From solitude to madness in A Rose for Emily and The Yellow Wall-Paper In The Second Sex, Simone de Beauvoir states that within a society patriarchal "woman does not enjoy the dignity of a person; she herself is part of a man's heritage: first of her father, then of her husband" (82-3). Sia Emily Grierson in "A Rose for Emily" by William Faulkner that the narrator of "The Yellow Wall-Paper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman are forced into solitude simply because they are women. Emily's father rejects all her potential mates; Alla's narrator isolates her from stimuli of any kind end, Emily is a recluse trapped in a blighted house, and the narrator of Gilman's story is a delusional woman confined to her bed. A study in characterization and setting of "A Rose for Emily" and "The Yellow Wall-Paper ” demonstrates how the oppressive nature of patriarchy drives the women crazy in both stories. The "heritage of a man" destroys Emily as her father smothers her with his overprotectiveness. He stops her from courting anyone since "none of the young men were good enough for Miss Emily and things like that" (82). When her father dies, Emily refuses to acknowledge his death; “[With] nothing left, she…[had] to hold on to what had robbed her” (83). When she finally begins a relationship after his death, she unfortunately falls in love with Homer Baron who "liked me... middle of paper... Jellife. Tokyo: Kenkyusha, 1956.---. Faulkner in University. Ed. Frederick L. Gwynn and Joseph L. Blotner: U of Virginia P, 1959. ---. Literature: Reading, Reaction, Writing Ed R. Mandell 3rd ed. Orlando: Harcourt, 1997. 80-87 written 'The Yellow Wall-Paper.'" The Forerunner, October 1913. Online November 1998. HTTP available: www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~daniel/amlit/index.html---. "The Yellow Wall-Paper ". R. Mandell. 3rd ed, 1997. 160-73.