Edna Pontellier from Kate Chopin's opera The Awakening and the unnamed narrator of Charlotte Perkin Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper both experienced similar forms of oppression gender, who have become frustrated with their conventional female roles. Having similar experiences, these literary works prove effective in conveying the issue of gender inequalities between men and women in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Although both Chopin and Gilman's portrayal of their character's dissatisfaction for women's social roles are similar in more than one way and both fight for their autonomy, they differ in the type of independence from a patriarchal society from which they strive to separate themselves. The unnamed narrator of Gilman's story struggles with the mental repression she experiences as a result of her illness, particularly from her husband and doctor, John. Edna in Chopin's Awakening struggles for physical independence from her husband and children. In this essay I will explain the ways in which both of these characters are oppressed in a male-dominated society, as well as their attempts to convey their frustration and the different types of independence efforts they achieve. The unnamed narrator of Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper suffers from a mental illness she calls "Hysteria". This type of hysteria he experiences is a nervous breakdown that can only be cured by moving away from all types of stimulation, essentially bed rest. Needing a little more understanding of this narrator's diagnosed "hysteria," I read a chapter titled "Escaping the Sentence: Diagnosis and Discourse in 'The Yellow Wallpaper'" from a book by Paula Treichler. According to Treichler,…the half of the paper…that the Narrator has, is her attempt to gain control of her mental state that she has been trapped in for so long. While the Narrator of The Yellow Wallpaper fought for independence from the mental suppression to which she was subjected, Edna Pontellier of Kate Chopin's short story The Awakening fought for physical autonomy from her husband and children. The belief that women of the late 1800s should remain in the domestic sphere and take care of the family before themselves was predictable. Thus they were unable to think about their own needs or wants before those of their families. The Awakening highlights the physical aspects of women's roles in this patriarchal society. Works Cited Kennedy, XJ and Dana Gioia. "The yellow background." Backpack Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. 2011. Print.