The woman in the wallpaper represents all women who were oppressed by the patriarchal society of the 19th century. The woman in the wallpaper also represents Gilman herself, as this story was written as a response to a "rest cure" she was given while suffering from postpartum depression. Gilman felt the rest cure was restraining and suffocating, as she wasn't allowed to write, walk, or feed herself throughout the process.
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