Why does Gilman use a first person narrator in the story? The traditional roles of women and men have drastically changed from what they were in the past. The key element of Gilman’s literary movement was modernism. Gilman was best known in her time as a crusading journalist and feminist intellectual, a follower of such pioneering women’s rights advocates. In the short story the reader is able to view the role that women had and how they were treated. Gilman uses the first person narrator to convey the story. “In this short story, the narrator serves as an entry into the mind of the character. This allows readers to observe the madness that this woman is experiencing. The narrator persistent use of "I" puts the reader right in the narrator’s head and allows us to sympathize with her. Through the use of the wall paper as a symbolic incarceration, Gilman indicates that the woman feels constraints of her…show more content… An important literary device used in the story “The Yellow Wall Paper” is the narrator. The type of narrator that is used by Gilman allows the reader to view the story from their viewpoint. In the story Gilman uses the first person narrator to convey the story. “In this short story, the narrator serves as an entry into the mind of the character. “And it is like a woman stooping down and creeping about behind that pattern. I don't like it a bit” (line 85). This allows readers to observe the madness that this woman is experiencing deep inside. The narrator persistent use of "I" puts us right in the narrator’s head and allows us to sympathize with her. “John does not know how much I really suffer” (line 6). He believes that there is no reason to suffer, and that satisfies him. Through the use of the wall paper as a symbolic incarceration, Gilman indicates that she feels the constraints of her marriage, her society, and her own efforts to repress her