Comfortable Luxury, or Deranged Asylum?

Some people have said before upon reading it for the first time, "The Yellow Wallpaper" carries this ominous atmosphere about it that makes it quite similar to that of a silent horror story. In a certain perspective, they actually presume correct about this, but are only half-correct in their presumption.

The reason why that is said is because too many people presume that is because they are quick to presume that the "figures in the wallpaper" are just mere hauntings of the mansion, like a remnant of malevolence or insanity left behind by its previous inhabitants. Perhaps this was the author's intent in order to establish a more elaborated purpose to her tale than what she lets on. That happens to bring to mind one other very important matter: who do you suppose those previous inhabitants were, in fact? After all, it's not like they didn't leave behind traces of their presence there at the mansion. The biggest example of those traces is the jagged rips in the yellow wallpaper that allow it to flap side to side in the wind. How did those rips get there? The narrator describes them as something left behind from the children who used to play in the nursery.

However, could it have been possible that they weren't just children after all? Could there have been another victim like the narrator imprisoned inside that very room: whose thoughts and bearings were held down by the "love" of the ones that cared for them? Well, the only one who'd know the answer to that question is the author herself.

This can imply, however, that the author was not simply illustrating the pains of her own life, but perhaps the emotional pains of every woman in that time period. It would be no surprise if it were, because back in the time when the author lived, every woman lived under some sense of subordination to their loved ones, and that came with a certain sense of restriction on their own emotions and thoughts.

Companionship is something desirable among every person, which is why they carry so much hope to be able to express their own feelings to another. If that sort of hope was denied to people, how much of a burden could have been put on them as a result of that? It's like being a sheep chained to a stake in the ground, extending only 5 meters outward, surrounded by grass. The sheep will be able to eat within its own bounds, but what happens when all of that is gone? Naturally, there will be some beyond its bounds, and they'll struggle and struggle until their chains are broken where they can finally satisfy themselves for as much as they want.

In the same way, people hunger to express themselves. Denying them the right to express their thoughts and feelings is nothing more than torture to them until the soundness of their hearts withers away. Therefore, only oneself can judge how far they can express themselves. Through this way, people find hope for their future, and the future itself carries change within that hope.