在夏洛特·帕金斯·吉尔曼（Charlotte Perkins Gilman）的短篇小说《黄色墙纸》中，叙述者被隔离在她的房间里，在那里她被禁止思考、写作或阅读。女主角被告知身体不适，这种隔离对她有好处。

不幸的是，这最终导致她失去理智。吉尔曼的故事是一个寓言，讲述了医疗行业如何不重视女性，这加剧了她们的问题。她的女主人公慢慢陷入疯狂，这让人想起一个压迫社会是如何扼杀女性的。

黄色的墙纸可以被看作是社会的象征，在女主人公的想象中继续肆虐，直到她被困在一座鲜花盛开的监狱。这个故事在妇女研究班很受欢迎，被认为是最早的女权主义故事之一。这是任何热爱美国或女权主义文学的人必读的书。下面是这个故事的几句话。

“黄色墙纸”引述

"The color is repellent, almost revolting: a smoldering unclean yellow, strangely faded by the slow-turning sunlight." - Charlotte Perkins Gilman, The Yellow Wallpaper "This wallpaper has a kind of subpattern in a different shade, a particularly irritating one, for you can only see it in certain lights, and not clearly then." - Charlotte Perkins Gilman, The Yellow Wallpaper "I'm getting really fond of the room in spite of the wallpaper. Perhaps because of the wallpaper." - Charlotte Perkins Gilman, The Yellow Wallpaper "There are things in that wallpaper that nobody knows about but me, or ever will." - Charlotte Perkins Gilman, The Yellow Wallpaper "You think you have mastered it, but just as you get well under way in following, it turns a back-somersault and there you are. It slaps you in the face, knocks you down, and tramples upon you." - Charlotte Perkins Gilman, The Yellow Wallpaper "It becomes bars! The outside pattern, I mean, and the women behind it is as plain as can be. I didn't realize for a long time what the thing was that showed behind, that dim sub-pattern, but now I am quite sure it is a woman. By daylight, she is subdued, quiet. I fancy it is the pattern that keeps her so still." - Charlotte Perkins Gilman, The Yellow Wallpaper "Through watching so much at night, when it changes so, I have finally found out. The front pattern does move-and no wonder! The woman behind shakes it!" - Charlotte Perkins Gilman, The Yellow Wallpaper "For outside you have to creep on the ground, and everything is green instead of yellow. But here I can creep smoothly on the floor, and my shoulder just fits in that long smooch around the wall, so I cannot lose my way." - Charlotte Perkins Gilman, The Yellow Wallpaper