The expansion of feminism in literature texts during the nineteenth-century has greatly affected the society's view about gender inequality. The two stories, "The Story of an Hour" and "The Yellow Wallpaper", talk about the women's oppression in marriage and how they yearn for freedom in the restricted culture. While "The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin claims that women need freedom, Charlotte Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" points out that the life without self-expression may be damaging to women's health. In their texts, both authors use symbols to critique gender inequality.

From the reading of "The Story of an Hour'" by Kate Chopin, the protagonist's desire for freedom from her marriage is expressed by symbols throughout the text. At the beginning of the story, Louis Mallard, the main character, is told that her husband has passed away in a railroad disaster. While Louis mourns for her husband's death, she also conceives that she is finally freed from her marriage. Despite the fact that being relieved about her husband's death is inappropriate, the readers still feel sympathy for the main character because of her desire for liberation. In the text, Chopin uses images of springtime to describe the new, exciting life that Mrs. Mallard thinks is waiting for her such as delicious breath of rain, the notes of a distant song, countless sparrows were twittering in the eaves (Chopin 223). Spring reminds people of something new and beautiful, which is Louis' fantasy about her life without her husband. While the spring rain gives the feeling of rejuvenated and fresh, a song indicates a happy soul, the flying sparrows represent free spirits. These images symbolize Louis' fantasies and desire for independence in the future. She hopes that she would start a new life without being oppressed by anyone. 

From Mrs. Mallard's expression, readers can comprehend that she is unhappy with her marriage. Although the protagonist admits that she does love her husband sometimes, her attitude toward her marriage is quite pessimistic: 

There would be no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself. There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature. A kind of intention or a cruel intention made the act seem no less a crime as she looked upon it in that brief moment of illumination (Chopin 224). 

From the quote, Chopin implies that the main character's marriage symbolizes the prison. It can be said that Louis' husband has been oppressing her so much, physically and mentally, that she feels like she is trapped. Although the author does not indicate whether the husband treats the protagonist well or badly, the point is that Mrs. Mallard still feels stuck in her own marriage. She wants to live for herself a life that belongs to her, without being scrutinized by her husband. The "blind persistence" refers to the stage when a married couple assumes that they need to share everything in each individual's life to the other person, which is a kind of invisible subjugation that a married couple has to each other. Besides suggesting that all marriages, even the kindest ones, are inherently oppressive, Chopin also imparts to the readers that women, similar to men, need independence for the pursuit of happiness. 

At the beginning of the story, the author informs that Mrs. Mallard has a heart trouble, which symbolizes the condition of her marriage. An unstable heart is like an unhappy marriage. The patient would always have to live in fear and tired of a life that is restrained from certain physical activities or rapid emotional changes. Similarly, Mrs. Mallard's marriage restricts her from doing what she wants, making freedom is forbidden thought that can only be imagined privately. Chopin ends the story with a surprise ending, whereas the protagonist dies when she sees her husband appears at the front door to indicate that her death of a broken heart symbolizes the loss of her independence fantasies. To the blind eyes, the doctors' diagnosis is as simple as "she had died of heart disease  --  of the joy that kills" (Chopin 224). Nevertheless, it can be interpreted that since the doctors are men, they would assume that the wife dies because she is overly joyful, not because she is heartbroken by the fact that she would still live in the prison of marriage. Kate Chopin suggests that the main character, as well as the women during her time, is trapped in a patriarchal world, where people consider subjugating women is a normal thing.

To many critics, "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Gilman is a story which indicates that women need to have self-expression in order to have good mental as well as physical health. The main character is a wife who is forced to have a rest cure due to her postpartum.  Throughout the story, the domestic sphere symbolizes the prison for the main character. The author shows the confinement by describing the room, " ...  the heavy bedstead, and then the barred windows, and then that gate at the head of the stairs, and so on" (Gilman 211). These details show that the narrator is kept in a closed room with equipment which prevents her doing something dangerous. The barred windows and immovable bed also suggest that this nursery room perhaps had been used to keep someone that was crazy before the narrator's family moved into this mansion. The often present of John, the narrator's husband, checking over his wife refers him as a warden, giving the idea of the nursery room as a surveillance-friendly prison. Although the husband wants to help the narrator, the method that he used is wrong and worsens her mental condition. 

The wallpaper itself is the most obvious symbol in this story. The wallpaper, a feminine decoration on the wall associated with domesticity, is a representative of female imprisonment within the domestic sphere and the narrator's mental freedom. The narrator describes the wallpaper, "It is stripped off - the paper  --  in great patches all around the head of my bed, [ ... ] One of those sprawling flamboyant patterns committing every artistic sin" (Gilman 210). Gilman compares the stripped old wallpaper to the male-controlled society, where immoral thoughts and acts were considered normal such as male is the dominant in the world and women have to obey the men's demands. The color of the wallpaper also creates an unpleasant feeling for the narrator, "The color is repellent, almost revolting; a smoldering unclean yellow, strangely faded by the slow-turning sunlight. It is a dull yet lurid orange in some places, a sickly sulphur tint in others" (Gilman 210). The wallpaper's hue is associated with sickness and judgment, showing that narrator's illness is developed by the restrictions placed upon her, physically and mentally, by the patriarchy that she lives in. It can be seen that alienation and seclusion from society only frustrate the narrator more and more. 

Another detail that is relevant to the narrator's mental condition is the women behind the wallpaper. From seeing patterns such as crawling "broken neck" and unblinking "bulbous eyes", the narrator gradually untangles the chaotic patterns on the wall and finally sees a subdued, quiet woman. In the other words, the woman behind the wallpaper symbolizes the narrator herself as her insanity deepens. "Sometimes I think there are a great many women behind, and sometimes only one" is the narrator's thought to show her fear of being trapped in the yellow wallpaper (Gilman 218). Through this quote, the author illustrates her worry that there are many women trapped in the unfair society, including her, those who are asking for freedom and self-expression. 

In the two stories, Chopin and Gilman want to address the gender inequality issue in society during their time. Both of the main characters are the oppressed wives during that late nineteenth-century, whereas there their husband treated them wrongly and make them unhappy with their marriage. In "The Story of an Hour", Chopin uses the protagonist's heart disease as a symbol to point out that all marriages have problems but the most common issue that leads to an unhappy marriage life is the invisible oppression of couples to each other. This happens because the wives often do not have opportunities to express their thoughts and feelings. Similarly, Gilman's story about the depressing wife also indicates that the lack of self-expression and misunderstanding between married couples may lead to mental problems by describing the progression of the wallpaper, changing from odd patterns to an imprisoned woman behind the wallpaper. Despite the fact that the husband tries to help his wife with good intention, his wife's depression worsens because of his ignorance to her feelings. A troubled heart is like a mental problem, no physicians or doctors can exactly predict what would happen to the patient. Both of the stories impart to the readers that women deserve to have basic rights such as freedom of independence and speech and women's liberation should be considered seriously. 

In the readings about feminism by Kate Chopin and Charlotte Gilman, it is clear that both authors use symbols to state the problem of gender inequality and call for the women's rights. The various symbols help the readers to understand the desire for freedom and the confinement of the characters. From that, the readers can relate to the harsh discriminations and pressure of society that women have to suffer in reality. Both texts point out the difficulty of women to find equal opportunity in society and suggest that women should be as well-respected and independent as men. 

