During the time period that “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman was written, people with any type of mental illness were looked down upon and were often seen as a threat to society. This perceived threat led to isolating patients and creating asylums. On top of this fear of societal harm, doctors were not educated on the proper treatment of a patient suffering from postpartum stress disorder or any other psychological disorder. This improper treatment was detrimental and often caused symptoms to worsen. Gilman also shows how women, in general, during this time period were degraded and not treated as equals to men. In “The Yellow Wallpaper,” Charlotte Perkins Gillman demonstrates how the improper care and treatment for a woman with postpartum stress disorder resulted in progressive insanity for  the woman suffering in the story. 

Through the explicit imagery Gilman illustrates throughout “The Yellow Wallpaper” the reader is able to see the extent to which the woman is suffering. The imagery also allows the reader to get a better understanding of the absurd treatment of the woman. The author first paints the picture of the house and room in which the woman is constricted to. The home is described to be a beautiful place that stands alone and is about three miles away from the rest of town. This imagery immediately paints a picture of isolation for the reader. One method of treatment used on a person with a mental illness in the late nineteenth century was the “resting treatment.” This required putting the mentally ill person into an isolated area where they were unable to do anything but rest. The author then goes on to paint the picture of John and his wife’s bedroom. It is described to be a giant room with lots of windows that had once been a nursery and then a playroom for children. This gives the reader the idea that the woman is being treated like a child who is being punished by its care taker. Most importantly, the imagery of the wallpaper and the encounters the women has with the wallpaper  is being shown. As the story progresses and the woman’s mental state worsens, the imagery of the wallpaper becomes more vivid and disturbing as her mental state worsens. The protagonist gives the initial description of the wallpaper by saying “It is dull enough to confuse the eye in following, pronounced enough to constantly irritate and provoke study, and when you follow the lame uncertain curves for a little distance they suddenly commit suicide - plunge off at outrages angles, destroy themselves in unheard - of contradictions” (Gilman 301). Through this first description of the wallpaper it is clear that the narrator has not yet found meaning in the wallpaper but it is definitely confusing to her. Although the reader is fascinated with this wallpaper she has not given meaning to it. By the end of the story the narrator goes on to describe the wallpaper by saying, “The pattern does move - and no wonder! The woman behind shakes it! Sometimes I think there are a great many women behind, and sometimes only one, and she crawls around fast, and her crawling shakes it all over.” (Gilman 309). After being trapped starring at the wallpaper it is clear the woman is trying to make sense and meaning of the wallpaper by giving it an elaborate story. Through the imagery created in the first description of the wallpaper the reader can tell that the narrator is not in a normal mental state because she animates the wallpaper and reads way more into which is abnormal for anyone in a healthy state of mind. The imagery created in the second description of the wallpaper leads the reader to believe the narrator is insane. The women personifies the wallpaper and describes a woman moving through the patters of the wallpaper. When a person suffers from a mental illness it is easy to become obsessed with things and the more obsessed the woman becomes with the wallpaper the more her mental illness has progressed. These descriptive and absurd hallucinations gives the reader a clear picture of the deteriorated mental state the woman has transformed into over the course of the story. 

Another issue of the time period that Gilman calls attention to is the mistreatment of women. Women of the time period were not seen as anything more than caretakers. Gilman shows this issue through the symbolism of the room in which the woman of the story is confined to. The bedroom is a direct symbol for how women of the early nineteenth century were degraded. On top of having once been a nursery and playroom, the bed was nailed to the floor, and the windows were restricted for the safety of the children who once played in the room. It is clear that the author draws attention to the child like aspects of this room to symbolize how women were put on the same level as children and therefore could not be equivalent to men. John is constantly talking to his wife in a degrading tone. For example, “John says we will ask Cousin Henry and Julia down for a long visit; but he says he would as soon put fireworks in my pillow-case as to let me have those stimulating people about now”(Gilman 302). This shows that John is telling her who she is and is not allowed to see, as a husband he should not have the write to control his wife’s visitation because he is not superior to her. If the narrator was his daughter this would be an appropriate thing to say to her but she is not. In the short essay “Women and Equality” by Michael O’Malley, the author shows how feminist were beginning to take action against being stereotyped when he says, “On the other hand, other men and women began arguing that men and women were basically equal—that women had the same mental abilities as men, the same talents, and the same mental and physical toughness and capacity for logic and rational thought. These early feminists also argued that if the rights and liberties men enjoyed should apply to women as well.” (O’Malley 1). This shows that during this time period women were beginning to recognize that being treated like a child is not acceptable and that they should have equal rights as men.

Another way the author shows the digression of mental patients and woman is through the husbands dialect. The way in which the husband talks to his is also in a way that you would talk to the child. Examples are when he calls her a “blessed little goose” or when he says “What is it little girl?” This is not an appropriate way to talk to a grown woman it is demeaning and insulting. In her article “Recognizing and Treating Depression in Women” Carol Rogers Pitula says,  “Another management goal is to establish a therapeutic alliance. With such a positive relationship, you can modify a woman’s feelings of helplessness and inadequacy by listening and acknowledging her feelings and complaints as real manifestations of distress. While educating her to make informed decisions about her health care, you can reinforce sense of social and self - worth by empowering her, giving her positive feedback, and correcting destructive self-evaluations.” (Pitula 16B). Pitula describes that the proper care for a woman who is suffering from postpartum stress disorder is by empowering her and making her feel worthy and not crazy where as Johns dialect towards his wife does the complete opposite. An example of this is “He says no one but my self can help me out of it, that I must use my will and self-control and not let any silly fancies run away with me” (Gilman 305). By saying this, John allows his wife to feel like she is in this alone with no support. This also allows her to feel as though she is crazy and it is all in her head because he infers her thoughts are  just silly fancies.

A person reading this story in the time period this story was written in compared to a person reading this story now would have a completely different reaction. Reading this story in todays time period, it is so clear the mistreatment of the main character in “The Yellow Wallpaper.” The current generation can easily pick out all the flawed treatments John provides his mentally ill wife. Gilman was beyond her time because she knew that how they treated patients that had a  mental illness during the late 19th century was not appropriate and only made things worse. In “The Yellow Wallpaper” Gilman calls out all the injustices of how she was mis treated when she was suffering from depression and from simply being a woman. Through the progression of research we now know today that a person suffering from mental illness needs support and counseling, not lack of support and isolation. Being different in this time period was like the equivalent of being a criminal. You were seen as a threat to society and therefore needed to be locked away. Having gone through this mental trouble, Gilman knew she was not a threat to society and wanted to make that clear, therefore she wrote the novel “The Yellow Wallpaper.” Gilman made an impact on society by writing this story because she spoke out about things many woman of her time were feeling. This story has an impact on todays society because it gives a first perspective view of someone suffering mental illness during this time period. 
