Descent Into Madness The Yellow Wallpaper presents the tragic story of a woman’s descent into madness and depression as a result of being oppressed by her husband. In the story, the narrator and her husband rent a colonial mansion for the summer to provide a place where she can recover from severe postpartum depression. The narrator’s declining mental health is in part reflected by the oppression of her husband, as well as by …showed first 75 words of 843 total…

…showed last 75 words of 843 total…to realize the meaning of the wallpaper, and her life begins to change. The room, and particularly the wallpaper she hates so much, become the center of her would – her voice. She realizes that she is the woman behind the wallpaper, and is finally able to break free. “I’ve got out at last, in spite of you…! And I’ve pulled off most of the paper, so you can’t put me back” (Gilman, 258).