2/5/20161 III. Revising the Thesis As Pat reads more about her topic, she comes to the conclusion the original thesis needs revision.

2/5/20162 Table of Contents 1.Results of the Preliminary Research 33 2.Interpretations Selected Interpretations55 4. Revising the Thesis Pat’s Next Step: Taking Notes 99

2/5/20163 Pat’s preliminary research shows… There are at least ten different interpretations of the yellow wallpaper! I will have to decide which ones to include!

2/5/20164 In terpretations Everyone sees something different in the wallpaper. Symbol of mental breakdown. Symbol of women’s struggle for freedom. Symbol of The Cult of the True Womanhood Symbol of the new mother’s self-hate?!

2/5/20165 Pat selects three interpretations. #1. Wallpaper as symbol of the confining roles that causes the narrator’s mental breakdown. #2. Wallpaper as symbol of social pattern of 19 th century women’s social and economic dependence on men. #3. Wallpaper as symbol of values women were expected to follow: the values of “True Womanhood” (pure, pious, submissive, domestic).

2/5/20166 She looks for a linking idea. Wallpaper as symbol of “pattern” women’s social and political dependence on men Wallpaper as symbol of confining values of “True Womanhood” Wallpaper as symbol of narrator’s mental breakdown during the rest cure

2/5/20167 She finds a connection... All three interpretations all deal with the repression of the 19 th century woman. And the narrator’s response to it!

2/5/20168 and writes her revised thesis The yellow wallpaper is used by Gilman as a symbol of the social and economic repression of the 19th century woman and her struggle to free herself.

2/5/20169 Pat Is Ready to Take Notes I’m ready to go back to the source materials to take notes.