When it comes to acts against others, of what are people unaware? It is believed to be a very important question, because if people are able to answer it, if people actually know what they are aware of, it will have to begun to unravel a knotty problem, and answer the question, "Why do many people feel the need to control others?" Control is exerting influence over one's environment or the actions or behaviors of another person- is sometimes used excessively by those who fear the unpredictable and ambitious, feel the need to prove themselves, or fear of losing control. The incessant need for control can be overwhelming and exhausting, wreaking havoc on relationships, careers, and overall quality of life. The theme of control is excessively used in, "The Yellow Wallpaper," by Charolette Perkins Gilman, and also in the film, "Black Swan," directed by Darren Aronofsky. In the film "Black Swan", Nina, always a white swan, begins to explore her Shadow (her black swan) for her lead role in 'Swan Lake'. Nina is depicted as naïve, fearful and frigid. The factors and presences that push and pull Nina into and out of her Shadow are her creepy, infantilizing mother who gave up her dancing career to have her, and her abusive, seducing director. Those two characters are the perfect example of control as a theme. Nina doesn't get to explore her proverbial dark side in any remotely safe or healthy ways. Her mother has trapped her inside a pink, endless childhood. Her bedroom is full of stuffed animals, and her mother physically dressing and undressing her, with Nina calling her "mommy" in a needy, babyish voice (the only thing, it seems, that will talk her mother back from the extreme edge of her bouts of rage). In Thomas, Nina's mentor, various facets are seen : the positive mentor who believes Nina can outshine even Beth in the role; the ruthless artistic director bent on breaking Nina and molding her into what he wants; the sexual predator who harasses and seduces women to dominate and emotionally control them; and the manipulative boss who sees what his subordinates are up to yet turns a blind eye. In many scenes of the film, Thomas uses his abusive control over Nina to make her depict "the black swan." The most remarkable symbolism used in the film was Nina's little dancing ballet toy. Even after she destroys it to pieces, the ballet toy proceeds to play music and dance. At the end of the film, Nina hurt herself, but was still able to amazingly perform her act of the black swan. So from the beginning, is there any chance for Nina? At the end of the ballet, the swan queen can only find freedom in death: a fate that Nina shares. In Gilman's short story, "The Yellow Wallpaper," the same controlling treatment that Nina got in "The Black Swan," was depicted by the narrator's husband, who was a doctor, and her sister in law, who in the story took care of her, as she was going through post partum depression. Like Nina, the narrator was treated like nothing more than a child. Her husband repeatidly calling her "little girl," and not letting her go out to see her relatives, as the same as Nina's mother, not letting her go out with friends or even having a social life. In many parts of the story, the narrator was frightened at the fact of doing what she desired, which was to write. She hid it from her husband and her sister in law, in fear they would catch her.