In literature, the question is often asked: How do historical and cultural contexts shape a text? In the case of The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Gilman, it was instead the text that shaped the American women's civil rights movement of the 1960's. Gilman's essay proved to Americans of the 1890's that the common practice of prescribing women the "rest cure" was more mentally distressing than healing. According to an editorial by the American Psychological Association, medical treatments in the 1800's were often extremely sexist.  A man and woman could be prescribed a completely different treatment for the same exact mental health condition (Stiles 1). In a time when women did not yet have the right to vote, Charlotte Gilman achieved the impossible by demanding her voice be heard. Men and women were often unfairly prescribed different cures for the same symptoms, and while the men's treatment cured them, the women's treatment drove them into madness. The Yellow Wallpaper drew attention to the unethical medical misogyny occurring in the late 1800's, thus sparking the feminist movement. 

The Yellow Wallpaper was undoubtedly written in response to a commonly used medical treatment created by Physician Silas Weir Mitchell. The "Rest and West" cure was a clear indicator of Mitchell's sexism within the medical field. It was believed that in women, depression was brought on by too much mental activity and not enough attention to domestic affairs. Mitchell theorized that individuals who overworked their brain were more vulnerable to nervous breakdowns, depression, insomnia, migraines, and anxiety (Stiles 1). According to Mitchell's treatment, men experiencing nervousness should travel to the west and submerge themselves in nature by herding cattle, sleeping on the ground, and mingling with cowboys to reinvigorate their senses and masculinity. Women, on the other hand, were prescribed the "rest" treatment where the ultimate goal of the physician was to break the woman's will. According to the definition of the rest cure by the Wells Library in London, "The rest cure usually lasted six to eight weeks. It involved isolation from friends and family. It also enforced bed rest, and nearly constant feeding on a fatty, milk-based diet. Patients were force-fed if necessary - effectively reduced to the dependency of an infant" (Stiles 1).  While men would come back from the west rejuvenated and clear-minded, women were driven to the point of madness from their drastically different treatment. Because of the lack of rights women had in the late 1800's, few women were able to refuse the cruel mistreatment and speak up. 

In Charlotte Gilman's story, The Yellow Wallpaper, the main character has been put on bed rest to treat her "nervous depression." Her husband insists she cannot move, read, or write and must remain in the same room with yellow wallpaper day after day until she is cured. Her imaginative mind is stifled so much by this treatment that out of boredom she begins to find new patterns within the wallpaper each day. She begins to "see" a woman trying to escape from behind the wallpaper, symbolizing her inner struggle to escape her mistreatment. She eventually goes mad and tears down all the wallpaper in the middle of the night (230-37). Gilman was able to write this story from firsthand experience, because she herself had suffered from postpartum depression and had received the "rest" treatment (Gilman 3). Charlotte suffered in misery from the treatment until she made a very unconventional and brave decision for her time: she left her husband. Charlotte blazed the trail for other women of her time by scandalously abandoning her controlling husband in order to search for her true identity as an independent woman. The Yellow Wallpaper was published in 1892, which encouraged other independent women to follow in Charlotte's lead, and the women's right movement was born. After many years of rallying and protesting, women finally gained suffrage in 1919. Prior to this time, society viewed the ideal woman as one who focused solely on their husband, household, and children (Turner1). Women were considered domestic creatures of the home; only fit to be housewives, teachers, and nurses. Silas Weir Mitchell even claimed that women became depressed from straying too far from their domestic duties, and pursuing a career would overwork their brain. If it were common for women in this time to be doctors, lawyers, and politicians, they would have  had the power to stop the mistreatment of women's depression in it's tracks. Charlotte Gilman found a way to have her voice heard as a writer. She spread awareness by publishing the facts about her experience. Sexism in medical treatments of women was detrimental to their health could no longer be ignored.

The major symbols in The Yellow Wallpaper relate not only to the main character, but the female population of America in the 1890's as a whole. The house, something that is supposed to bring comfort, has turned into a jail cell for the main character. "She declares it is "haunted," and that "there is something queer about it." Although she acknowledges the beauty of the house and especially what surrounds it, she constantly goes back to her feeling that "there is something strange about the house""(Sant 1). She cannot escape and enjoy the world around her. Regardless of if they were receiving the rest treatment or not, most women of the 1890's probably felt trapped in their homes. They were expected to stay on top of all the household duties and put their husband and children above themselves instead of exploring the world around them and all it had to offer. The reader can see how every woman from this time frame could relate to The Yellow Wallpaper and draw strength from it.The symbol of the window in the short story also gives the main character agony. The window is no longer a gateway for her; she can not enter to the other side of it not only because her husband will not let her, but also because that world will not belong to her. She will still be controlled and be forced to stifle her self-expression (Sant 1). Her husband put literal bars over the window, making her perception of the house as a jail even more of a reality. By the end of the short story she no longer desires to become a part of society again. She does not want to witness other women like her going day to day pretending to be happy with their unsatisfying lives. By reading The Yellow Wallpaper, it awakened many women of its time period. Women realized they should be disappointed in the lives they were living, and changes needed to be made in order to truly live instead of merely exist. It was time to stand up, have a voice, and take action.

When Charlotte Gillman had the nerve to write about the torturous "cure" in  The Yellow Wallpaper and persist until it was published, she gave many other women the confidence to speak up and demand action. Right in line with the publishing of Gilman's novel, the two largest women's suffrage organizations at the time joined to become the National American Woman Suffrage Association under the leadership of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B Anthony (Tuner 1). With their newfound strength, the feminist movement catapulted into action to demand equal rights for woman. The misogyny of the medical field was brought to light, and the unfairness could not be denied. Charlotte Gilman's bravery paved the way for the rights every woman has in America today.

