She conducted research about isolation in prisons, where confinement and insanity is common. She found that her subject, Joe Loya, had experienced many surreal things that most prisoners around the world are forced to deal with:
First, you sit on the edge of your bunk…find a spot on the wall. OK, now stare…stare at it for five minutes. Then 10. Then 20. That's when things start to happen…that spot on the wall, it will dance. It will become a dog or a horse, and after a while it will become a man, and that man, he will start to walk. If you concentrate hard enough, deep enough, long enough, a little movie will flicker. Eventually, this will happen without you even trying. Faces will appear, but without you concentrating. (Griest)
The narrator in “The Yellow Wallpaper” had many similarities to this felon who spent a few years in prison, due to robbing banks. They both chose to acknowledge the appearance of the room and how it made them feel