Close Reading: The Yellow Wallpaper

"It is a big, airy room, the whole floor nearly, with windows that look all ways, and air and sunshine galore. It was a nursery first and then a playroom and gymnasium, I should judge; for the windows are barred for little children, and there are rings and things in the walls ... I never saw a worse paper in my life."

Step One: Read for Comprehension 
The nameless narrator of the short story is describing the room that she is forced to stay in by her husband John, who happens to be a doctor, who says that she is experiencing temporary depression and that it is best for her to stay in this room by herself and away from others.  She first describes the room as being open with plenty of sunshine, and then she explains that it used to be a nursery and playroom.  She explains that because the room was once used only for children, the windows are barred and she describes the wallpaper as being some of the worst she has seen in her life.  She later describes the pattern as a "one of those sprawling flamboyant patterns that committing every artistic sin."

Step Two: Reread and Notice Things
The narrator is dealing with postpartum depression and I think it is really interesting that she is dealing with this while being secluded in a room that was once a nursery and playroom.  She later describes the room as an "atrocious nursery."  I think that the barred windows and her inability to communicate with people outside of this room represent more than just simply what they are.  I think that this room represents the narrator's inability to speak her mind about what she is dealing with because during this time postpartum depression was not something discussed and doctors did not understand how to treat it.  The room was once a nursery, which can also be representative of her husband, John, treating her like a child and controlling who she comes into contact with.  This controlling behavior can also explain the issue of status during this time.  John is a physician, as the narrator explains in the beginning, and he might be worried about what others may think of him if he has a "crazy wife."

Step Three: Explain Your Observations/Step Four: Formulate Some Conclusions & Develop Your Ideas
I think that my observations explain the confusion that the narrator was feeling and thinking during this time.  Because the author of this short story wrote it in the narrator's perspective, it allows the readers to get inside of her head and understand a bit more about what she is experiencing as she battles this postpartum depression.  I think that the chipping yellow wallpaper describes the narrator's mind slowly getting worse and worse.  The narrator is confined to this one room and the longer she watches the wallpaper, the more it becomes an obsession the worse her mind gets.