Before the beginning of the 20th century, men dictated the role of women in society. Charlotte Gilman uses her short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” (1892) as a symbolic reflection of the oppression of women in a paternalistic society. Her story challenges the idea that women are portrayed as weak and fragile. The narrator's name is unknown throughout the story, but in the beginning the reader is given her husband's name (John), and the narrator's identity throughout the story is as that of John. wife, who is dominated by John in their relationship. This effect created by Gillman masterfully establishes the lack of a determined female identity. He diagnoses her, and except that she is tired and wants to write, John continues to determine that her health is not well. John is the dominant personality in the marriage and does not see her as an equal in their relationship. This is a wonderful tone and mood used to reflect the cultural norm at the time of Gillman's writing. She is not seen as an equal, she is treated and often called a child. When she decides she likes a downstairs bedroom next to the nursery, John insists that she have the upstairs bedroom with the yellow wallpaper. The narrator/wife hates the color of the room and describes the color as “repellent, almost revolting” (432) When she asks her husband to change the color, he decides not to give in to her desires, and the reader is informed that John, who he knows more, he does it to his advantage. Reflects a parent who does not want to give in to their child's whims for fear that the child will become spoiled and will expect to get everything he or she asks for. Even though her husband belittles her, she continues to praise everything she does and sees everything she is doing for... half the paper... roles since "the man" is passed out. A man fainting at the sight of something he can't understand, something terrifying. In the end, it is the narrator, seen as weak and fragile by her husband and society, who crawls over her husband's motionless body. The narrator does not get up and walk over her husband's body, but she crawls over it, indicating that she no longer cares about him and that she is finally free. just like any baby, they crawl first, then walk in the final progression to running. Gilman's "Yellow Wallpaper" inspires that sometimes, to find your true self, you have to break restrictions and rules. The narrator gets lost in the decision to give in to her husband and society and to stop doing what she loved. With the decision to rebel and continue writing instead, she begins to find herself and her true freedom.