The Yellow Wallpaper written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman devotes itself to exposing the standard living conditions of women during the 19th century. The author writes about a woman who is confined to a single bedroom that is a part of a “hereditary estate” which the author refers to as a “haunted house.” The woman just gave birth and was experiencing a condition called postpartum depression, however people did not understand why she was having the symptoms she was having in the 19th century and was treated with a process called the rest cure. It is to be believed that this treatment was the cause for the woman becoming insane, due to the fact men didn’t truly understand women.

During the 19th century women continued to be in a position in society where their main priority was to take care of the house, children, and husband. Due to never being able to leave the house besides getting grocery’s or perhaps taking the children to school, many women became depressed. This was caused from not being able to leave the house and live their life the way they wanted. Since it was the husbands job to generate the income for the family the wife was always left behind to take care of the daily chores of the house hold. Reliving the same life day after day of cleaning and cooking becomes a mental hardship and during this time this was an everyday cycle for women. Feeling imprisoned by their husbands some women became extremely depressed especially after giving birth once or multiple times. After the author married her husband, Charles Stetson, and gave birth to her daughter, “she fell into a deeply depressed condition” and consulted a doctor, “Dr. S. Weir Mitchell” who prescriber her the “famous rest cure” and found inspiration to write the story after experiencing it first-hand.

Postpartum depression was an unheard-of condition during the 19th century. Among men and women most people did not understand how women could be so unhappy after giving birth to a child.  The effects of postpartum depression caused women to be irritable very easily, have no appetite and have a difficult time being with the baby as well as changes in mood very quickly and overall changing everything about themselves. However, even though the condition was not yet discovered in having a treatment that worked, the author was prescribed the rest cure. The rest cure states how women were to go away for the “much-needed rest” that the doctor advised among herself knowing she is “greatly in need of” this treatment. The treatment places these women under a strict schedule where they were forced to rest for a long period time, preferably at least “six months” by themselves and were not able to do anything that required hard work but to engage in activities such as to “lie down for a while with an interesting book” or “go out for a walk” or “ride on horseback” or a “bicycle” or any other activity that was good for your “health.” The rest cure specifically states how at leisure a woman should be and how they should rearrange their lifestyle to “have rest instead of work” and to have “as much restful diversion as possible” among always having a “good tonic” and a “good read” on hand while you are away resting. The rest cure also states that is takes a lot of “courage” to complete this process and how even though you have been resting for quite some time it’ll be hard to transition back home to the “neglected” family you left behind. 

To help women with this illness Dr. S. Weir Mitchell would commonly treat women with the “rest cure”. The rest cure involved women staying inside of the house nearly all day to get better. However, the rest cure did quite the opposite. Within our story The Yellow Wall Paper we have a heroine who is currently being treated with the rest cure, and yet her symptoms are unable to get better because the treatment is not actually solving the problem but causing the woman to go physically and mentally insane. The woman uses The Yellow Wallpaper and her surroundings in the story as a metaphor of her being trapped inside not only as societies “perfect woman” but as undergoing the rest cure. The rest cure was ineffective because men typically believed that they knew how women worked however they were wrong and the rest cure began to do more damage than good. As a woman who was unable to leave the house except for certain occasions, the woman during the 19th century began feeling as if they were trapped inside of the house. Due to men’s poor understanding of women it led them to believe that a remedy known as the “rest cure” would be able to help women after giving birth. This is one of many examples how women were truly oppressed during this period. Among being treated with a ridiculous remedy women were unable to write literature, have social status or interact in politics, pursue a career of their choice, and achieve a life other than wasting away at home to only take care of the house and the family and the daily chores. 

Overall, Charlotte Perkins Gilman wrote The Yellow Wallpaper as a metaphor for women’s oppressions during the 19th century. The woman in the story is surrounded by all these objects that seem almost like she’s being treated like she is a baby herself and is unable to do anything at all. The woman also sees someone in the wallpaper who is trapped and at the end of the story is finally released. This symbolizes how once her husband is not moving she finally feels free and not trapped anymore. The story itself also brings out the truth about the rest cure, how the treatment causes her to go insane and not the actual postpartum depression. This is just one of the many examples throughout the story that brings light to how men truly did not understand women and that is was caused them to not be well. Holding someone in a house all day to only do chores, tend to the children, and only leave on special occasions can get old quickly. Not only does it get old, but it allows women to feel as if their entire lives are controlled by men. Men are in politics, society, literature, and everything else that women can’t be in. As well as being controlled and trapped within their own home, women were unable to use their brain to its full capacity for writing themselves because men thought they were not intelligent enough. However, after The Yellow Wallpaper was published, Charlotte Perkins Gilman started publishing all the time focusing on women’s rights and her own stories. This was only part of the many movements for women’s right to overcome the controlling aspect men had over women during this time period. Overall, The Yellow Wallpaper brought out a few of the oppressions women had and how unfairly they were treated among showing how they did not have a voice because men did not truly understand how women truly thought or what they actually wanted, nor did they care. 
