Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" is the story of women's struggle for independence in a patriarchal society. In the story the wallpaper is an important symbol as is the woman behind it. The narrator's thoughts about the wallpaper tell us a great deal of how she feels about the situation she is in. The theme of the story is that by tearing off the chains of oppression one can obtain independence.

             The wallpaper in the story has two layers, one that is most evident and one that is symbolic and therefore less visible. The outside layer is in fact a person's false front, the one that people let society see, the image of what society expects, if you will. In the beginning of the story the narrator hates the wallpaper, "I never saw a worse paper in my life." (140). The wallpaper is a representation of how women conform according to society's standards. During the time in which the narrator lived, the late 1800's, society had very patriarchal standards, that is to say women were expected to behave properly and be subservient. Her hatred of this conformist attitude becomes known to us when she states, "It is dull enough [.] constantly irritate [.] lame uncertain curves [.]" (140). In essence she hates having to act the way society dictates.

             The woman behind the wallpaper is a symbol of the narrator's inner-self, her real identity. Just as the woman in the paper yearns for freedom, "And she is all the time trying to climb through [.]" (150), so does the narrator as we see when she says, "[.] how I wish he would let me go and make a visit to [.]" (144). Both these women are striving for escape but are prevented from doing so. Her overly protective husband stops the narrator and the bars in the pattern of the wallpaper block the woman in the wallpaper. .

             People behave differently when they are being watched as do the narrator and the woman. When people know they are being observed they usually act according to a certain set of standards.