The Yellow Wallpaper is, in essence, a look at what can happen when a person's mind deteriorates due to seclusion. It also is an exaggeration of what is happening to men and women in today's society. The Narrator is the women who does not work and is just placed somewhere to be vegetative. While the man, John, is working and keeping his mind active. Thus the women nags and nags about something as insignificant as the wallpaper until she is driven to insanity.
I am not sure whether or not it was her making the wallpaper decay and tear or whether it was her mind giving the perception of it doing that. She did say some of the yellow residue would get on her so maybe it was her. However, there was no textual evidence that I could understand that made it clear as to whether she was vandalizing the wallpaper or not. Gilman could be leaving it to the reader to decide.
You think this is a comment about women "today"???? How many women do you know who are confined in a room with no access to their children and not allowed to write? I think you'll have to work a little harder to convince me that this story has any relevance to relationships between men and women today.
ReplyDeleteIncidentally, when doing that, you're doing what writers normally do in conclusions. It's a good thing to do, but you have to make the argument more compelling....