The yellow wallpaper can be interpreted as embodying many qualities about the narrator. The narrator exclaims: “This wallpaper is the strangest yellow! It makes me think of all the yellow things I’ve ever seen – not the beautiful ones like buttercups, but the filthy old yellow things” (Gilman 316). The color yellow is often associated with illness or weakness, and the narrator's mysterious illness is a typical example of her husband's oppression of the narrator. The connection between color and the narrator can also imply how the narrator despises himself. She even states that the wallpaper “… bothered me at first. I seriously considered burning the house down to get to the smell. But now I’m used to it…” (Gilman 317). This exposes her inner perception of herself. She feels disgusted and bothered by herself, but has become accustomed to being treated.