For the women in the twentieth century today, who have more freedom than before and have not experienced the depressive life that Gilman lived from1860 to 1935, it is difficult to understand Gilman's situation and understand the significance of "The Yellow Wallpaper". Gilman's original purpose of writing the story was to have gained personal satisfaction if Dr. S. Weir Mitchell might change his treatment after reading the story. However, as Ann L. Jane suggests, "The Yellow …showed first 75 words of 1490 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1490 total…Fiction (Compact Fifth Edition). Bedford/St. Martin's, Boston, 1999 Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. "Why I Wrote 'The Yellow Wallpaper'?" The Forerunner (Oct. 1913): 19-20. Karpinski, Joanne B. Introduction. Critical Essays on Charlotte Perkins Gilman. New York: G.K. Hall, 1992. Lane, Ann J. Introduction. "The Fictional World of Charlotte Perkins Gilman." The Charlotte Perkins Gilman Reader. New York: Pantheon Books, 1980. X-xviii. Lane, Ann J. To Herland and Beyond: The Life and Work of Charlotte Perkins Gilman. New York: Penguin, 1990.