Story Of An Hour Theme Essay

This essay endeavors to analyse the situation of two different women. “The Story of an Hour” and “A Rose for Emily.” The first story by Kale Chopin’s in the 19th Century penned by Mrs. Mallard who confirm her about her husband death which made her heart broken. But at the same time she thought she could be free and enjoy her life because in the old time Women was under the mercy of her husband and must obey him which affect their life. “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulker with the breaking news of her father death feeling depressed and unable to do anything.

This article examines the conflict between life and death for ladies, who were not free and could not express thoughts, or achieve their goals in The Story of an Hour, written by Kate Chopin. The text shows that after the news of her husband’s death Ms. Mallard runs and locks herself alone in her room. The heroine looks through the window in the room and starts to feel something that she had never felt before. In this moment she begins to feel freedom and even she whispers “free, free, free!” under the influence of great joy.

Like ghost these silenced stories are forced to wander through their minds but never be confronted. The author also experiences this state of living dead, and this is only brought to her attention when her brother says, "You died too you just don't know it"(17). It is only when the ghost brings attention to this lack of consciousness that the narrator is forced to face her silence. She realizes that her silence has been slowly killing her saying, "I wept…for all the words never spoken between my mother, my father, and me"(17). By not sharing their story, whether it be to one another or a third party, that she has taken away value from her life.

Women in the 1890s were expected to work at home to keep their husbands comfortable and bear him children. Kate Chopin wrote most of her short stories during this time period. Her stories “A Respectable Woman” and “A Story of an Hour” show a female protagonist who want their freedom and control over their own lives. Her characters pushed the bounds of the roles that society gave them and showed the brutal reality of how women were treated in the 1890s. In “A Respectable Woman” the female protagonist Mrs. Baroda is married and lives on a plantation with her husband, who invites a friend to spend a week or two with them.

Curley’s wife feels like she has not attached anything in her life. “I never get to talk to anyone, I get awful lonely” loneliness is a key aspect in Curley’s wife character. She married Curley to escape her controlling mother and ended up in a loveless marriage. She forced on her dreams to try to keep herself happy but this only make matters worse.

Reliability is something that is not present in Granny 's narration of her last moments. Moreover, a first person account of events is faulty in itself as the audience can only read what a single person thinks is happening. Granny is a particular character as she is undoubtedly unaware of her own actions and averting of her own feelings. This can be read in the excerpt, "For sixty years she had prayed against remembering him and against losing her soul in the deep pit of hell, and now the two things were mingled in one and the thought of him was a smoky cloud from hell that moved and crept in her head when she had just got rid of Doctor Harry and was trying to rest a minute (Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and

Although there is no clear statement that shows Louise to have an oppressive marriage, there are ambiguous statements about the marriage that show she feels caged. During the event of finding out about Brently’s death, Louise did not respond “as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance. She wept at once, with sudden wild abandonment” (Chopin), due to Brently’s death she is finally able to let out emotions that she has held in for so many years of being a dutiful wife. Once Louise is left alone to grieve she reflects upon her feelings and her marriage. The narrator points out that Louise knows she will cry again for him when she sees his funeral, remembering his “kind, tender hands...the face that had never looked save with love upon her” (Chopin).

“The Last Man serves as a tribute to Shelley’s deceased friends, and explores Shelley’s own feelings of isolation after their loss” (skullsinthestars). This novel greatly compares to her circle of friends. In this novel, Shelley intricately describes Percy Shelley and Lord Byron through the characters of Adrian and Lord Raymond. With this novel particularly, readers can easily identify the pain that Mary must have felt when she lost her friends in such a short period of time. After marrying Percy Shelley, her father went months without speaking to her and Percy’s father hardly ever spoke to Mary because he did not agree with the life that Percy lived.

With this, Goodman declares that his family were survivors of a terrible experience. This blatantly shows her derision, as Goodman continues to describe the ways in how the family didn’t even behave as survivors. This is shown in Line 36-39 when Goodman describes that Phil’s wife had given up trying to compete for his work and that she already felt that missed him as he was always away from his family - expressing that Phil’s wife barely felt any sorrow for her husband’s death since she knew nothing about him. Furthermore, Goodman labels his children as “dearly beloved” when, in fact, it was the total opposite. Phil was never around for his children, hence they never experienced his love.

Throughout the discovery of his son not being white, he blames Desiree for being the cause of the problem. He won’t speak out of the discovery of him being the one with black heritage because it is unacceptable to his family. He is insensitive and would rather harm his own family (Gradesaver.com...1) Another example of irony occurs in the way that Madame Valmonde didn 't have a child of herself and one day while her husband was riding he comes upon a child just asleep next to a stone pillar (Chopin... Pg.

(Chopin, p148) which caused Edna to commit suicide because she realized she was not happy without her kids and society wouldn’t accept her because she left her husband. Jaine returns back to her hometown after Tea Cake dies. Jaine at the end of the novel is looked at as a survivor and a hero. She left to find happiness, but he happiness that she found was not text book. Jaine found that love starts from within and has to be explored and sought out for.

Louise Mallarad is a very selfish, self-centered person. She only thinks about herself. Every person that is taking care of her at her need are caring for her while she is only thinking of herself. Louise’s husband was said to be dead and with the sad news being given, “She did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance” (Chopin 516).

Furthermore, the community also proves the isolation of Emily and her unwillingness to accept change. When Emily 's father died, she did not have to pay taxes. Emily was left alone with only a house but no money from her father. The town felt sorry for her, only for awhile. As years went by, the newer generation wanted Miss Emily to start paying for the taxes but she refused.

Comparing the Tones of “The Story of an Hour” In Kate Chopin’s short story, “The Story of an Hour,” the main character is conflicted by news that her husband has died in a railroad accident. Chopin’s detail and diction portrays not only the tone of weakness but also the tone of overjoyment. The reader feels a sense of understanding towards the main character’s sense of freedom and her frightfulness of people realizing that she is happy that her husband has passed.

Although the way she was acting was not considered proper, and was not the behavior expected from the newly, grieving widow. She stated, “I will live for myself,” which leads us to believe that until then she lived for her husband (Chopin 2). The “Story of an Hour” depicts the role of a woman as a servant to their husband. As if, they only lived, breathed, and functioned because of their husbands and their role as a wife. The readers can infer that Louise’s death comes from the exhaustion and devastation of thinking that she had gained her freedom and no longer had to strive to be a perfect woman that has to abide by society’s standards.