What are some additional meanings behind the color of the wallpaper?

One additional reading of the color of the wallpaper is that it promotes a counter-intuitive reading. The color yellow is normally associated with happiness and light; in this case, it is linked to a malignant source that drives the narrator insane. Because the reader expects the color yellow to be benevolent and is disappointed, the reader is also forced to question everything else in the novel, especially those things that seem to be obvious. Other possible readings are that the color of the wallpaper relates to illness (specifically, jaundice) or even that it relates to discriminated minorities of the time period (such as the Chinese).