The belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities is truly what feminism is. One of the most important key principles that Donald Hall uses in his Feminist Analysis is that “language, institutions, and structures of social power have reflected patriarchal interests throughout much of history” (202) and that “This has a profound impact on women's ability to express themselves." and the quality of their daily lives" (202) are very visible in the two stories "The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin and "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and in the novel Always Waking by Kate Chopin all written in mid-19th century. All of this illustrates how women were oppressed by patriarchal power and how women rose up and subverted patriarchal oppression, which clarifies Hall's theories that state women were denied self-expression, affecting their daily lives and patriarchs take power away from women. One of the main effects of patriarchal power that Hall discusses is how it denies women the ability to express themselves. A feminist would argue that women have been valued as objects, valued for the utility they provide to men and for their beauty. This explains why patriarchs disapprove of women speaking out. A woman's purpose was to be a mother, a good wife, and, very bluntly, a trophy, an achievement that satisfies the man. Traces of such practices could be referred to in the short story "The Yellow Wallpaper" when the unnamed narrator suspects that her husband, John, is coming into the room, she writes: "John comes, and I must put this away, - he hates to make me write a word ” (Gilman 769).The wife is denied the right to express herself through writing and she does not question this rest… in the middle of the paper… conveys the ways and results of patriarchal oppression from yellow wallpaper” the result was madness, in the novel The Awakening the result was death and in “The Story of an Hour” the result was also death. These are not the only results of the sudden awareness that he men should not have all the power.Women resisted patriarchal power and gained power against oppression throughout the 19th century.Works Cited.Kate The Awakening , New York. !899 6 & 34Hall, Donald Literacy A Cultural Theory. Houghton Miffin Co. Chopin, Kate. “The Story of an Hour (1894)”. Adapted from The Awakening. Glencoe McGraw-Hill. New York New York 1899.Gliman Perkins, Charlotte “The Yellow Wallpaper.” The language of literature. American literature. Evaston McDougal, Littell 2002