The story entitled "The Yellow Wallpaper" by author Charlotte Perkins Gilman shows one-woman's struggle with mental illness to the point of insanity. The narrator appears to believe she is living in a colonial mansion. However based on the descriptions given throughout the story it appears she is in fact in an asylum.
             The main character is thrust into the story as the narrator as she tries to make sense of her situation using symbolism and descriptions to explain the state of her relationship with her husband, what she feels inside, and what she wishes to feel. The journey points out how early mental illness was poorly dealt with, if dealt with at all. Sometimes treatments given with the best of intentions could cause more harm than good.
             There is no background in this story before the couple arrives at the mansion. As the narrator begins, John and his wife have come to the colonial mansion which he has rented for the summer as a place for his wife to get some much needed rest and relaxation from her "nervous condition" shortly after their child was born.
             From the description of the house and room, which she stays in, the author paints a picture of a place that in reality could be an asylum of sorts. This is opposite of what the narrator describes it to be. She also points out some peculiarities especially at the beginning of her description.
             The narrator's examples are; there was something queer about this house, otherwise why would someone let a colonial mansion so cheaply? Why had it stood for so long unlived in? The house stood back off the road three miles from the village. The greenhouses were broken down. It had hedges, walls and gates that locked. The place had been empty for years. There were bars on the windows, sections of wallpaper were stripped off, and there are rings and things in the walls with a gate at the head of the stairs. The room has gouges in the
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