Women in the 1800s were treated differently then how they are treated now. In the 1800s women could not have a voice in society. They would be told to stay home and be with the family, while the men would go out into the world and work to support their family.
Women were not allowed to be educated. Since they could not be educated then they could not get a job. So men ruled the work force. If men didn't want women to have a voice they would do everything they can to keep women from getting that right. They would make up ideas about women and keep them home. They came up with "manic-depressive illness", and this was considered to make women go insane. The women would have to be locked away until they were better, but if women were locked away from everything and they were isolated that would make them go even farther into insanity. "But afterwards he said that I was letting it get the better of me, and that nothing was worse for a nervous patient than to give way such fancies" (Gilman 3). Jane is becoming slightly insane, the wallpaper is getting to her. This going to be "the death of her." I believe this was a plan that men made up to keep women from taking over. Men were just scared that women would take over what they have already started so they made up lies to keep women at home. This plan did not work because later in history women began to gain more rights. More women were educated, so they could get jobs. "Despite the enormous amount of controversy she created she chose her work over her family." (The Yellow Wallpaper: An Autobiography of Emotions by Charlotte Perkins Gilman 1) This shows how much she wanted to work and much she wanted to show men that she can work along side them without being a threat. Men and women are treated equal. They are working side by side. Men have learned that women are just as smart as men. Women are doctors, physicists, and chemists. Women have finally gotten the respect that we deserve. 
https://www.aclu.org/womens-rights- this talks about women's rights now and how we are still not equal
http://lifestyle.allwomenstalk.com/rights-women-didnt-have-a-century-ago- this talks about rights that women have now, but didn't have a century ago
Societal or Historical Connections: connections made to society or history
In the story The Yellow Wallpaper, the author uses a lot of symbolism to portray how she feels. I think the stripes on the wallpaper represent bars. Bars are used to hold people back, and this shows how women were held back by society. Also in the story, when Jane fist got to the house, she noticed a broken green house. Women are usually associated with gardening and flowers. So, if the green house was broken, does this symbolize that Jane is also broken? (Gilman 1) "All those strangled heads and bulbous eyes and waddling fungus growths just shriek with derision." (Gilman,11) I believe that Gilman is trying to say how she was judged by people in her life time. She was judged when she wrote this book, also just for being a women she was judged.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/symbolism-
this tells the definition of symbolism
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/composition/liselle.htm-
this talks about symbolism from the yellow wallpaper
Symbolism: the use of symbols to express or represent ideas or qualities in literature, art, etc.
The Protagonist of The Yellow Wallpaper is Jane. She has been locked in her room for three months. She is not allowed to go outside or do anything. She has tried to keep her mind occupied. The only thing that has caught her eye was the yellow wallpaper in her room. She has been mesmerized by this wallpaper. She is becoming so obsessed with this wallpaper she wants to be in it. She rubs up against it and leaves indentations on the wall. (Gilman 8-9) At first, she hated this hideous yellow wallpaper, but now it's hers and nobody can touch her things. (Gilman 8) This wallpaper has stripes which represents bars in a jail cell. She believes that there is a women trapped in the wallpaper. Jane thinks the women is trying to be freed from the bars that bound her. I think this is how Gilman is trying to portray her feelings on being trapped by society. Women were not allowed to work, be educated, or have a voice in society. Jane is treated like a child by John. The women in the wallpaper comes out when John leaves for work. I think this symbolism is used to tell Jane's true feelings on her life. She can't talk to John about how she really feels because he thinks she is just crazy, but when he is gone she can write all of her feelings and thoughts down about what is happening to her.
http://www.gradesaver.com/the-yellow-wallpaper/q-and-a/at-what-point-does-the-lady-go-insane-67107/- this is different peoples opinions on when Jane went insane
http://www.teenink.com/nonfiction/academic/article/312915/the-yellow-wallpaper/-
this talks about feminism and how women couldn't work
Protagonist: The hero of the story
In The Yellow Wallpaper the main character goes insane while trapped in her room. She thinks she sees things in the wallpaper. Her mood fluctuates drastically throughout the story. One minute she would be in love with the garden, then the next she would loathe it. (Gilman 1) Being locked in a room all by yourself would drive you to the break insanity. Throughout the story the main character was becoming more and more mad. "The narrator’s rich imagination might have found a productive and
healthy outlet in her writing, but being forced to repress her
imagination instead leads her to madness." (Shmoop, 1)
http://www.novelguide.com/the-yellow-wallpaper/theme-analysis-
this is another theme of The Yellow Wallpaper
http://www.shmoop.com/yellow-wallpaper/madness-theme.html -
These are different themes from the yellow wallpaper
Theme: is the point of the story
Charlotte Perkins Gilman was born July 3, 1860. She was born into a family of Feminists, and this influenced her later in life. While Gilman was growing up, women weren't treated the same as men. Gilman had a hard childhood. Her father left her when she was a child, and her mother had to raise her and her sister. They moved around a lot and Gilman's education was impacted greatly because of this. Gilman fond a love for writing. As a young adult, Gilman married Charles Walter Stetson, a physician. After being married for many years, Gilman started to become depressed. In the 1900s women were insane if they acted a certain way. Gilman went to Dr. S. Weir Mitchell, and he diagnosed her with "manic-depressive illness"(The Yellow Wallpaper: An Autobiography of Emotions by Charlotte Perkins Gilman 3) She was too sit in a room alone, she could not see her child, and she could not write. "This experience is believed to have inspired her best-known short
story "The Yellow Wall-Paper" (1892)." (Charlotte Perkins Gilman, 1) In the 1900s they did not have the best cure for this, but it was the best for its time. Women who had "manic-depressive illness" were told to sit alone in a locked room and shock themselves. Some women went insane sitting in a room for years on end. Some like Gilman, were so mad that they committed suicide. Gilman died on August 17, 1935.
http://www.biography.com/people/charlotte-perkins-gilman-9311669-
this is a biography of Gilman's life
http://www2.webster.edu/~woolflm/gilman.html-
all about Gilman
Gilman's Background: Born: July 3, 1860
Died: August 17, 1935
