contains many typical Gothic trappings, but beneath the conventional facade lies a story of repression and freedom told in intricate symbolism seen through the eyes of a mad narrator. It is difficult to discuss the meaning of this story without first examining the author's meaning. personal experience. “The Yellow Wallpaper” tells of a woman driven to madness following the Victorian “rest cure,” a once-prescribed period of inactivity frequently thought to cure hysteria and nervous conditions in women. As Gary Scharnhorst points out, this treatment originated with Dr. Weir Mitchell, who personally prescribed this “cure” to Gilman herself. Indeed she was driven to near madness and later claimed that she had written 'The Yellow Wallpaper' to protest this treatment of women like herself, and in particular to address Dr Weir Mitchell with a 'piece of propaganda'. A copy of the story was actually sent to Mitchell, and although he never responded to Gilman personally, he is said to have confessed to a friend that he had changed the way he treated hysterics after reading the story (15-19). aspects of “The Yellow Wallpaper” are compelling, it is the symbolism and underlying feminist connotations that bring the discussion best. The first is John, the narrator's husband. It could be seen as the patriarchy itself, as Beverly Hume says, with its dismissal of all… middle of paper… J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. 6th ed. New York: Harper Collins, 1995. 424-36.Hume, Beverly A. “Gilman's Interminable Grotesque: The Narrator of 'The Yellow Wallpaper'.” Studies in Short Fiction 28.4 (1991):477-84.Johnson, Greg. "Gilman's Gothic Allegory: Anger and Redemption in 'The Yellow Wallpaper'". Studies in Short Fiction 26.4 (1989): 521-30. King, Jeannette and Pam Morris. "On Not Reading Between the Lines: Patterns of Reading in 'The Yellow Wallpaper'." Studies in Short Fiction 26.1 (1989): 23-32. Owens, E. Suzanne. “The Ghostly Double Behind the Wallpaper in Charlotte Perkins Gilman's 'The Yellow Wallpaper'.” Haunting the house of fiction. Ed. Lynette Carpenter and Wendy K. Kolmar. Knoxville: University of Tennessee P, 1991 64-79. Scharnhorst, Gary. “'The yellow background.'” Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Boston: Twayne, 1985. 15-20.