The Nursery for the "Little Girl" and the Ghost

"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...for the windows are barred for little children, and there are rings and things in the walls. The paint and paper look as if a boys' school had used it. It is stripped off--the paper in great patches all around the head of my bed, about as far as I can reach, and in a great place on the other side of the room low down...[The room had] barred windows, ...[a] gate at the head of the stairs, and...[a] great immovable bed [that] is nailed down..."(Bohner and Grant 488-91).

In "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Jane is stuck in a large room with a bed in the center and nothing else except for barred windows and rings and things in the walls. She thinks of this room as a nursery that have changed into a playroom and then into a gymnasium. However, I believe she is totally wrong. Why would there be a bed in a gymnasium? It would not be in a playroom either. If it was a nursery, the room would not have a bed, but would contain a crib. The bed is set...nailed down in the center of the room, as if it is for someone to observe the person sleeping on it. There is a gate at the head of the stair and the windows are barred, as if to block someone from escaping. Also, the barring of the windows hide the person in the room from outside. There are "rings and things" in the wall. Someone may have been tied up to the rings to be forced to stay still. This is not a room Jane believes it is. It is a room that was used for people like Jane-people who were believed to have psychotic problems-at least once, and probably more than that.
She is stuck in a inescapable room with only a bed, and no fresh air. John thinks that is going to make her better. That not only helps her condition, but worsens it. John treats his wife with love and care. More so like a baby. He calls her "little girl," "little heart," and "blessed little goose" as if she is his child, a baby girl or something. So, if the room was a nursery, it would be a nursery for a big baby. If Jane was crazy, the reason would be of John treating of his wife like a baby. Of course she is not his baby, she is his wife! If he does not realize that, they would be stuck like this forever, unless gets worse. She should have more voice in the house and more freedom.

She seems to become very crazy in the end. I think it could really be the "woman behind the wallpaper," or the ghost. If the room had been used for such treatments for "ill" women, there could have been women who have died. That means, there could be a ghost of one of those women, left back in the room, still crying for help and struggling for escape. If there was a ghost, Jane could have freed it and become possessed by the ghost. This throws in another character-another woman character who have suffered-into the story. The short story is not only implying the tragedy of a woman, but it is implying the tragedy of men's ignorance and women's helplessness in the men-centered society.