These sentiments seem to be indicative of the times. In this case, our "unnamed" narrator's feelings deteriorate throughout the story as she becomes more and more disconnected from reality. In the opening lines, the narrator describes the house as "a haunted house" (Gilman 655), thinking there was something "weird" about it (Gilman 655). The protagonist describes her surroundings as "quite lonely, well back from the road, three miles from the village" (Gilman 656), this seems to be an indication of the loneliness and isolation she feels in her current situation. At first she says, “I don’t like our room at all. I wanted one downstairs…but John wouldn’t hear of it” (Gilman 656). This small act of denial is significant in terms of the outcome of the narrators' mental health. The narrator is installed in a room upstairs, formerly used as a child's bedroom, with the famous yellow wallpaper. The wallpaper's prison bars mimic the real, physical metal bars on nursery windows. Bars are mentioned throughout the story, reinforcing the idea that the narrator is imprisoned and must escape. She writes, “the windows are barred for little children” (Gilman 656). Outside the barred window, the narrator sees a garden with "a view of the bay and a private dock...a lovely shaded driveway leading down there from the house ».”