Women's Identity and Independence in The Yellow Wallpaper Although "The Yellow Wall-Paper" is fiction, it can be considered almost like Gilman's autobiography since Gilman's life seemed to parallel her main character's life. What Gilman was trying to express in this work is women's fight for identity and independence (professional work) which are stripped from them by marriage and motherhood. (p799) In the story, a woman who just gave birth had some complications which resulted in …showed first 75 words of 918 total…

…showed last 75 words of 918 total…her independence from John and her writings. At the end of the story, John faints at the site of Gilman "creeping" around the perimeter of her room. She keeps crawling around and around over his body every time she circled around. "...so that I had to creep over him every time!" (p812) This can be taken as women's struggle for their independence and identity and that they will not stop for anything in their path.