The short story “The Yellow Wallpaper”, has many connections to women in history. The story takes place in the nineteenth century, which was a time of oppressed rights for women. The idea that women could be put in an asylum for little to no reason, men had total control of women’s lives, and confinement being a cure for lunacy shaped both the culture of the time and the text of this story. Many elements of nineteenth century history contribute to the unravelling of the main character in “The Yellow Wallpaper”. The first textual and cultural theme that occurs in the story is false diagnosis of lunacy.

The story starts out with the narrator and her husband John renting a beautiful, secluded estate for the summer. The narrator suffers from what her husband believes is a "temporary nervous depression” (CR 300). He orders her to rest as much as possible, and picks a room in the house for the two of them. The narrator feels vaguely uncomfortable with the estate, but obeys her husband’s decision for the two of them to stay there. This idea of a women being considered insane for something as simple as “temporary nervous depression” was extremely common in nineteenth century America. Authors Katherine Pouba and Ashley Tianan’s research in “Lunacy in the 19th Century: Women's Admission to Asylums in United States of America” shows that in the early 19th century, women were placed in mental institutions for behaving in ways which male society did not agree with. During this time period women had minimal rights, even when it was concerning their own mental health. Research concluded that many women were admitted for questionable reasons, and many of the symptoms these women experienced would not be eligible for admittance today. Religious excitement, epilepsy, and suppressed menstruation were all symptoms and factors that could potentially diagnose a woman as insane. During this time women had minimal rights when concerning their own personal and mental wellbeing (95). It is perceived throughout the story that what the narrator is struggling with is actually post traumatic stress disorder from previously birthing her child. Her husband believes she is unwell and unstable due to this, and isolates her in a room. The narrator exclaims, “It is fortunate Mary is so good with the baby. Such a dear baby! And yet I cannot be with him, it makes me so nervous” (CR 301-302). The narrator plainly states that she is nervous and anxious by the thought of her child and the memories of a tough childbirth, and due do this she is sent to a room with nothing but her own company. The narrators states “John says if I don't pick up faster he shall send me to Weir Mitchell in the fall” this describes how her husband will send her to an asylum if she doesn't return to normal (CR 303).  In modern society the reaction to this is almost polar opposite. Instead of isolating the mother and letting her deal with her struggles alone , post traumatic stress disorder victims are met with love and support from their families. Not only were drastic measures taken over small issues such as PTSD in the nineteenth century, women also had no control over their own decisions regarding their mental health. 

The narrators’ husband controls her life and has complete power in diagnosing her as mentally insane. Although he tells her over and over again that he does not think she is crazy, she knows she would not be in confinement if he did not believe that. Like it was said in “Lunacy in the 19th Century: Women's Admission to Asylums in United States of America” by Katherine Pouba and Ashley Tianan, it was never up to the women to decide if they needed to be placed in an asylum, it was often up to a male figure in the women’s life (97). In this story, it is the narrators husband who ultimately decides what is wrong with her and to lock her up in a room she is not comfortable in. She states “If a physician of high standing, and ones own husband, assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing the matter with one but temporary nervous depression- a slight hysterical tendency- what is one to do”, this shows how powerless she was in the decision of her diagnosis (CR 300). Despite her expressing her wants and needs, her husband ignores them believing that he only knows what is best for her. The status of women in marriage and employment during the early 1900’s is a great example of this oppression. Women lead a second rate position compared to men, and their life decisions were often decided by a husband or brother. It is important to be aware of these dismal positions of women’s status and lack of opportunities to be able to understand why so many women were deemed insane for very minimal reasons. If a woman did not act in a matter in which her husband agreed with, he had the right to send her off to the asylum. Once admitted, it was nearly impossible for these women to prove whether or not they were sane because everything they did was “confirming their diagnosis”. A woman was expected to cook, clean, take care of the children, attend to her husband and be perfectly well mannered (97). Along with the men dominating the females life decisions in both the text and in history, there are many connections to isolation.

Many symptoms that women faced in the early 1900’s were completely normal and accepted in todays society. Instead of being praised for seeking help, they were isolated and victimized. It is more common than not for a person who is suffering from a mental illness to receive support and kindness from their friends and family, which is a totally different dynamic from a century ago. In the story, it is the narrators confinement that drives her mad. As she has been alone for longer and longer, she starts to lose her mind. When  her husband John curbs her creativity and writing, the narrator takes it upon herself to make some sense of the wallpaper within her room. She reverses her initial feeling of being watched by the wallpaper and starts actively studying and decoding its meaning. She tears at the wallpaper and locates a figure of a woman struggling to break free from the bars in the pattern. Over time, as her insanity deepens, she identifies completely with this woman and believes that she, too, is trapped within the wallpaper. When she tears down the wallpaper over her last couple of nights, she believes that she has finally broken out of the wallpaper within which John has imprisoned her. By tearing it down, the narrator emerges from the wallpaper and asserts her own identity, although a somewhat confused, insane one. After extensive research in his article "The Horrible Psychology of Solitary Confinement”, Brandon Keim found that in isolation, people become anxious and angry, prone to hallucinations and wild mood swings, and unable to control their impulses. The problems are even worse in people predisposed to mental illness, and can cause severe long-lasting changes in prisoners’ minds. Scientific studies of solitary confinement and its damages have actually come in waves, first emerging in the mid-19th century, when the practice fell from widespread favor in the United States and Europe. More study came in the 1950s, as a response to reports of prisoner isolation and brainwashing during the Korean War. The renewed popularity of solitary confinement in the United States, which dates to the prison overcrowding and rehabilitation program cuts of the 1980s, spurred the most recent research. Over the course of extensive researching, many consistent patterns emerge. These patterns are  centered around extreme anxiety, anger, hallucinations, mood swings and flatness, and loss of impulse control. In the absence of stimuli, prisoners may also become hypersensitive to any stimuli at all. The prisoner will often obsess uncontrollably, as if their minds didn’t belong to them, over tiny details or personal grievances. Panic attacks are routine, as is depression and loss of memory and cognitive function (1). All these affects are seen in the narrator of story, and this is all due from her “resting cure” prescribed by her husband. 

There are countless similarities within the passage “The Yellow Wallpaper” and the treatment of women in the nineteenth century. In both the the text and in historical culture women were diagnosed with lunacy for even the slightest feeling or emotion. The story follows the culture of the nineteenth century by having the narrator almost powerless to her husband, which was a theme of the times. By the end of the story the narrator became mad after being in isolation for so long, which was also a common solution for mental illness in the ninetieth century. Overall, there are countless connections between the inhumane treatment of women in the nineteenth century and the dehumanized narrator in “The Yellow Wallpaper”. 
