The Yellow Wallpaper “The Yellow Wallpaper,” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, tells a story of a woman’s struggle in a patriarchal society, during postpartum. Her main oppressor is her husband John, “a physician of high standing.” Since she is his wife, he has to maintain that he is in charge of the situation, he removes her from her home, a place where women generally feel at ease, to an alleged resting-place in a “colonial mansion.” …showed first 75 words of 1054 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1054 total…wallpaper). She progresses from being “one,” to “I,” and finally to “Jane,” once she has re-discovered herself. There is a reversal of power here. The narrator has been empowered by the wallpaper. She is no loner bound and begins to creep from her room. When John discovers her, he can do nothing else but faint. It is hard for him to accept that she is empowered. So she shows him by creeping right over him.