How well did the Federal Reserve Banks perform during the Great Depression? A. The Federal Reserve System skillfully guided the United States economy out of the Great Depression.
B. The Chair of the Board of Governors made bad decisions and directed the Federal Reserve Banks to act in harmful ways.
C. The Great Depression took place before the Federal Reserve System was established.
D. Individual governors of the Federal Reserve Banks disagreed over policy and were unable to stop the depression.

active voice: my father cut the tree.

passive voice: the tree was cut by my father.

active voice: people buy newspapers every day.

passive voice: newspapers are bought (by people) every day.

active voice: people have been using movies as political propaganda since world war ii.

passive voice: movies have been used as political propaganda since world war ii.

active voice: donna gave me my birthday present.

passive voice: i was given my birthday present (by donna). / my birthday present was given to me (by donna).

active voice: mom will leave the keys on the counter.

passive voice: the keys will be left (by mom) on the counter.

the words in parentheses are the agent of the passive voice and can be omitted when obvious, generic, or simply unnecessary.

as for symbolic actions, the narrator's tearing down the wallpaper in an attempt to find the "woman" in the wallpaper represents her struggle to retain or regain her sanity.   the wallpaper has been part of her confinement and by her tearing it down, she is freeing herself from that confinement.