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In the short story, “The Story of an Hour”, and the novella, The Awakening, by Kate Chopin, it is evident that the lack of respect, treating someone like a possession rather than a person, is the single most destructive agent in a relationship. In Chopin's short story, the main character, Mrs. Mallard, is delivered the news of her husband's death. Instead of mourning the loss of her "beloved", she celebrates her sudden freedom. She now felt "there would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men...believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature" (Chopin, “The Story of an Hour” 2). Mrs. Mallard's husband has a scarcity of respect for his significant other, which is exemplified
in the way that he This kind of treatment ruins a relationship due to the fact that a relationship should be built on mutual grounds, both people are equal. In relation to The Story of an Hour, The Awakening displays the epitome of treating someone like a belonging through Edna's relationship with her husband, Leonce. Edna's husband looks "at his wife as one looks at a valuable piece of personal property which has suffered some damage" (Chopin, The Awakening 7) thus indicating how he views his wife as an object, in which he has complete control over. Such treatment causes the "possession" to have a multitude of resentment towards their "owner" for the lack of respect. Consequently, the most destructive agent in a relationship is the treatment of one partner as a trophy by another, thus causing a rift between the two.
Amongst the short stories titled "A Story of an Hour" and "The Revolt of Mother", both of the main women in these narratives have experienced living life in a society which viewed them as inferior to the opposite gender. Mrs. Mallard, the main character in "A Story of an Hour", is an ill woman who was faced with the hardship of coping with her husband's sudden death. However, to the reader's surprise, Louise Mallard "did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance" (Chopin 1). Since Mrs. Mallard was the wife of Brently Mallard, she was undoubtedly expected to grieve endlessly for the loss of her own husband. Yet, Louise expressed her feelings of sorrow and pain only for a short
As a forerunner of the modern feminist movement, Kate Chopin explored bold new characterizations of her female subjects. Chopin is famous for her progressive depiction of the female characters in her stories. Two such stories, 'The Storm' and 'The Story of an Hour,' examine and refute the long held ideal of the subservient wife. 'The Storm,' written in 1898 but not published until later because of its provocative content, describes the passionate extramarital affair between Calixta and Alcee, a former lover. 'The Story of an Hour' follows Louise Mallard as she deals with the death of her husband. Chopin uses the extraordinary events in the characters' lives to bring them out of the coma of submissive living. In both stories, the female protagonist awakens from a marriage-induced trance and into a state of self-awareness as a person separate from her husband.
The heroine, Mrs. P, has some carries some characteristics parallel to Louise Mallard in “Hour.” The women of her time are limited by cultural convention. Yet, Mrs. P, (like Louise) begins to experience a new freedom of imagination, a zest for life , in the immediate absence of her husband. She realizes, through interior monologues, that she has been held back, that her station in life cannot and will not afford her the kind of freedom to explore freely and openly the emotions that are as much a part of her as they are not a part of Leonce. Here is a primary irony.
The narrator is confined to a room with strange wall-paper. This odd wall-paper seems to symbolize the complexity and confusion in her life. In “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, the protagonist, Mrs. Mallard must also deal with conflict as she must deal with the death of her spouse. At first there is grief, but then there is the recognition that she will be free. The institute of marriage ties the two women of these two short stories together. Like typical young women of the late 19th century, they were married, and during the course of their lives, they were expected to stay married. Unlike today where divorce is commonplace, marriage was a very holy bond and divorce was taboo. This tight bond of marriage caused tension in these two characters. Their personal freedom was severely restricted. For Mrs. Mallard, marriage was a curse to be reckoned with. She knew inside that her marriage was wrong, but she could not express her feelings openly. Her husband was not a bad man, but he was in the way. After hearing about her husband’s death, Mrs. Mallard comments, “now there would be no powerful will bending her in that blind persistence with which men … believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow creature” (Chopin 72), Her husband definitely was a thorn in her
In the short story, “The Story of an Hour,” author Kate Chopin presents the character of Mrs. Louis Mallard. She is an unhappy woman trapped in her discontented marriage. Unable to assert herself or extricate herself from the relationship, she endures it. The news of the presumed death of her husband comes as a great relief to her, and for a brief moment she experiences the joys of a liberated life from the repressed relationship with her husband. The relief, however, is short lived. The shock of seeing him alive is too much for her bear and she dies. The meaning of life and death take on opposite meaning for Mrs. Mallard in her marriage because she lacked the courage to stand up for herself.
Marriage can be seen as a subtle form of oppression, like many things which are dictated by social expectations. In Kate Chopin’s The Story of An Hour, Louise Mallard finds herself in distress due to the event of her husband’s death that makes her question who she is as a person. The author cleverly uses this event to create the right atmosphere for Mrs. Mallard to fight against her own mind. As the short story progresses, we see that Mrs. Mallard moves forward with her new life and finds peace in her decision to live for herself. This shows that marriage too is another chain that holds oneself back. Not wanting to admit this to herself, Louise
A common thread between the Realist works is the theme of marriage and the oppression. In Ethan Frome, The Awakening, and “The Story of an Hour” the main character’s life is effected through the suppression of individuality by societal values. Ethan Frome, by Edith Wharton, follows the depressing life of Ethan Frome, a man married to a woman he doesn’t love, resulting in lustful feelings for another. Wharton writes, “He was a poor man, the husband of a sickly woman, whom his desertion would leave alone…and even if he had had the heart to desert her he could have done so only by deceiving two kindly people”(Wharton 90). While Ethan may want to be with Mattie Silver, he has a wife and leaving her would be immoral in the eyes of society. Thus, Ethan is illustrated to balance the morality and reality of his situation to his desires. Similarly, the main protagonist, Edna Pontellier from The Awakening, by Kate Chopin, expresses her marriage to be a show for society’s ideals rather for love. Chopin writes, “‘You have been a very, very foolish boy…dreaming of impossible things...I am no longer one of Mr. Pontellier’s possessions to dispose of or not. I give myself where I choose. If he were to say, ‘Here,
Some stories are so different that you would say they can’t be similar in anyway. I beg to
The two selections, “The Story of an Hour” and The Awakening both had strong female protagonists that dreamed of a future of independence. Both protagonists struggled with self-identity due to the previous societal restraints in their lives. In the excerpt, Edna is indirectly characterized when described that “a certain light was beginning to dawn dimly within her”. This underscores that she has been kept in the metaphorical dark due to the male figure in her life. However, the light that was beginning to bloom was a symbol of her independence that she dreams of. In the short story, Mrs. Mallard is directly characterized by being “young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain strength”. It is important that
In the short stories, “The Story of an Hour” (1894), by Kate Chopin and “A Rose for Emily” (1930), by William Faulkner, the protagonists live in a culture expecting women to be happily married. “The Story of an Hour” is about Mrs. Louise Mallard, a young woman that has to be carefully told about the death of her husband, Brentley, because of her heart condition. When she is told of the news, she locks herself in her room and will not come out. Eventually, when she exits the room, she sees her dead husband standing at the front door and dies of a heart attack. One article believes they put this ironic ending in because, “Physically, her heart was weak, and emotionally, it had no room for anyone else.” (Berkov 248). According to “A Rose for Emily”
The two stories being compared and contrasted are The Story Of An Hour, by Kate Chopin, and The Interlopers by Saki. Both are very interesting examples of many things, character, story development, setting, but I've chosen to particularly highlight structure, plot, and use of irony and foreshadowing. The Story Of An Hour is a short story about a woman in a marriage that she feels trapped in. When she hears that her husband died in a train crash, she grieves a moment, but then realizes that she's free to do what she wants. However, her husband then walks in the door, and she dies. The Interlopers is another short story about two men who are part of a family feud that's been going on
Characterization by definition is the process that an author uses to introduce and describe characters in a story (“Literary Devices”). In The Awakening and Death of a Salesman, the authors use great methods of characterization to help us understand the personalities of the characters. The two most important characters that are described are Edna Pontellier of The Awakening and Willy Loman of Death of a Salesman. Their stories are very relatable in some aspects, and this is why we can become attached to them. These characters are also very similar to each other in multiple ways, but the most prominent way is that they were both very selfish. However, these characters have much more to them than what meets the eye. Their issues and feelings go much deeper than what we can see on the surface.
While reading the two stories The Story of an Hour and The Interlopers I noticed that these stories are completely different. Now most all stories or books have something alike and these two may have some similarities, but they're practically from to different worlds.
Many intriguing characters in literature are devised from the apprehension women have encountered with men in the institution of marriage. Although portrayed differently, marriage is perceived as a constraint to the protagonists. This has been presented very well in “The Way Up To Heaven” penned by Roald Dahl who blatantly critiques the accepted societal roles of women in the mid-twentieth century and “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin who highlights a woman’s plight in the 19th century. This is not only painted through the events of the stories, but also through the way each protagonist evolves into a dynamic character. The two main characters in these stories show many similarities, but they are also remarkably different in the ways they deal with their problem to gain independence.
“There is no perfect relationship. The idea that there is gets us into so much trouble.”-Maggie Reyes. Kate Chopin reacts to this certain idea that relationships in a marriage during the late 1800’s were a prison for women. Through the main protagonist of her story, Mrs. Mallard, the audience clearly exemplifies with what feelings she had during the process of her husbands assumed death. Chopin demonstrates in “The Story of an Hour” the oppression that women faced in marriage through the understandings of: forbidden joy of independence, the inherent burdens of marriage between men and women and how these two points help the audience to further understand the norms of this time.