Yellow Wallpaper and The Story of an Hour are stories of women who felt trapped by
Prior to the twentieth century, men assigned and defined the role of women, which meant the total loss of freedom. ... Men perpetrated an ideological prison that subjected and silenced women. This ideology, the “Cult of True Womanhood”, legitimized the victimization of women in addition to the “Cult of Domesticity and Purity”, which varied in their rules from women being imprisoned in their own home or private sphere, as a servant tending to the needs of the family, to women being virtuous and pure even in marriage, with their demeanor continuing to be one of modesty. These were the means that men used to ensure the submissiveness and docility of women. Both “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Gilman and “The Story of an Hour” by Chopin are stories of women who felt trapped by the men in their lives – their husband the patriarchal head of the household. Gilman uses first person narration to reveal a womans loss of reality to her readers, while Chopin allows us to experience the joy Louise Mallard felt upon hearing of her husbands death. To be able to appreciate how far we have come is difficult in this age where women have more freedom than ever before, because as historians say “If we do not know history we as a people are bound to repeat it.