After reading The Yellow Wallpaper I researched the author and found out that narrator is actually a projection of the author's past. Charlotte Perkins Gilman was diagnosed with the same type of illness and has been given the same treatment as the narrator in the story. Gilman experienced the same nervous breakdown and psychological meltdowns that the narrator has been exposed to. She was driven to the brink of her insanity until she threw away the advice her physician Weir Mitchell gave her. It was only until she began writing that her mind began to recover. To spite her doctor's advice she named the practitioner in the story after her own physician whom treated her. I believe the purpose of the article is to express a struggle between genders. Her husband and brother were both highly praised doctors and they both told her to not write and do any work. During that time period nobody questioned a doctor's medical advice. She obeyed both men and in doing so led to her demise. The woman in the wallpaper represents the lack of power women had. The woman in the wallpaper is shackled behind the bars in the design and remains that way whenever she follows the commands of her husband. It is ironic that the woman is only set free when the narrator takes control and locks herself in the room. The woman in the wallpaper's freedom shows the power one can attain from taking authority.