When a woman lives in a patriarchal society, her opinions and emotions become secondary to a man’s. Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Ernest Hemingway exemplify how easily a man can strip a woman’s power of choice and behavior away in their short stories. Although Jig in “Hills Like White Elephants” seems to have quite a bit more agency than the narrator in “The Yellow Wallpaper,” both women have men in their lives who force them to change their opinion simply by the words they utter. The men place the women in situations, in which they must change to accommodate their man’s desires, instead of what is in their best interests. In “The Yellow Wallpaper,” the narrator experiences an extreme lack of agency. The suffering woman clearly understands her condition and has opinions of the best course of action; however, her husband decides stripping away her freedom to write and experience life away from a bed will cure her depression. Although the narrator…show more content… The narrator in “The Yellow Wallpaper” directly explains that she knows what is in her best interest. However, her husband’s powerful words force her to believe her wants and needs are “silly…whims” that will just make “him uncomfortable,” which in turn stops her from voicing her opinion (394). Similarly, Jig responds to her man’s words and threats with what is expected: defeat. She explains, “Then I’ll do it (abortion). Because I don’t care about me,” (418). She does not care about how she feels or what she wants anymore because she is trying to save her relationship. The man succeeded in manipulating her into believing that the abortion is not only what is best for her, but also her only option of remaining happy. The women are powerless in their perspective paternalistic societies because their men manipulate them into believing they are lesser, that they depend on their opinions to make their
