Emily Grierson And Louise Mallard And Kate Chopin's The Story Of An Hour

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Recommended: Woman in the nineteenth century summary

The lives of women in the nineteenth-century were drastically different than they are today. A woman in that time period had very little autonomy, and were considered as possessions to males. A young lady in the nineteenth-century could expect for her father to choose a suitable husband for her. She would be married to this man and eventually bear him children. In Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” the reader is introduced to Louise Mallard, who as a result of the social conditioning of the time period is in a marriage— while although happy feels constrained in the relationship. In William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” the reader becomes aware of how her father’s failure to accept a suitor, has grave consequences on her later romantic life. …show more content…

The Characters in these stories can be seen as weak and fragile, which comes as a result of their marital problems. In Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” the reader is introduced to the main character only as Mrs. Mallard—as she was of one being synonymous with her husband. We also can deduct the fragility in which others see Louise, as the narrator discusses her affliction, “Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble, great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband’s death” (Chopin 25). This demonstrates the nineteenth-century view of the woman of being the weaker partner in a marriage; the other minor characters around Louise expect her fragility. In Faulkner’s story, the protagonist Emily becomes a recluse, stuck in a huge old house that seems out of place due to her Father’s control over her. This view of Emily becoming reclusive is echoed by the town’s people, “We did not say she was crazy then... We remembered all the young men her father had driven away, and we knew that with nothing left, she would have to cling to that which had robbed her, as people will (Faulkner 79-80). Therefore, acknowledging the weakness that Emily’s character experiences as a result of her

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