"The Yellow Wallpaper" is an intriguing, yet amplified fragment of the life of the author, Charlotte Perkins Gilman and her family.  The Southern Gothic style of writing used by Gilman in this piece, entails supernatural elements and focuses closely on troubled characters.  Southern Gothic plays an important role in the historical analysis because it highlights the flaws in society through obsession over conformity and women vs men's roles and equality.  Gilman uses detailed diction, compelling symbols and grotesque imagery to demonstrate the severity of these societal flaws of this time period, the 1890's, and how these flaws impact her life. 

The idea of conformity was very popular in the 1890's when "The Yellow Wallpaper" was written.  Gilman uses her husband's actions towards society as a prime example of the obsession with conformity.   Her husband, John, puts on a facade to assure their friends in society that the narrator is not depressed and that "there is really nothing the matter" (209) with her.  This is just one of John's attempts to conform to society.  John wants the narrator to look like nothing is wrong on the outside because in those times, mental illness was seen as socially unacceptable because it made a person different from everyone else.  The "fear of power" was mentioned in Carol Margaret Davison's "Haunted House/Haunted Heroine: Female Gothic Closets in The Yellow Wallpaper" and it is said to be "a fear ... of social forces so vast and impersonal that they seem to have supernatural strength".  This "fear of power" is very relevant to "The Yellow Wallpaper" because it is the fear of society and their views of mental illnesses along with breaking the mold of conformity.   In the 1890's people with mental illnesses were seen as a "threat to public safety" (Holtzman).  According to the American Psychological Association people with mental illnesses in the 1890's were taken care of quietly by their family members.  The beliefs about mental illness and the actions taken in the "The Yellow Wallpaper" are directly parallel to the those of the society's in the 1890's because just as mental illness was an unspoken concern in society, John and the family of the narrator kept the facade of the happy and normal family.   

 In the 1890's, when "The Yellow Wallpaper" was written, people with mental illnesses were being sent away to state funded asylums due to it's social unacceptability to have a mental illness.  Eventually though, social classes became prevalent and according to the American Psychiatric Association, the state asylums turned into houses for the poor and the higher class citizens turned to private institutions for treatment.  The narrator in "They Yellow Wallpaper" is attempting the 19th century "rest cure" and is being moved into a private home that John, her husband has rented out for the summer.  Gilman uses delightful imagery to describe this "colonial mansion" that they were staying in.  It included beautifully decorated gardens and greenhouses with antique furnishing on the inside.  This colonial house described in "The Yellow Wallpaper" can be directly linked to Dr. Boris Sidis' Psychotherapeutic Institute, which opened around the same time "They Yellow Wallpaper" was published.  Dr. Sidi was a well known psychologist, earned a PhD from Harvard University, and started his own private Psychotherapeutic Institute (Holtzman).  This was a luxury asylum which included private parks, greenhouses and sun parlors.  Interestingly enought, the house described in "The Yellow Wallpaper" and Dr. Sidis' institution were almost identical.  Gilman uses these two parallels to give credibility to the text and to make the story significantly more realistic.  The direct link drawn by Gilman, between the summer home in "The Yellow Wallpaper" and the asylum in society makes the text more relatable and connects the reader to the text more intimately. 

 The narrator spent the majority of her time confined in one room for three months, and she found herself completely consumed in the wallpaper.  The wallpaper at first glance was a "smouldering unclean yellow" described by the narrator as "repellant [and] almost revolting" (210).  This wallpaper soon becomes an obsession of the narrator's.  The narrator explains that "there are things in the paper that nobody knows but [her]" (214).  Gilman uses imagery in the wallpaper to express the narrator's mental illness.  Hallucinations are a sign of mental illness, so when the narrator analyzes a "woman stooping down and creeping about behind that pattern" (214) on the wall, this is a key symbol that Gilman uses through grotesque imagery to show the reader that the narrator is suffering from a mental illness and it could possibly be getting worse.  The reader sees the progression of the mental illness to the point of borderline insanity, through grotesque description and imagery in greater detail.  The hallucinations on the wall turn into clear visions of a girl "creeping" and "crawling" everywhere.  Gilman uses eerie diction here to indicate a mood change, the girl behind the bars on the wall is no longer just a girl, it is the narrator, who sees herself as trapped behind bars, shaking them to get out.  The narrator describes her vision as sometimes "there are great many women behind ... [who] take hold and shake them hard" (218).  Gilman uses this as a clever metaphor for the gender role inequality happening in the 19th century.  Women in the 19th century felt helpless, like they were trapped inside of walls behind bars of overpowering men.

The significance of gender was very important in the 1890's because women and men had not reached equality, and some would argue they still haven't.  Gilman uses sarcastic diction to show the reader the difference between men and women in the society of this time period.  The sarcastic tone is used when she explains how her husband, John, is a "physician of high standing" (209).  This sarcastic tone is strategically placed because he is supposed to be a very smart man, yet he will not diagnose his own wife in the chance that it may be a disgrace to the family since it is socially unacceptable to be mentally ill.  Gilman uses the title "physician of high standing" to prove to the reader, the roles of gender play a significant part in this society.   This is the epitome of gender inequality.  Through the narrator's tone, Gilman portrays the husband as superior to the wife because he is the one with the smart, well paying job and the wife is helpless and depressed.  Davison, the author of "Haunted House/Haunted Heroine" agrees that John is seen as superior because in this time in history, the 1890's, the narrator had "no legal power over her own person" because she was a female and technically the husband was the legal owner of their wife.   There is a sense of fear lodged in the husband and wife's relationship.  This fear again could be traced back to the "fear of power" because through the gender roles of this time period, John, is seen as someone who is more powerful than the narrator.  Gilman emphasizes a controlling atmosphere mixed with a sense of fear through descriptive diction when the narrator exclaims "there comes John, and I must put this away- he hates to have me write a word" (210).  Her husband, John, belittles the narrator by calling her "blessed little goose" (211).  This nickname reinforces gender roles to the readers and that the husband believes he is above the narrator because of his gender.

In conclusion, "The Yellow Wallpaper" is a captivating yet haunting story based part of the life of the author Charlotte Perkins Gilman.  Through Gilman's Southern Gothic writing style in this piece, supernatural elements are combined and paired with metaphors to illustrate the mentally insane characters thoughts and feelings.  Gilman applies the historical content to respond to the societal flaws through "The Yellow Wallpaper".  Finally, she uses detailed diction, compelling symbols and grotesque imagery to demonstrate the severity of these societal flaws of the 19th century. 

