The narrator claimed that there was a woman trapped by bars in the wallpaper. It is like a prison that she is stuck in and coincides with the narrator as she is also forced to sit alone in a room. It is also a symbol of the relationship between John and his wife. As the narrator looks deeper and deeper into the wallpaper, she is really just observing her life. The yellow wallpaper really changes the narrator and her mind and she begins to dislike John. The narrator is dealing with postpartum depression and many depressed people are usually stuck in their own minds. It's as if your vision is just a window through which you can see, but cannot escape. The narrator sees herself in the wallpaper and tries to escape because she is also trying to escape her depression. Towards the end of the story, John's wife begins to tear the yellow wallpaper and when she tears it is as if she is helping the woman inside the wallpaper who is really her, to