The Yellow Wallpaper

The "Yellow Wallpaper" is an account of a woman who sinks into postpartum depression after having a child. The reader is privy to the gradual descent into madness of an otherwise normal woman. The central character has difficulty in separating her emotional needs from society's expectations of women's roles. Historically treated as property and subhuman, women have subsequently tried to overcome this gender bias. The character in "The yellow wallpaper," is taught from an early …

…housekeeper, laundress, and gardener, are responsibilities dedicated to meeting the daily needs of other family members. Now, at the turn of the millennium, women still find a cultural expectation that they nurture others, but at that same time, they are otherwise burdened with professional expectations of career or education. For the female character in "The yellow Wallpaper," this conflicting picture of what is expected of her proves too great of a burden on her soul.