Constraints are set by parents on their children to facilitate the developmental process and help with maturity level. Restrictions and the ability to control exist in our society and our lives. We encounter constraints daily: work, doors, people, and the most frequently used and difficult things become intangible. In the following stories, tangible and intangible scenarios are presented. Autonomy, desires and talents scorned by husbands in “The Chrysanthemums” by John Steinbeck and “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Gilman. The authors share views on a similar theme of male domination and imprisonment. “Yellow Wallpaper” involves the treatment of a depressed woman who goes mad during detention imposed by a man in her own room. On the other hand, Elisa Allen in “The Chrysanthemums” struggles internally to find her place in a society entirely dominated by men with defined gender roles. The mirror situations provoke different reactions from the two women, in different ways. The importance of symbolism, controlling their husbands, and the lack of a healthy marriage will be addressed in this article in two stories. Elisa Allen and the narrator of “The Yellow Wallpaper” are both trapped in various ways and sexuality leads to this. trapping. Elisa feels confined and limited; “The high gray-flannel fog of winter closed the Salinas Valley from the sky and all the rest of the world” (226). Stuck inside the house and feels isolated from the outside world. The chrysanthemums symbolize her living environment where she devotes most of her time to this activity. The chrysanthemums, strong and prosperous, reflect Elisa's current physical condition. She treats the chrysanthemums like her children; "she was holding the flower pot... middle of paper...... husbands possess a masculine ego of power which leads to a lack of understanding in their marriage. The wallpaper symbolizes the trapped narrator and the structure of the tradition Additionally, Elisa's chrysanthemums are thrown away and the narrator's feelings are denied, which depicts the rejection of women and ends up "weeping weakly like an old woman" and settling for wine (233). of the narrator led her husband to faint "but he did it, and right in front of me by the wall, so that I had to sneak up on him every time" (447). is crazy and causes discomfort in her husband, hoping that she can now escape. To conclude, John Steinbeck "The Chrysanthemums" and Charloette Perkins "The Yellow Wallpaper" show two different outcomes mainly due to being trapped. in an isolated house or in a garden and to have a limited life under the control of her husband..