Question

Why is the “The Yellow Wallpaper” set in only one place, a bedroom?

Answer 1

Gilman sets the story in just one bedroom with a barred window to portray the restrictions on and seclusion of the narrator:

It is a big, airy room, the whole floor nearly, with windows that look all ways, and air and sunshine galore. It was nursery first and then playroom and gymnasium, I should judge; for the windows are barred for little children, and there are rings and things in the walls.

The isolation of the bedroom reflects the narrator’s emotional condition. Through the barred window in the room, the narrator can look outside; however, she is unable to do anything, advised to only rest by her husband to cure her of her “nervous depression.” Setting the story in only the bedroom allows Gilman to build on the narrator’s obsession with the wallpaper in the room. If she had been in a different setting; for example, one of the rooms downstairs, she wouldn’t have fixated on the wallpaper. Her opportunity to be surrounded by other people and activities would have increased in a different setting, leaving little time to her own thoughts.

Answer 2

It is set that way to show what is going on in that one place and the author wants to just focus on the main setting which is the bedroom to prove that the setting has a meaning that contributes to the story. Over all it is talking about how the author wants to just deeply understand the point of the story which is the bedroom to have a clear better understanding of the story.

Hope this helps!!