The stories of the yellow wallpaper and the story of an hour are both stories that have deep meaning and many hidden symbols. In both stories there is a woman who is somehow oppressed by an external force and must find a way to overcome this oppression. Although in both stories the main character goes through a different ordeal, the main theme behind these events is the same and the two experiences can be compared to each other. the events coincide in both women oppressed by men and represented as the weaker sex, both women find a way to deal with the situation, and both stories have a tragic and ironic ending. The first aspect that both stories have in common is the fact that both women are oppressed by a man in their lives. “The Yellow Wallpaper” provides valuable insight into the ways in which Gilman's story chronicles how women have been constructed socially, historically, and medically as not just weak, but diseased beings. (Suess page 86) In The Yellow Wallpaper the protagonist Jane is going through post pardum depression, but in the period in which the story is set this illness was not known because her husband believes that she is not fit to bear it and takes care of herself itself and locks it in the attic to protect it. In the case of The Story an Hour, the reader never internally knows that the story's husband is oppressive. Yet it becomes apparent to the reader after the husband is presumed dead and Mrs. Mallard has a chance to think about it. "As he let himself go, a little whispered word escaped his slightly parted lips. He repeated it over and over again under his breath: "free, free, free!" The blank look and the look of terror that had followed him disappeared from his eyes. They remained passionate and brilliant." (Chopin) She... in the center of the paper... me. In shock, Mrs. Mallard goes into heart failure. The doctors "said she died of heart disease, of joy that kills." (Chopin) This is ironic because this would have been the mentality of men at the time. there could be no other reason why her heart stopped than the joy of seeing her husband. But the truth was that his heart had stopped because now he had to abandon everything he had planned to do with his life. She was back in the one thing she had been so happy to abandon and she couldn't stand it. In conclusion, both stories share many similarities: an oppressive husband and woman who I considered weaker. Although both women find themselves in different situations, they both learn to have realizations in these situations. Although both share an ironic ending, in the story of The Yellow Wallpaper the irony is sweeter than tragic.