Gender equality is one of the basic human rights, calling for equal treatment between men and women; yet it was not seriously considered until during the nineteenth-century. Thus, thinking historically when reading text give the readers better ideas of women's image at a particular time; for example, "The Yellow Wallpaper" written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. This story is the author's personal experience when she suffered a mental breakdown after she gave birth to her child. Men oppressed women to obey their demands and gave themselves the first-class social status. From analyzing Charlotte Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper", readers can comprehend more about women's mental health and social status in the nineteenth-century.  

In her story, Gilman presents the husband's personality to emphasize how society's perception of women effects women's mental health. The narrator's husband, John, plays an important role in the narrator's mental health condition and her social status. From the beginning of the story, he appears as oppressive. The narrator said, "John is practical in the extreme. He has no patience with faith, an intense horror or superstition, and he scoffs openly at any talk of things not to be felt and seen and put down in figures" (Gilman 209). Gilman points out that John is a rigid and arrogant husband; he does not like to listen to other's opinions and refutes them when their opinion contradict to what he believes or knows. Besides ostracizing his wife from society, he also consistently patronizes her whenever she tries to express her thoughts. This is shown by the quote, "There is nothing so dangerous, so fascinating, to a temperament like yours. It is a false and foolish fancy" (Gilman 215). John's judgment about his wife's opinion indicates that he is forcing her to hide her true feelings and that he considers himself as dominant in this marriage. Instead of listening and comprehending the narrator, he disregards her thoughts and thinks that her imaginations are ridiculous. The husband is a representative portrait of men during the nineteenth-century: patriarchal and ignorant. John's oppression during her depression is what is truly dangerous to the narrator mental health. On a broader spectrum, most of the women's mental health conditions during the nineteenth-century were underestimated because of the misunderstanding in communication between women and men in society. Through the husband's personality, Gilman imparts to the readers that the lack of self-expression greatly affects the women's mental health in a negative way.

The image that obsesses the narrator the most throughout the story is the yellow wallpaper, a symbol of the narrator's mental health. At first, the wallpaper creates an unpleasant feeling for the narrator: "The color is repellent, almost revolting; a smoldering unclean yellow, strangely faded by the slow-turning sunlight. It is a dull yet lurid orange in some places, a sickly sulphur tint in others" (Gilman 210). It can be interpreted that the narrator feels bad about her mental condition through her perspective toward the wallpaper. She wants to resist the rest cure and escape from the nursery room. The pattern on the wallpaper, which slowly develops from bulbous eyes to a woman shaking bars, contains many vague images, but acts as a paranoid menagerie of domination" (Ames). Gilman uses the symbol of crawling and unblinking eyes to imply that women during her time were striving for freedom of self-expression, and the strangled heads on the wallpaper may symbolize women whose careers and goals have been choked because of their marriages. Another symbol is the odors of the wallpaper. It is described as pervasive yet familiar, which disturbs the narrator at first but then she gets used to it (Gilman 218). This is an excellent metaphor for the pervasive and foul effects of male domination. The women during this time period were so used to the dominance of their male relatives that they thought it was something ordinary and accepted it. The thought of tearing down the yellow wallpaper and creeping over her husband is a symbol of triumph for the narrator. When she frees the woman who is imprisoned on the wallpaper for the whole time, she also frees herself from the dominance of her husband. The narrator's rebellion stands for the call of liberation and gender equality for women during the nineteenth-century.

Gilman also advocates for the gender equality and care of women's health by creating a sarcastic and desperate tone for the story. The narrator seems to be innocent as she describes her marriage, saying, "It is so hard to talk with John about my case, because he is so wise, and because he loves me so" (Gilman 215). This is profoundly sarcastic because instead of supporting the wife, the husband is denying his wife's feelings and forcing her to hide her thoughts. In addition, the narrator says, "I am glad my case is not serious! But these nervous troubles are dreadfully depressing. John does not know how much I really suffer. He knows there is no reason to suffer, and that satisfies him" (Gilman 210). This implies the disconnection between the wife and her husband and how her mood is greatly impacted by him. John makes her feel guilty for her feelings and also lowers her self-esteem which makes her even more under John's power. A line that shows the depressing tone of the narrator is, "I don't feel as if it was worthwhile to turn my hand over for anything, and I'm getting dreadfully fretful and querulous. I cry at nothing, and cry most of the time" (Gilman 213). The readers can see that the narrator is trapped in the protective custody of the person who cares for her, who oppresses her with good intentions. The women's position in society at the time was housewives who were always staying at home and not allowed to take part in outdoor activities. Thus, a research source suggests that women should develop better social lives and should be encouraged to discuss their problems in order to have healthy mental and physical health (Oakley 31). 

"The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a feminist text since it advocates new ideas that challenge the old perception about women's status in society during the author's time. This is an inspiring text at many levels but the most important message is that this story exposes the ugly truths and unnoticed social conventions that are second-nature to its male characters (Ames). Gilman shows a female character that becomes her own hero by untangled the restricted patterns of her life and torn herself to yearn for freedom. She overcomes oppression in many forms to find opportunities for self-expression. The story illustrates the women's struggles to find equal opportunities in society, which negatively affects their mental health.

