Jesse Huchingson Professor Baker Critical thinking and comp 26 February 2023 An Exploration of Gender Relations Through Fiction Throughout our time studying short fiction, we were made to read several stories with a theme that can be noticed throughout, that being the intensely nuanced relationships between the sexes. In Kate Chopin's “Story of an Hour” Mrs Mallard is initially struck by the most intense grief regarding her husband's apparent passing. This grief turns to joy as Mrs Mallard realizes her freedom from her husband's constraints. In a much more morbid tale, although still exploring themes of men’s desire to exert their control over women. Joyce Carol Oates’ “Where are you going where have you been” offers a much more bleak conclusion, …show more content…
The societal expectation of men being dominant and women being submissive has been a pervasive theme throughout history. This is reflected in the treatment of women in both of the aforementioned stories. In “Story of an Hour”, Mrs Mallard is initially seen as a grieving widow, someone who is unable to function without the support of her husband. However, as the story progresses, it becomes clear that her grief is not just about her husband's death, but also about the loss of her percieved security and dependance. This threat of lost security is what commonly kept women in situations of abuse, without the financial ability to become independent, Women commonly had to remain under Men’s oppression. In Mrs. Mallards case this grief turns to her realization of her own independence and autonomy without the need for her …show more content…
Arnold's pursuit of Connie is a chilling example of the ways in which men have historically used violence and intimidation to exert their control over women. Arnold's attempts to seduce and subjugate Connie represent a broader pattern of male violence and domination, which is still unfortunately all too common in contemporary society. Arnold Friend states “"I'll have my arms tight around you so you won't need to try to get away and I'll show you what love is like” This statement “I’ll show you what love is like” is perfectly succinct to the theme, all too often men desire women, not in a romantic connotation but in a sort of perverse, almost hateful
Throughout Joyce Carol Oates’s short story, “Where are you going, Where have you been?” (1966), readers follow the story of a 15-year-old girl who is trying to rebel against the social and familial structures of 1960’s American society. Joyce Carol Oates was inspired by the events in Arizona when Charles Schmid, a serial killer, took three women’s lives. She was attempting to share with the American public what those girls might have been thinking when they left with Schmid. In the short story, Connie is described as a self-centered girl who is too preoccupied with her looks, which draws negative attention to herself from her mom and older men.
In The Story of an Hour, the female characters support stereotypes that have been significant in the late nineteenth century. For instance, Louise Mallard, the protagonist, is portrayed as a lady who is based on her husband for emotional aid and economic stability. When she first hears the information of his death, she is overcome with grief and desires to be consoled by means of her sister. This portrayal reinforces the stereotype of girls as emotional and fragile.
The Mallards relationship was based on Mr. Mallard. Mrs. Mallard did everything for him and what did he give her in return. When he died she finally realized she would get to do things for herself and they would have purpose “‘Free Body and soul free!’ she kept whispering.” the
Mallard, and the girlfriend want to communicate how they feel and do not want to be constrained. Chopin was a feminist which encouraged her to write The Story of an Hour. Women do not want to feel possessed and want to be self-asserted (Chopin, 2004). Women are told to respect their marriages and must abide to society. Mrs. Mallard feels free of duties when she understands that her husband has deceased.
The feminist lens allows the reader to examine the short story; Where are you Going, Where Have You Been by Carol Oates, with an educated and more insightful view that when understood, inadvertently exposes how present patriarchal and misogynistic ideologies exist within men. A prominent issue within a traditional society is man’s expectation for a woman’s only goal being to satisfy and please a man. This is demonstrated in full force when Arnold Friend condescendingly says; “Be nice to me, be sweet like you can because what else is there for a girl like you but to be sweet and pretty and give in?” (Oates 9). The way Arnold condescends and truly believes in what he says is problematic.
“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been,” is about a teenager named Connie who is trying to come to terms with her transformation from childhood to adulthood. Through this process, Connie attempts to act older than she is an tries to gain the attention of boys. In “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been,” Joyce Oates portrays Connie as obsessed with men to symbolize how one’s obsession and narcissistic attitude can cause danger to seem surreal. In the short story, Carol Oates describes Connie as having two different personalities, one being a narcissistic attitude.
Following the failure of her husband’s business, Kate Chopin spent her time attempting to flirt with various men. Kate Chopin’s numerous attempts to get another man to replace her husband proves that women of the time were submissive, because as soon as her man was gone she desperately attempted to get another rather than continue on alone. The submissive attitude described in the cult of domesticity was overwhelmingly present in Kate Chopin’s writing as well as in her life. In Kate Chopin’s short story “Story of an Hour”, the main character Louise Mallard is never referred to by others as her own personal title, instead always mentioned under her husband’s name. Louise Mallard is clearly submissive throughout the story since she has no identity separate from her husband, even being put under her husband’s name after his death.
In Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” demonstrates the personal growth of the dynamic protagonist Louise Mallard, after hearing news of her husband’s death. The third-person narrator telling the story uses deep insight into Mrs. Mallard’s thoughts and emotions as she sorts through her feelings after her sister informs her of her husband’s death. During a Character analysis of Louise Mallard, a reader will understand that the delicate Mrs. Mallard transforms her grief into excitement over her newly discovered freedom that leads to her death. As Mrs. Mallard sorts through her grief she realizes the importance of this freedom and the strength that she will be able to do it alone.
She initially feels sadness but quickly begins to experience a sense of liberation. However, this liberation is followed by conflicting emotions of fear and uncertainty. Mrs. Mallard's conflicted character makes her human and relatable. Her emotions and desires are similar to those of many people who struggle with making choices that will affect their
Mrs. Mallard’s actions cause the readers to contemplate a hidden meaning woven into the story line. Mr. Mallard is assumed to die in a railroad accident, leaving Mrs. Mallard devastated. Instead of feeling sadness or grief, Mrs. Mallard actually feels free. "There would be no one to live for her during those coming years; she would live for herself. There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature" (Page 499).
Chopin clearly states that women felt that they lost their freedom and that they were just mere prisoners of marriage. Mrs. Mallard’s tragedy is a good example to understand that women were unhappy and depressed, since society forced them to play a secondary role, where happiness and independence cannot be achieved. Kate Chopin, in reality, lost her husband, and perhaps she wrote ‘The Story of an Hour’ to tell that she could not find freedom with her husband’s death, and that the character’s fate was the only possible way to find it, not only for herself but for most women as
Growing up as a woman has been quite difficult in this generation, however, growing up around thirty years ago must have been more difficult. Back in the 1900’s, women had different social norms to deal with in society. Women had to stay at home, be housewives, do the laundry, and cook while men went out and worked to obtain money for their family. In Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin, she tells the struggles that women went through back in the 1990 's and the social norms that women had to go through. Chopin addresses many instances of symbolism to portray the feeling Mrs. Mallard has about her own thoughts and experiences with or without a man in her life.
This shows a balance between gender roles, as well as the embracing progressive changes within culture and society. In the story “The Story of an Hour,” by Kate Chopin, a third-person omniscient narrator, relates how Mrs. Louise Mallard, the protagonist, experiences the euphoria of freedom rather than the grief of loneliness after hearing about her husband’s death. Later, when Mrs. Mallard discovers that her husband, Mr. Brently Mallard, still lives, she realizes that all her aspiration for freedom has gone. The shock and disappointment kills Mrs. Mallard.
In the beginning of the story, she heard the news of her husband’s death in train accident from her sister Josephine and her husband’s friend, Richard. She was shocked by the news and showed sad feelings in the story. However, when I was reading through the story, I could infer that Mallard had a terrible marriage life with her husband because the story later said that Mallard was happy because she had freedom. In the beginning of the story, she was shocked and sad but later on, she was happy because of in dependence. These evidences prove that she is a dynamic character.
“The Story of an Hour” focuses on a Louise Mallard in a marriage with a controlling Brently Mallard. She is not allowed independence and is forced by his will. Her sister, Josephine and newspaper man Richards, tell Louise her husband was killed in a train accident. An abundance of information, grief, freedom, and death are a part of this short story. Being as it is only a two-page story, we are not given any background information on the characters that leaves much to our imagination.