Society's Oppression of Women in The Yellow Wallpaper "The Yellow Wallpaper" is about a creative woman whose talents are suppressed by her dominant husband. His efforts to oppress her in order to keep her within society's standards by which a woman is supposed to behave only leads to her mental destruction. He is more concerned about societal norms than his wife's mental health. In trying to become independent and overcome her own repressed thoughts and her husband's false diagnosis of her; she loses her mind. The story illustrates his dominance by how he, a well-known and established doctor who should know better than to diagnose a family member, diagnoses her with a temporary nervous state and prescribes what he prescribes for her illness, namely the bed. rest. Without asking, he takes her to their summer home to recover from an illness he doesn't believe she has. He tells her that there is "no reason" for her to feel the way she feels; she should get rid of these “silly fantasies”. By telling her this, he treats her like a child who doesn't really know how she feels, thus making her doubt herself. When she tries to tell him what she needs, she is completely shut out and ignored. "I sometimes imagine that in my condition I would have less opposition and more society and stimulus, but John says the worst thing I can do is to think of my condition, and I confess that It always hurts me.” This statement has a double meaning: in the first part of the sentence, he reveals part of his insecurity problem. He is not interested in getting her help because he does not...... middle of paper ... environment in which she has been placed, and does not seek outside influences to help strengthen her , which was an indication of his insecurity. She accepted the environment she was placed in, but began to slowly transform it into what she wanted. Even though her husband truly believed he was helping her, he was actually hurting her. He was stuck in the society that thought the woman wanted to be taken care of and thought that's what he did. He didn't understand why she was starting to react violently and angrily to the environment she found herself in. It was only by facing her fears about what society and her husband would think of her that she allowed herself to become free. Once she became independent, she realized that she didn't need to rely on anyone but herself for survival. By refusing to be submissive, she traded her reason for independence..