The Yellow Wallpaper Part 12 Summary

  • It’s the last day in the house.
  • John stays in town overnight with a patient, and Jennie offers to keep the narrator company, but she declines.
  • As soon as night falls, the narrator goes to the wallpaper to help the woman trapped inside.
  • The narrator and the trapped woman peel away yards of the wallpaper.
  • The sun rises and the narrator believes the pattern is laughing at her.
  • She is due to leave tomorrow with John.
  • Jennie comes into the room and is astounded to see much of the wallpaper gone.
  • The narrator says she will sleep the rest of the day and requests that no one disturb her.
  • After Jennie leaves, the narrator locks the door, throws the key down the stairs, and gets to work. The narrator prepares a rope to capture the woman in the wallpaper once she gets out.
  • The narrator then tries to move the bed so she can stand on it to strip the wallpaper.
  • The bed doesn’t move. The narrator gets so enraged that she bites it.
  • She gets angry enough that she contemplates jumping out the window, only to find that the windows are barred.
  • The narrator is happy that she can now creep around the room as she wishes.
  • John tries to get in the room.
  • He pounds on the door and the narrator finally tells him that the key is on the front path.
  • He comes in and is shocked to see his wife creeping about.
  • The narrator tells John that she (the narrator) has finally escaped and that he cannot put her back.
  • John faints as the narrator continues to creep around the room.