In “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Gillman, readers follow the mental development of the unnamed narrator as she deals with postpartum depression during the oppression of women in society at end of the 19th century. The narrator's husband and doctor, John, who has just given birth, rushes to give her the treatment known as the "rest cure." This treatment was complex and not entirely popular since postpartum depression at the time was part of the mental illnesses that were not given proper diagnosis or attention. The narrator is isolated in a bedroom and is prohibited from any form of physical activity which quickly becomes harmful to her health. She develops a strange infatuation with the room's wallpaper as it becomes the only distraction she has and soon drives her into an obsession. The growing obsession with the wallpaper shows readers the growing effects of the disease and his mental state. There are elements throughout the development of his illness that Gillman uses to reflect the narrator's true feelings regarding the oppression and treatment of women during that time. Over the course of the story, the narrator transforms from a seemingly sane woman to a woman whose mental health deteriorates to the point of paranoia and is ultimately driven to madness by postpartum depression. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The narrator's ability to continue to reason with her husband despite having doubts about his illness shows that she remains sane and in control of her mind. At the beginning of the story, the narrator is presented as an ordinary social woman living a bourgeois lifestyle. In those days, women in society were often seen only as suited to the role of the perfect wife and mother, whose job was to take care of the home and provide for the needs of their children and husbands. Her illness was a direct opposition to these norms and therefore the husband decided to remove the family from the country before the community considered them peculiar. The narrator is apparently questionable and does not take the reality of her illness seriously as she showed signs of “temporary nervous depression – a slight hysterical tendency” (Gillman 209). The nervousness and difficulty in taking care of the child were the first symptoms of his illness which would become more complicated over time. The narrator submissively follows her husband's requests not to think about her condition since it is the "worst" she can do to her mind. Unknowingly the confinement treatment they had subjected her to was depriving her of simple pleasures, which was dangerous to her growing depression. Although she listens to her husband and stays in the room, she feels alone and decides to write in secret, deepening her readers' knowledge of the progression of her illness. Her writings are an account of her feelings about the reality of her health, according to her the treatment was exaggerated and she even jokes about it because she feels good but feels they are treating her like a child. A few days pass while she is confined to the room upstairs with a particular sensation that seems almost mysterious. She tells her husband how much she misses being outdoors even indoors as he pleads, "then let's go downstairs: there are so many beautiful rooms there." She refuses to listen to her and states that she is actually improving thanks to the treatment, however she no longer feels like she used to because she is tired of the room she is confined to. The narrator begins to suffer from more symptoms of postpartum depression. while she falls into the paranoid illusion that the patterns on the wallpaper move and show her unclear images in which she isI was completely fascinated. One of the effects of a complex case of postpartum depression is the experience of delusions which are false interpretations an individual may believe is true and negatively affects his or her sense of reality. After being confined to the room with the yellow wallpaper for a while, the narrator continues to be extremely fascinated by the strange patterns and colors. His descriptions begin to change as he advances in his illness, initially describing it as confusing to the eyes and as a yellow color that was repellent (Gillman 210). The wallpaper becomes her only distraction and so she slowly becomes obsessed with it, describing its gaudy features as she observes it closely until she realizes that she feels a menacing sensation that the wallpaper gives her. Fascinated by the wallpaper, she says it seems to know what it means to be a victim within the wallpaper. He continues writing and even sleeps before he watches the wallpaper being shaken by a figure within it. The woman he sees who is supposedly trapped in the wallpaper is first described as an unclear profile of a woman and is later described as a plain woman who is only seen by the narrator as she creeps into the wallpaper behind bars (Gillman 214). The narrator's delusional mindset is evidence of her dangerously growing depression that prevents her from differentiating what exists and what she has fictionalized in her paranoid mind. Towards the end of the story, the people who care for the narrator and the house are reluctant to do so. admit the level of madness to which the disease has affected her. They realize that she has indeed become upset and fixated on the wallpaper and refuse to remove it for fear of how she might react. However, they do not realize that the narrator has become too advanced in her illness that she refuses to sleep just to watch over the woman crawling on the wallpaper. The inability to sleep is another increasing symptom that will affect his mindset as he will begin to have less rational thoughts. Her madness leads her to think that the woman moves furtively during the day and is fixated on letting the woman escape from her imprisonment behind the wallpaper. The narrator is paranoid about the people around her and even hides her own thoughts from the diary she has kept, showing that she no longer has rational thoughts or is in control of her mind. Believing she can let the woman behind the wallpaper escape, she tears the wallpaper and begins to see other women quickly crawling around looking at her. The narrator also believes that she was the woman trapped in the wallpaper as he writes "I wonder if they all come out of the wallpaper like I did?" (Gillman 220). When the narrator believes she has finally escaped the wallpaper, she crawls around the room crawling in excitement, unaware that her rational self is gone and the effects of her illness have taken control of her mind. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper now from our expert writers. Get a Custom Essay Charlotte Gillman's short story provided an insight into the hidden emotions of a woman living in the late 19th century. The narrator's postpartum depression allowed readers to follow and see how the illness slowly affected her mindset and blinded her from reality. Readers see her for the first time get a glimpse into her relationship and her feelings towards John as she follows his instructions, but she also has doubts in the back of her mind about the severity of her illness. The narrator's rational thoughts are proof that.