In “The Yellow Wallpaper,” Gilman expresses the struggle of women in society and how being cut off from creative processes can ultimately lead to madness. “It is dull enough to confuse the eye in following, pronounced enough to constantly irritate and provoke study, and when you follow for a small distance these lame and uncertain curves, they suddenly commit suicide – dip at angles scandalous, are destroyed in incredible contradictions. The color is repulsive, almost revolting; an impure, smoking yellow, strangely discolored by the slow rotation of the sun. It's a dull but sinister orange in places, a sickly sulfur shade in others. No wonder kids hate it! I would hate it myself if I had to live in this room for long. This is John, and I have to put this away, -- he hates it when I write him a note” (480). The meaning of this quote is prevalent throughout the story and the rest of the themes. The narrator doesn't seem to like the diary, but he is powerless to do anything about it. Perkins uses this story to make statements about feminism and individuality. She does this by taking the reader through the stages of a woman's mental state and how her mental state is characterized by something she is constantly made to look at. Gilman seeks to evoke messages of expression by recording the progression of the woman's mental "illness" through the condition of the wallpaper. The main character, also known as the Protagonist, narrates his own life story, but is never named. The reader experiences the inner thoughts of a woman's mind, but she remains anonymous, a reflection of her status in society. The narrator expresses his need and love to thrive through his own imagination, while John attempts to replace it with his rational thinking by forcing him...... middle of paper ......society is limited. Gilman seems to express that the female condition can be fragile. This story is only about the madness of one woman, but it seems to make a general statement about the condition of all women. Mental illness eventually consumes the narrator as her creativity is taken away from her. There are even hints that the narrator is foreshadowing her own illness. The wallpaper symbolizes this in many ways. One way this is achieved is through the narrator's sense of feeling "trapped." After feeling trapped for so long, she begins to identify with the figure behind the wallpaper. It is a good symbol to present the confinement of women and the emotional condition of the time in which Gilman lived. The story could be Gilman's way of expressing herself because her own creativity was limited to such an extent that she could not find a creative outlet..