Question

Which sentence in this excerpt from “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman suggests that, despite her growing insanity, the narrator still retains some awareness of what society expects of her? I tried to lift and push it until I was lame, and then I got so angry I bit off a little piece at one corner—but it hurt my teeth. Then I peeled off all the paper I could reach standing on the floor. It sticks horribly and the pattern just enjoys it! All those strangled heads and bulbous eyes and waddling fungus growths just shriek with derision! I am getting angry enough to do something desperate. To jump out of the window would be admirable exercise, but the bars are too strong even to try. Besides I wouldn't do it. Of course not. I know well enough that a step like that is improper and might be misconstrued. I don't like to look out of the windows even—there are so many of those creeping women, and they creep so fast.

Answer 1

The sentence would be "I know well enough that a step like that is improper and might be misconstrued".

Look at the word choice in the sentence: "improper" and "misconstrued."

Misconstrued means to interpret someone's actions or words in a way that was not the original meaning.

The narrator knows that society will look at her as odd if she jumps out the window, so she doesn't.