Although most short stories at first glance may seem to be simply fictional tales about people and situations that don't exist, this is not always the case. Some short stories are actually the author's criticisms of specific cultural values and social conventions veiled by an interesting plot and engaging characters. This is certainly true of three stories specifically: "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and "Everyday Use" by Alice Walker. In each of these stories, the author integrates his or her thoughts about society into the fiction.
             Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" is the semi-autobiographical story of a woman's descent into madness in spite of and partly because of the husband's prescription of lengthy bed-rest. This story is essentially Gilman's criticism of how women were treated by men at that time. Men were nothing more than wardens in the lives of women. In the beginning of the story, the main character and her husband are spending time in a mansion they rented so that she may recuperate from the recent birth of her child, and calm her nerves. When her husband assigns her to stay in the nursery, the theme of male dominance over women is introduced. By choosing the nursery as the place where the main character will stay, Gilman is delineating women's status in society as a child; basically under the care and control of an adult. The woman in the story is treated and talked to as if she were a child by her husband, ""Bless her little heart!" said he with a big hug. "She shall be as sick as she pleases.""(681). He at no point treats her as an equal, but rather as someone whom he must take care of and dominate. This is how Gilman felt women in society at that time were treated in the male-dominant society. She presents the main cha...