In the short story “The Yellow Wall-Paper” by Charlotte Perkins Stetson the author continually uses irony in regards to the narrator and her husband John’s relationship to ultimately depict the extent of John’s ignorance when it comes to ailments of the mind as well as the social structure of a household in the late nineteenth century. “He has no patience with faith, an intense horror of superstition and he scoffs openly at any talk of things not to be felt and seen and put down in figures. John is a physician…perhaps that is one reason I do not get well faster” (Gilman 1). In this one quote we can see many of the ironies that are prevalent throughout the short story. First off John is referred to as a physician specifically instead of a doctor which cements the fact that he treats ailments of the physical body, things that can be “felt and seen” as he says and not ailments of the mind which he doesn’t believe in. This quote is a good representation at the hopelessness of this whole scenario, the author uses the irony to help us realize the futility of what is happening.