Creeping by Daylight — The Yellow Wallpaper

She has discovered something at last. The front pattern moves because the woman behind shakes it. Sometimes there are many women, sometimes one. In bright spots she keeps still. In shady spots she takes the bars and shakes them hard. She is always trying to climb through. The pattern strangles what gets through, turns the heads upside-down, and makes their eyes white. That is why it has so many heads.

The narrator thinks that woman gets out by daylight. She has seen her from every window: on the lane, in the grape arbors, on the road under the trees, hiding from carriages in blackberry vines. Most women do not creep by daylight. She does not blame her. She locks the door when she creeps herself. She cannot do it at night. John would suspect. He is queer now. She wishes he would take another room. She does not want anybody to get that woman out at night but herself.

Two days remain to get the paper off. John is noticing. She heard him ask Jennie professional questions. Jennie gave a good report: she sleeps a good deal in the daytime. John knows she does not sleep well at night. He asks loving questions as if she could not see through him. She does not wonder he acts so, after three months under this paper. It only interests her. She is sure John and Jennie are secretly affected too.