Both stories depict women who desire freedom. In "The Story of an Hour", the main character is briefly freed upon believing her husband died, but her freedom is cut short when he reappears alive. In "The Yellow Wallpaper", the main character is confined to a room by her husband's orders due to a nervous condition, and she descends into madness as her desire for freedom and isolation grows, eventually believing she sees a woman trapped behind the wallpaper. The settings of dark, confined rooms are important to both narratives as the spaces where the women experience their loss of autonomy.