As elusive as it may be, the human race has and will always search for meaning. The need for this fulfillment is a fundamental part of the human condition of both men and women; however, obtaining one's definition is a mysterious and arduous task. The path to finding meaning is often dangerously opaque and deceptive, so when someone believes they have solved the riddle of fulfillment, they are inclined to publicize their findings. Based on ideas presented through Leo Tolstoy's The Death of Ivan Ilyich, Mary Shelly's Frankenstein, Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God, Charlotte Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper, and Robert Frost's The Road Not Taken, there is a truth regarding the search for meaning: meaning is not found through the norms of society. When searching for your own meaning, the greatest deceptive pressures come from society. Societal pressures are harmful. They are harmful not only because they don't provide the meaning the person is looking for, but they also cause a significant amount of collateral damage. This is mostly seen in The Yellow Wallpaper. In this story, a woman has a high level of anxiety. Then she is treated for this with the popular treatment of the day. Saying "So I take phosphates or phosphites, whatever they are, and tonics, and travel, and air, and exercise, and I am absolutely forbidden to 'work' until I am well again. Personally, I do not agree with their ideas" ( Gilman 1 ), admits that she lets society make decisions for her, even if she thinks their ideas are bad. During this treatment, she slowly loses her mind and eventually goes mad. The woman in this story gives up her freedom and sanity to society. She may have been well... halfway through the paper...... sent different ideas about what meaning and how to get it, I agree on the point that it is not found by strictly adhering to society's guidelines and ideals.Works cite Frost, Robert. "1. The Road Not Taken. Frost, Robert. 1920. Mountain Range." Bartleby.com: Great books online. Network. .Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God: A Novel. New York: Perennial Library, 1990. Print.Shelly, Mary. Frankenstein. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1998. Print.Tolstoy, L.N., Ronald Wilks, Anthony Briggs, and David McDuff. The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Other Stories. London: Penguin, 2008. Print."The Yellow Wallpaper." Etext.virginia.edu. University of Virginia Library, 1997. Web. .