The yellow wallpaper symbolizes . the narrators obsession with appearances. women

women's oppression by their husbands.

Explanation:

In "The Yellow Wallpaper," by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the ugly yellow wallpaper represents the hardship and misery that the narrator and women in general are forced to experience in marriage and society. In that respect, women feel trapped in a submissive life, in which they are not free and live to serve their husbands and raise children. In fact, the narrator is locked in the room by her doctor husband, who ignores her real mental condition.