During the nineteenth century women were viewed as homemakers, not able to perform in society with men. They were degraded and debased by men to believe that they were worth almost nothing, only worthy of bearing children. This superfluous male domination lead to many women feeling trapped in their own homes, unable to escape from the confinements placed on them by their husbands. An illumination of these confines was accounted by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, a feminist writer of the nineteenth century, in her short story "The Yellow Wallpaper". In this story, Gilman portrays herself as a woman who is suffering from post-partum depression. The woman is locked away from society in a confined room, only to drive herself even more insane. The author uses this nameless narrator in attempts to gain her position against gender issues and break down the barriers of male domination. Throughout "The Yellow Wallpaper," Gilman challenges the reader to question feminist stances and gender boundaries of the 19th century using specific symbols of gendered spaces, but also uses these devices to allow the reader to become connected with the facts of life women experienced during this time.
             Women in the 19th Century had many reasons to be filled with resentment. They were depraved of many human rights and given little in return for their contributions to society. They worked mostly in the home, taking care of the family while their husbands were at work. Women were not considered able to perform tasks in the work place, and were not able to obtain their own careers. The author recognizes these hardships and relates them to the situation in the story. Gilman writes in a way that is extremely structural that the reader's visual senses are captivated by the written text and infer that the narrator is growing increasingly insane. She does this by first letting the reader get familiar with the nameless woman. As the st...