The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman examines gender role's oppressive nature which was imposed on women in the late 19th century. Due to the inability to insert one's identity, the narrator is driven mad and thus strives for self-expression.
Being the fictional journal, it is told in first person narration. The first person narration is used in "The Yellow Wallpaper" to help readers understand the plot and context of the story by focusing on the narrator's thoughts, perceptions, and feelings. Through the narrator's shifting consciousness everything we see and learn is through it. We also understand the context of the story when compared to other characters her perception of reality is odd.
