The Yellow Wallpaper

1. The narrator undergoes a profound change from the beginning of the story to the end.  Her change is revealed in relation to the wallpaper through the fact that at the beginning of the story, she hates everything about the wallpaper, and it is very ugly.  But as the story goes on, she begins to like it because it "dwells in (her) mind so!" (Gilman 1070).  And then finally at the end when she is really approaching drastic change, she finds a new aspect of the wallpaper to focus on, the pattern, and how it is ugly and always continuous.  The wallpaper represents her change because she is not happy with her "progress", and even more upset with the wallpaper than she was in the beginning.  She is very upset with her change that is occurring.  My feelings about the change differ from hers because I am supposed to be happy that she is getting better, and able to get away from her mental illness and be happy with her family.

2. The narrator describes the room with yellow wallpaper as a former nursery, but based on various examples from the text, this room may not have been a place where children played, ate their meals and may have been educated.  For example, "the windows are barred for little children" (Gilman 1067), and the bed is nailed down suggests that the people or children who had used this room previously were not in their by choice.  Also, when talking specifically about the wallpaper, she said "when you follow the lame uncertain curves for a little distance they suddenly commit suicide - plunge off at outrageous angles, destroy themselves in unheard of contradictions" and "there is a recurrent spot where the pattern lolls like a broken neck and two bulbous eyes stare down at you upside down," (Gilman 1068/1069), which also suggests a previously very negative use of the room. This discrepancy helps to develop the character of the narrator by showing her in different light, but still suggesting and elaborating on her mental illness.  This also communicates the theme of the story by repeatedly focusing on and emphasizing the aspects of mental illness, and what their views of reality are in comparison to that of a "normal person".

4. Based on paragraphs 96-104, the syntax of the sentences both mirror the pattern on the wall and suggest the narrator's agitation through the repetition and similarities seen from word to word, line to line and paragraph to paragraph.  As the narrator gets more and more agitated, she finds the patterns within the yellow wallpaper more distinct and irritating to her, therefore showing the symbolism between the emotions of the narrator, specifically anger and agitation, and her view and opinion of the wallpaper.