Category: The Story Of An Hour

Reading short stories introduces multiple opportunities for people to meet new characters, learn their lives, and get several important lessons. Each story is a piece of human life with its strong and weak aspects, and it is the decision of a reader on how to use this information. There are many strong and interesting authors of short stories, including Edgar Poe, OHenry, or Ernest Hemingway. However, in the list of famous short story authors, it is necessary not to forget to mention Kate Chopin and her Story of an Hour.

What is so special in the work of this author? In fact, many things can be mentioned, including her simple style of writing and the possibility to introduce a whole life in several paragraphs. In her intentions to discuss that true freedom is obtained when one shedding confinements, Chopin properly uses irony, sarcasm, and metaphors and explains that personal freedoms may have different roots and outcomes.

To be fulfilled, the discussion of the theme of true freedom and the necessity to obtain it through the shedding of personal confinements should begin with an identification of the reasons for why a person may cherish it. In the chosen story, Mrs. Mallard is introduced as a young woman with heart trouble and a paralyzed inability to accept its significance (Chopin, 2018, para. 3). She has to accept the fact that her husband died, and her life has to be changed forever.

However, instead of ordinary grief and sorrow, through drinking in a very elixir of life through the open wind, she continues whispering that she is now body and soul free (Chopin, 2018, para. 14). Therefore, the explanation of why she is in need of true freedom turns out to be rather simple  she was not happy in her marriage at all.

Sarcasm and irony fulfill the story from the beginning till its end. Mrs. Mallard hears the terrible news about her husband, but the storm of grief had spent itself so that she went away to her room alone (Chopin, 2018, para. 3). Instead of falling in bed and crying, she opens the window and enjoys the top of trees& with the new spring life& the delicious breath of rain& the notes of a distant song (Chopin, 2018, para. 5).

The character is not even ready to understand that her dream to become truly free has just been achieved. She does not know how to cope with emotions and what to do next. As soon as she realizes that she is free and that her freedom means the absence of a husband in her life, she does not want to share such attitudes with other people. She continues demonstrating her fake grief and providing people with an opportunity to believe that her heart was not able to cope with the joy when she saw her husband alive.

The recognition of personal confinements and true freedom is a complex task. To deal with it at a high level, the author makes a decision to use several metaphors in the story. For example, her heart trouble can be interpreted as a physical and emotional disease caused by the lack of freedom in her life. An open window is her ability to take a chance and change something. Finally, her feverish triumph& like a goddess of Victory is the result of her achievement and the climax of her life that does not last long (Chopin, 2018, para. 18).

Regarding all these metaphors and confinements, it is possible to conclude that the true freedom of the main character in this story is her death or her chance to leave this world and forget about all those responsibilities, concerns, and expectations inherent to married life.

In general, the sarcasm of the story is that people cannot even understand the true essence of their desires and intentions. With a constant search for changes and freedoms, they forget about the importance of living and follow social orders and norms. As soon as a person realizes that nothing is normal, and this life is full of contradictions and responsibilities, the only rational way is to leave this world. Ironically, such a decision is usually called death, and people understand the entire horror of a situation just the second before they become free and die, leaving this world and all concerns forever.

Reference

Chopin, K. (2018). The story of an hour. Web.

The end of the Victorian era may be viewed as a period when the movement for female equality gathered momentum. Before that, women enjoyed much fewer rights than men and occupied a lower, subordinate position in society. However, throughout the 19th century, many females aimed to oppose the established situation, and female writers were at the forefront of that opposition. Kate Chopin is one of the 19th-century authors who criticized patriarchal order in her works by depicting the problems that women living in the unequal social arrangement faced regularly. The Story of an Hour, a short piece that was written in 1894, perfectly captures Chopins feminist mindset and her condemnatory attitude to patriarchy. The emotional experiences of Louise Mallard, the main character of the story, after her husbands alleged death, indicate that she was oppressed during her marriage. The news of Mr. Mallards demise, although turned out to be false in the end, signified the beginning of new free life for her. The present essay will analyze the symbolism associated with Mr. Mallards death and Mrs. Mallards emerged feeling of liberation.

The Story of an Hour starts with Josephine, Louise Mallards sister, telling the latter that Mr. Mallard was killed in a railroad accident. After hearing the news, the main character first cried in her sisters arms, yet, when she went to her room and spent time alone there, her view of the event had changed (Chopin 1). The main character suddenly realized that since her husband was gone, she could be free. Even though the death of Mr. Mallard was undoubtedly sad, she saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely (Chopin 2). This image of anticipated freedom shows that, as a woman in a patriarchal society, Louise Mallard occupied an inferior position in her marriage, and her preferences and needs were often unaccounted for.

A few points in Chopins story verify the abovementioned assumption. Firstly, the character viewed her husband as a powerful will bending hers (Chopin 2). In other words, Mr. Mallard could frequently impose his opinions and interests on his wife. As noted in the story, to exercise such kind of psychological pressure was regarded as a norm by all the members of the 19th-century society (Chopin 2). For Mrs. Mallard, however, the imposition of one persons will on another was a crime regardless of whether this act was accompanied by a kind intention or a cruel intention (Chopin 2). It means that while the characters husband believed that he could manage the life of the former since he had the power to do so, Louise was constantly failing to attain self-realization and follow her interests. Thus, the news about Mr. Mallards death was eventually perceived by Mrs. Mallard as an opportunity to be herself and made her feel joyous and happy for a short time.

The fact that Louise realized her newfound liberty when hidden from others in her room also indicates that her reaction was an innermost experience and deviated from the social norm. At first, the woman tried to avoid indulging in the monstrous joy, and was striving to beat it back with her will (Chopin 2). It is valid to say that even those women who were unhappy in marriage in the 19th century would not find the courage to feel happy after learning about their spouses passing away. As another passage from the story reveals, the majority of them would be paralyzed with inability to accept [the] significance of such news (Chopin 1). As for largely dependent individuals, a husbands death could have many serious social and economic implications for a Victorian woman and was not merely linked to the sense of the loss of a loved one. Besides that, it was expected of women to serve their spouses and regard highly of them (Hughes). Therefore, it was normal to suppress any negative feelings towards a husband or own position in marriage and society.

Overall, Louises joy was not a sign of insensitivity. It should be viewed as a natural outcome of years of psychological oppression. The day before the accident, the character had thought with a shudder that life might be long, whereas after hearing the news, she breathed a quick prayer that life might be long (Chopin 3). This sharp change from a depressed state of mind and unwillingness to live to a blissful aspiration for the days to come demonstrates the severity of Mrs. Mallards misery in relationships with her husband. It shows that she was married not because she was in love but only because she was supposed to become a wife and that the compliance with the social norm contradicted her true desires. Noteworthily, there was almost no other way out from a situation like this for the character but the death of Mr. Mallard since divorces were not common in the Victorian era. Thus, the news provided her with hope to reclaim her life from the grip of social conventions.

The case of Mrs. Mallard as depicted in The Story of an Hour may be considered an example of the experiences of many women living in the 19th century. In those times, females became married merely because they were expected to comply with the social roles of wives and mothers. Often, they had unhappy marriages and no power to escape abusive and oppressive relationships. Thus, the supposed death of Mr. Mallard in Chopins story serves as a symbol of females liberation, whereas Mrs. Mallards happiness represents hope for 19^th-century women to become fully realized in their lives.

Work Cited

Chopin, Kate. The Story of an Hour. Web.

Hughes, Kathryn. Gender Roles in the 19th Century. British Library, 2014, Web.

Chopin (1894) uses ambiguity and irony in The story of an hour to highlight the devastating effect of social standards and the necessity to scarify personal happiness to fit the image created by society. The authors attempt to deride the widespread belief that marriage is a synonym to joy is evident in the final part of the story when the protagonist, Louise Mallard, dies of a heart attack. Ironically, Louises relatives and doctors conclude that the infarction was caused by the happiness to see the husband, Brently, who was considered dead by mistake, alive. Still, in actuality, Louise Mallard dies because of sadness that all her dreams for an independent life are broken. Thus, the essay argues that irony is used to emphasize the force of social norms and the anguishes of people who do not fit into the standards proposed by society.

When discussing the issue of social problems uncovered by Chopin (1894), it is immensely important to consider that the story was written at the end of the 19th century. By this time, the suffragette movement is just emerging in the UK and the US. Hence, at the time of the story, women are deprived of many freedoms; they are unequal to men and are regarded not as independent individuals but rather as someones wives. Louise Mallard definitely does not fit into this pattern because her grief for the husbands death turns to the happiness of being free from him. The irony of the described change is exacerbated by the fact that Mrs. Mallards feelings are altering immensely fast. Josephine, the sister, is the mirror opposite of Louise. In contrast to Louise, Josephine is a typical woman of the epoch; she is married and is highly unlikely to understand the sisters emotions.

Another detail that deserves being discussed is a phrase of the doctors that Louise Mallard died of joy. Considering the times of the story, the doctors are more probably to be men than women. Therefore, this scene shows how the belief that women are better off with their husbands than alone is deeply rooted in peoples mindset. At the same time, it indeed was a joy that killed the protagonist of Chopins story. That is because if she had not felt that excited by the idea of the upcoming freedom, then the news about her husband would not have disappointed her that strong.

In The story of an hour, Chopin (1894) uses ambiguity and irony to draws readers attention to the fact that the strict adherence to the unwritten social norms deprives people of the possibility to live a life full of pleasure from doing what he or she truly wants. It seems that Louise Mallard was unaware that she was deprived of happiness and that she wants to be free from men before she was told that Brently was dead.

To conclude, The story of an hour is dedicated to the oppression of women and inequality between men and women that was much more evident a century ago than it is now. The irony is used to show that it is the society, with its false visions about what is good or bad for every individual, that breaks peoples lives with dissimilar worldviews. Finally, The story of an hour remains topical even a century after being published.

Reference

Chopin, K. (1894). The story of an hour. Vogue.

Phraseological Insights: Diegesis, Mimesis, and “The Story of an Hour”

Lanser analyzes the work of Chopin in four aspects, which are phraseological, spatiotemporal, psychological, and ideological. In this journal, I will explain how Chopin’s The Story of An Hour applies these aspects according to Lanser’s definition.

The phraseological stance compares the diegesis and mimesis styles of a narrative. Lanser connects this stance to the psychological. In Diegesis, it was the narrator who started the telling. With the use of the word “delicious” in line 25, the discourse began applying psycho-narration because the narrator described the character’s consciousness. The text was narrated indirectly until line 53 when the character said “Free, free, free!” referring to identifying her own feelings. Other lines that brought the shift into direct speech were “Free! Body and soul free!” and “Go away. I am not making myself ill.” In mimesis, Lanser points out the rareness or lack of the character’s presentation of her own being since the text is mostly narrated indirectly.

Spatiotemporal: Exploring Mrs. Mallard’s Space

By viewing Mrs. Mallard through a spatial lens, we can gain new insight into the various settings and her role as the audience or narrator. As the story progresses in different settings, we get a glimpse of Louise Mallard’s life, which she keeps to herself and what others know about. In this way, it seems like we are following the character, with the narrator giving us directions. The temporal point of view connects with the spatial, as along with a particular place, there is always time consumed. In lines 19 to 89, the setting is mostly in Mrs. Mallard’s room, which tackles and delves deeply into her reaction and feelings of sorrow, grief, and happiness.

This scene takes up the most space in the story, mainly because it is the highlight or what the narrator is trying to convey to the audience that emotions have different phases before we finally accept what happened. Moreover, story duration plays a role in how the important part (which is Louise’s reaction) of the story is emphasized, and it also allows interpretations as to why she felt such. With regard to temporality, the succession of events was done in chronological order.

Psychology: Mrs. Mallard’s Emotional Journey

However, we can consider it as posterior since the announcement of Brently’s death leads to the changes of emotions and eventually the plot twist in the ending. The news about Brently’s death and the fact that Louise has a heart problem is a troubling concurrence, knowing that it would be too much to handle for Louise and her sister Josephine would have to be more careful in handling her.

From a psychological stance, the amount of information on Bentley’s death, although not completely detailed, is too much to handle for Louise, and later, it actually turns out that he was still alive. The reason that the information of him still being alive was kept back until the end was to give way to the pain Louise felt. Since she is the main subject and focalizer, the information provided is subjective as it revolves around her experience and how she views her surroundings. The internal focalization of Mrs. Mallard centers on her consciousness as a woman grieving over the death of a husband. This can be seen when Josephine knocks on her door, asking her to let her in, and Louise, knowing that she is already a widow, has endless thoughts of misery. The external vision is all about how she showed up to Josephine, looking as if she’s about to faint because that is how the narrator would describe that heartbreaking scene that would lead to her death.

Ideology: Societal Norms Under the Lens

The ideological stance suggests that the story of Mrs. Mallard develops a feeling of empathy from the narratives towards her. With the use of the psychological, phraseological, and spatiotemporal stance, we were able to develop this emotion because her consciousness was revealed. With regard to expression, the narration dives deep into the internal expressions of the main character. There are figural lines such as “when the storm of grief had spent itself” and “when a sob came up into her throat and shook her, as a child who has cried himself to sleep continues to sob in his dreams.”

In relation to the cultural text, the story is in opposition to the time of Chopin and probably the present. It questions the right ways of handling a heterosexual relationship/marriage and how one should be rightly affected by death. Louise, who grieved upon hearing the news, thought at first how she would be lonely without him.

However, she was able to look at the bright side and saw the freedom she could finally attain. This part challenges the role of men in women’s identity and ability to live on their own. It gives doubts to the notions that it is evil to make someone’s death a reason for your own happiness and independence, and a woman cannot live without a man. Lanser considers this text as trivial. The authority, both by the diegetic narrator and the mimetic aspect through the character’s participation, reinforces the execution of the ideological stance.

Lanser identifies the textual ideology of The Story of an Hour, where the main character only uses sentence fragments when expressing, and the narrator indicates her thoughts before she says them. I agree with the textual ideology because I think that narrators should be the ones to guide the narratives in understanding the character. Both the narrator and character have the job of telling the story and making sure it creates a message/idea in the narrator’s mind. I believe it is best for the character to speak in sentence fragments to express how she feels. That would develop a connection with the audience compared to saying a long statement that might sound cliche and repetitive when in fact the narrator already mentioned details.

References

1. Chopin, K. (1894). The Story of an Hour.

“The Story of an Hour” & “Yellow Wallpaper”

While the Story of an Hour and the Yellow Wallpaper are two distinctly different stories written by two separate authors, they share many of the same themes and elements. Both works depict a woman facing oppression through marriage and society, longing for freedom and autonomy. This theme is still very relevant and is at the center of Sansa Stark’s character arc in Game of Thrones. All three women face an oppressive society and desire freedom and independence.

In all three stories’ marriage is depicted as unromantic and inherently oppressive towards women. In the Story of an Hour, Brently Mallard is not depicted as oppressive or abusive. However, her inner dialogue reveals that she didn’t feel free in her marriage and that she didn’t love her husband all that much: “And yet she had loved him sometimes. Often, she had not.” In The Yellow Wallpaper, Jane’s husband, John, is domineering and has complete control of her. He makes all of her decisions for her, big or small, which causes Jane not to have control of her own life.

Jane doesn’t like this, but she is unable to express her feelings. “He is very careful and loving and hardly lets me stir without special direction. I have a scheduled prescription for each hour in the day; he takes all care from me, and so I feel basely ungrateful not to value it more.” In Game of Thrones, Sansa Stark is married twice to considerably older men. Both marriages were unromantic and oppressive, with Sansa being subjected to physical abuse and, at one point, being confined to a room in a tower by her husband. All three stories feature women who are stifled and oppressed by their husbands in some way.

Louise, Jane, and Sansa all long for freedom and independence but are unable to obtain it because of their husbands. In the Story of an Hour, after Brently Mallard dies, Louise begins to fantasize about her future days of independence, and she develops a love for life that hadn’t been there before. Her inner monologue reveals that she used to “shudder” to think that her life would be long. It is after Louise feels free that she begins to be excited about life; she starts to fantasize about living for herself. Jane is very anxious to express herself but is unable to because of the strict rules her husband has implemented. She is unable to write, but she wishes to “relieve the press of ideas” within her.

Her need for expression is so powerful that she begins writing in a secret diary, which is a relief to her. By the end of the story, her mental illness is exacerbated by her solitude, and being unable to properly express herself, she is driven to insanity. Sansa Stark is at one point confined in a locked room, unable to read, write, or talk to anybody except her husband. She is eventually able to escape with the help of a servant, but she risks her life to do so. Louise, Jane, and Sansa all desire independence and individuality but are subjected to positions of inferiority.

Similarly, all three women are viewed as weak or fragile by the people around them. In the story of an Hour, Louise Mallard’s sister is careful to break the news to her about her husband’s death because “Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble.” Her sister is very concerned about how Louise will react to the news and doesn’t even want to leave her alone. When Louise is able to get away for some alone time, her sister begins banging on the door, saying, “I beg, open the door. You will make yourself ill.” In The Yellow Wallpaper, Jane’s husband tells her friends that Jane is suffering from “temporary nervous depression, a slight hysterical tendency.”

Due to her condition, he sees her as unable to care for herself properly, and he begins to take control of all of her decisions. Sansa Stark is viewed as a naïve girl by those around her and is not taken seriously by anyone. Just like Jane, her thoughts and feelings are disregarded by everybody around her. All three women are viewed as weak and in need of assistance by those around them. This causes the people around them to be a bit overbearing.

Societal Chains in “The Story of an Hour” Era

All three women also live in societies that contribute to keeping them in oppressed positions and normalizing the subordination of women. The Story of an Hour and the Yellow Wallpaper were set and written in the late 1800s, a time when women weren’t allowed to vote yet. During this time, the options presented to women were very limited, with most women becoming wives and mothers at a young age. In the Story of an Hour, Louise Mallard feels freedom for the first time only after the death of her husband, and the feeling is so foreign to her that it genuinely scares her, and she tries to “beat it back.” In The Yellow Wallpaper, John is continuously dismissive of Jane’s thoughts and feelings, which Jane doesn’t like.

However, Jane considers it to be a normal occurrence between husband and wife. “John laughs at me, of course, but one expects that in marriage.” Game of Thrones is set in a fictional medieval timeline, putting Sansa in a position of complete helplessness. She lives in a society that normalizes young female subordination, male dominance, and abuse against women. She is forced to marry twice against her will, and both times, she is only able to leave her marriage through a dangerous escape. Louise, Jane, and Sansa all live in societies that normalize young marriage, female submission, and unhealthy marriages.

Emotions & Imagery in “The Story of an Hour”

The Story of an Hour, The Yellow Wallpaper, and Game of Thrones all use symbolism and imagery to reflect their character’s mental state. In the Story of an Hour, after learning about her husband’s death, Louise gazes out of an open window and from the window, “She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life.” This symbolizes that the death of her husband gives her freedom and that she sees her husband’s death as a new beginning for her.

In The Yellow Wallpaper, the house and the wallpaper are symbolic of Jane’s mental state. The house itself is in an isolated location, and there are many locks. “The most beautiful place! It is quite alone, standing well back from the road, quite three miles from the village. It makes me think of English places that you read about, for there are hedges and walls and gates that lock and lots of separate little houses for the gardeners and people.” Jane herself is isolated from everyone else mentally and eventually physically.

The windows of her room have bars on them. She is trapped in her room, just like she is trapped in her marriage. The wallpaper is symbolic of an oppressive society that Jane lives in, trapping women beneath it. Jane eventually comes to feel that she is one of the women trapped by the wallpaper. Symbolically, Jane is trapped by the society she lives in, subjugated to a life that she has no control over.

Sansa Stark’s confinement in a room is symbolic of the confinement she feels in her marriage. As soon as their wedding night is over, Sansa’s husband, Ramsey, confines her to a room and only visits her at night. The room she is confined in is dimly lit by only one window, locked from the outside, and has only a bed and a table with one chair. The dreary, lonely room reflects the way she feels in her marriage and about her husband. All three stories use strong symbolism and imagery to dive deeper into the minds of their characters.

From “The Story of an Hour” to Today’s Struggle

At first glance, it would seem that Louise Mallard, Jane, and Sansa Stark would have nothing similar about them. While all three of these characters are vastly different, written in separate years, by separate people, their storylines share a common theme: women being oppressed, specifically by their husbands, but longing for more. All three women face oppression, living in an extremely patriarchal society. Though much has changed since the late 1800s and medieval times, gender equality and the treatment of women remain topics that are still important and relevant.

References

1. Chopin, K. (1894). The Story of an Hour. Vogue.
2. Gilman, C.P. (1892). The Yellow Wallpaper. The New England Magazine.
3. Martin, G.R.R. (1996-2011). A Song of Ice and Fire (Series). Bantam Books.
4. Benioff, D., & Weiss, D.B. (2011-2019). Game of Thrones [TV series]. HBO.
5. Toth, E. (1999). Unveiling Kate Chopin. University Press of Mississippi.

The Oppressive Nature of Marriage in “The Story of an Hour”

Finding out that your husband had passed, and instead of being distraught about it, you are more filled with joy, or maybe your husband is a doctor, and he insists you are fine and that you just need a little rest cure, but in fact, it makes your problems worse. Well, that’s what the women in these stories felt. The stories we will be comparing were both placed in this type of setting where women did not have much independence. “The Story of an Hour” is written by Kate Chopin, and the main character’s name is Louise Mallard. The theme of this story is the oppressiveness of marriage. Louise feels that her marriage limited her and that knowing her husband is dead will free her from that feeling.

Trapped Minds: Symbolism in “The Yellow Wallpaper”

In the story The Yellow Wallpaper written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the main character has no name, so we will call her narrator. Self-destruction caused by lack of self-expression is the theme of this story because the narrator has mentioned multiple times that she shall not be writing in her secret journal, for if she does, her husband will not be happy with her, but in the end, the self-expression could have kept her sane. In both Chopin’s and Gilman’s stories, the main characters, who are women, are living in a time period where freedom for women was rare. They both had condescending husbands in their own ways, and their doctors wrongfully conducted their conclusions about the women.

The Triumph and Tragedy of Louise Mallard’s Freedom

In “The Story of an Hour”, Chopin really emphasizes the search or gain of freedom in Louise’s life. Louise has been in a happy marriage, but she believes that all marriages result in women losing themselves and that this result is inevitable. In the story, Louise has just found out her husband has passed in a train accident. She goes to her room to take it all in, and once her grieving is over, she feels this sense of relief.

“When she abandoned herself, a little whispered word escaped her slightly parted lips. She said it over and over under her breath: ‘Free, free, free!’ The vacant stare and the look of terror that had followed it went from her eyes. They stayed keen and bright. Her pulses beat fast, and the coursing blood warmed and relaxed every inch of her body.”

This sense of relief we know as the readers is the sense of freedom she has just gained from her husband’s passing. She no longer has to live for him, but rather, she will live for herself, something she has been longing for a while.

Also seen throughout this story is the act of a patronizing husband, a man who thinks they know what’s best for their wife, but in reality, they don’t. We, as the readers, already know that Louise feels tied down to her marriage and that she no longer lives for herself, but with this quote, we can see that there seems to be a little bit of bitterness within her marriage.

“And yet she had loved him sometimes. Often, she had not. What did it matter? What could love, the unsolved mystery, count for in the face of this possession of self-assertion, which she suddenly recognized as the strongest impulse of her being.”

We can assume that maybe Mr. Mallard, Louise’s husband, was not the best husband based solely on the quote where it said she had not often loved him. But because of the time period of this story, we can also assume that maybe he wanted the best for her, and really, what he thought was best for her was not what she wanted at all. Louise is full of joy when she hears of her husband’s death, so much so that she is filled with happiness when picturing her life without him in it.

Misunderstanding of a Woman’s Emotions: A Fateful Diagnosis

Most doctors in this time period were men because, of course, the men were looked at as the educated ones. So, in this idea, we will be looking at how the doctors wrongfully concluded how Louise died. At the end of the story, Louise comes out of her room to find out that her husband has, in fact, not passed away. He has just come home, and Louise is so shocked by this that she has died right there in their home when he walks in.

The story ends, “When the doctors came, they said she had died of heart disease of the joy that kills.” Louise had a heart problem mentioned earlier in the story, and this is why the doctors think she had a heart attack because she was overfilled with joy when we, the readers, know what really happened. We were able to understand Louise’s inner thoughts. We know that she has died from the shock that after gaining this freedom again, it is ripped from her in seconds. The doctors thought it revolved around Mr. Mallard and that he was important in her death, but really, his coming home caused her to die of sadness.

The Dangerous Misjudgment of a Patronizing Spouse

Now that we have looked at the ideas throughout “The Story of an Hour”, let’s look at the same ideas but throughout the story The Yellow Wallpaper. In The Yellow Wallpaper, Gilman writes about a woman we will call a Narrator who has depression and is trying to obtain freedom from her marriage. The marriage could be what is causing the mental depression of the narrator. In the process of trying to help herself and find a way to get better, the narrator and her husband move to a secluded house, and her husband confines her to one room in the house. The narrator goes insane and starts to have illusions that the yellow wallpaper on the walls is moving. This can be illustrated by the following,

“The woman behind shakes it! Sometimes, I think there are a great many women behind, and sometimes only one. And she is all the time trying to climb through. But nobody could climb through that pattern it strangles, so I think that is why it has so many heads.”

In this part of the story, it can be inferred that Gilman is trying to make a point that the narrator does not have her own freedom. Gilman is trying to refer to the wallpaper as the marriage, and the woman shaking it is the woman trying to get her freedom back.

The Catastrophic Consequences of a Forced “Rest Cure”

Along with “The Story of an Hour”, the idea of a patronizing husband can also be seen in The Yellow Wallpaper. In The Yellow Wallpaper, the narrator’s husband is a doctor of high prestige, and so he thinks he knows what’s best for his wife. He thinks he knows the answer to how to help her get better, but really he doesn’t. This quotation illustrates the feelings the narrator has toward her husband,

“He loves me very dearly and hates to have me sick. I tried to have a real earnest, reasonable talk with him the other day and tell him how I wish he would let me go and make a visit to Cousin Henry and Julia. But he said I wasn’t able to go nor able to stand it after I got there, and I did not make out a very good case for myself, for I was crying before I had finished.”

In this quote, you can see that all the narrator wants to do is to go and see her cousins, thinking that it might help her. Instead, the husband does not allow her, and this shows that he thinks he knows what’s best for her. An individual knows what is best for themselves over what anyone else thinks, but during this time period, husbands believed they knew what was best for their wives. And this eventually leads to the increase in insanity that the narrator experiences.

The Interplay of Patriarchy and Mental Health in “The Yellow Wallpaper”

Lastly, in The Yellow Wallpaper, the narrator’s husband is a doctor. He controlled what she did and was the one who decided she was not as sick as she thought. The narrator did as she was told by her doctor, who also was her husband. The narrator knew she was sick, but she believed that he was only making it worse by confining her to the room with the yellow wallpaper. She never questioned her husband’s work and ideas directly, but we, as the readers, understand that she did not agree with what his treatment options were. This can be illustrated in the following quotation,

“So I take phosphates or phosphites whichever it is, and tonics, and journeys, and air, and exercise, and am absolutely forbidden to “work” until I am well again. Personally, I disagree with their ideas. Personally, I believe that congenial work, with excitement and change, would do me good. But what is one to do?.”

After reading this line in the story, we can see that the narrator believes her husband does not see her real problem. He just believes that a rest cure would do the trick, but in fact, it does not. Rather, it makes her go more insane. The husband does not see this until the very end of the story when he comes into the room. The wallpaper is all ripped up, and his wife is creeping around, but at this point, he faints because of the severity of the narrator’s insanity.

As we can see after comparing these two stories together, there were major similarities that they had. The overall cause of that could be because they took place in the same time period. If we looked at another story that took place in this time period, these similar ideas would also likely have been seen throughout in some way. Although the themes taken from these stories were different, the ideas of freedom, patronizing husbands, and doctors projecting thoughts of men were similar in their own key ways.

References

1. Chopin, Kate. “The Story of an Hour.”
2. Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. “The Yellow Wallpaper.”

In society today, it is not unusual for a woman to be independent, but that has not always been the case. “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin was written in 1894, a time period when women did not have many rights and lived their lives for their husbands. The main character, Mrs. Louise Mallard, challenges these ideas when she becomes overjoyed about the chance of independence when hearing about the death of her husband. In “The Story of an Hour,” Kate Chopin presents the idea that freedom and independence lead to happiness through symbolism and imagery. Although this freedom is abruptly taken away from her before she can enjoy it, this short story still emphasizes the importance freedom has on emotional well-being.

Symbolism in ‘The Story of an Hour’: Mrs. Mallard’s Shift

Mrs. Mallard’s emotions change from sorrow to joy throughout the course of an hour, which is revealed through symbolism. This transition first happens when she goes to her room alone to look out her open window and sits in “a comfortable, roomy armchair.” The description of the chair is significant because it symbolizes the rest that she will now experience in her life. The roominess of the chair shows that she has room to move around and is no longer confined; she does not have to feel oppressed by her marriage and societal roles. Mrs. Mallard also witnesses “patches of blue sky showing here and there through the clouds that had met and piled one above the other in the west facing her window.”

“The Story of an Hour”: A Window to Hope

The open window reflects the openness Mrs. Mallard has regarding her future. It gives her a clear view of the bright sky, which causes her to feel that she can have a bright future that she otherwise may not have been able to with her current lifestyle. Openness and hope are also represented by the blue sky. As she stares at the blue sky, she feels content with what her life will become and the freedom that will go along with it. These surroundings symbolize a turning point in her life where she will be happy. If she was truly saddened by her husband’s death, Mrs. Mallard’s surroundings would have been dark and gloomy, but it is not because she finally has her first glimpse of what life will be like as an independent woman. At first, she wants to reject this emotion because she knows it is not socially accepted, but just the thought of her new independent life is too overwhelming to ignore.

Heart’s Tale in ‘The Story of an Hour’

Mrs. Mallard’s real source of happiness is revealed through even more symbolism. Her heart, or more specifically, her “heart troubles,” symbolizes the lack of love in her marriage. Mrs. Mallard says, “and yet she had loved him- sometimes. Often, she had not.” Even though there were times she had loved him, ultimately, she was unhappy with her marriage. By being married, she feels as if she has lost her identity and freedom and alternatively morphed into what her husband wanted her to be.

This makes her feel trapped, so when she believes her husband is dead, she feels the weight of all those expectations lifted off her shoulders. Mrs. Mallard says, “There would be no one to live for her during those coming years; she would live for herself.” She no longer feels oppressed by her husband, and she finally feels independent. She does not have to follow anyone’s rules but her own. As Mrs. Mallard thinks of these days when she can live for herself, her heart races, and blood pumps through her veins. Essentially, her heart represents her emotional state, which begins to improve when the restrictions placed on her are removed, and she can create her own happiness through her own choices and actions.

Chopin’s Vivid Imagery in ‘The Story of an Hour’

Kate Chopin also uses vivid imagery to further convey the feeling of joy associated with Mrs. Mallard’s new awareness of individualism. As Mrs. Mallard looks out her window, she sees a “delicious breath of rain in the air” and “tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life.” The signs of springtime give the reader a sense of optimism about the situation and about the revelation Mrs. Mallard will discover. She begins to see her husband’s death in a more positive manner and sees the fresh start she will have.

Having a chance at a new beginning makes her feel liberated because she knows her life will be completely different compared to what it previously was. This realization reached “her through the sounds, the scents, the color that filled the air.” It leaves her with one word that she whispers over and over: “Free.” Mrs. Mallard was never happy with her life when she was repressed by her husband or her heart disease. Instead, she feels true happiness when she believes she has the choice to live her life on her own terms. This makes her feel the most joyful she has been in a long time and makes it even harder to realize that she will never have the opportunity to experience it; she can only imagine it.

Mrs. Mallard’s true happiness, although short-lived, is the product of feeling freedom. When she realizes she can execute her freedom of will, she begins to feel as if she is living for the first time. Through symbolism and imagery, Kate Chopin reveals how happiness can be achieved through freedom and independence. Mrs. Mallard’s relationship between her happiness and independence makes the ending of the short story that much more significant. When her freedom is stripped away from her once she sees her husband is not really dead, then so is her purpose in life, causing Mrs. Mallard to die of a broken heart. “The Story of an Hour” proves that if people choose how to spend their days and not conform to anyone else’s rules, then they will genuinely live a life full of happiness.

References

1. Chopin, K. (1894). The Story of an Hour. Vogue, 1.

Battling Misconceptions: The African Experience in America

The story About Africa has never changed as a single story, which has created stereotypes and myths of African life. When a unique story is appraised, it becomes the only story and ends up being everyone`s perspective of the story. Growing up in a rural-urban African village in East Africa, it is the most beautiful region to go on a vacation with green grass, and dew brushed on top of the clover leaves of early morning sunshine. I have always known that Africa is a prosperous and diverse cultured continent that embraces over fifty-four countries. Seven years since I came from Africa to America, and through this time, I have heard all kinds of stories of what Africa is.

On my first day in high school, I can vividly remember my American classmates shocked to see who I was. They asked me where I learned to speak English so well and were confused when she told them Uganda happened to have English as the official language. In her music class, she was asked to sing one of my tribal songs, and she was disappointed when I sang “Baby” by Justin Bieber. During lunchtime, I would sit alone and eat the cold leftovers that Mom cooked. A few students would walk by me pretending to befriend me but bust out in laughter at me eating roaches and worms. Sometimes, to avoid the rumors, I would eat in class, isolated from everyone. These stories were so much for my little head to wrap around, and at times, I thought maybe I was a disgusting monster in the real world.

Overcoming Challenges: A Journey of Resilience and Pride

A stereotype of being perceived as poor living in a land of the starving. Poverty is indeed a real-life block, but not every African family goes to sleep with food or water in a pot. During the harsh climate seasons, heavy rains, or drought, our grandparents always had food stored for emergency times like these. I never went hungry for a day hungry, and sometimes there wasn`t enough, but grandma would go hungry and make sure the children ate. Just like any country with street children and the homeless, churches would donate food to feed them and shelter the sick ones.

Education has become the number one pathway to success and career goal achievement. When I present in class, I get stage fright not because I am nervous or unprepared but because the audience is already uninterested in my presentation even before I speak. I took a speech class, and one day, the professor asked me to write a story about my choice of Africa. After the presentation, he commented that my presentation was not African-authentic enough. I was bewildered and never really understood how a story could lack authenticity. I would appreciate it if I had grammar errors or sentence structure.

Debunking the Myth: Africa’s Undervalued Healthcare Traditions

I never really got to understand why my friends would never share food with me. Later on, let me spend the night and share clothes and shoes. It was not until I was sharing a room with my American roommate she told me she did not want to become diseased like I was. She said to me Africans do not take baths and have no toilets but use bushes to help themselves. Every time she would come home, she would slam the door, and “yuck, yuck,” she spat when she saw me. I showered three times a day and spent my money on perfume and nice clothes, but she, deep down, believed I smelt like a pig.

The media portrays a vast harmful exposure of stories about legendary Africa, which perceives Africans to have little to no healthcare systems. Pictures of sick people in hospitals without medical help, the long wait lists for surgery, and patients dying before being taken to a doctor. The medical status in Africa is not well equipped, but our ancestors lived longer with just general knowledge and local medicine. My grandmother is a retired doctor, and she helped and nursed people in our village.

The Power of Authentic Narratives: A Plea for Open-mindedness

A big building with technology and an advanced computer has never saved a patient, but passion and hard work. When I got into a relationship, trust was a hard rock to stumble on. The only man I thought would be the light that shines on my darkest night thought that because I was African, I had AIDS. It took unbearable conversation and explanations to this man that I got so many blood tests and immunizations, and I told him I visited the doctor’s office more than he has in life.

Over five thousand people apply for the same job, people graduate through universities and cannot find a job, and many of them walk from one job interview to another until their shoe soles fall away. Dust fades on their faces, and shame eats up their joy. People have always heard only one story about Africa. Stereotypes have created a drastic image of what real Africa looks like.

If everyone reads up on the news updates or takes a trip to African countries, they would have a different story, and just because we are from different continents does not justify we are different but rather similar as human beings. Africans had feelings and pain and suffered through tragedies. Stereotypes should not define a place or people, but if people learn from each other, the world would never be so apart.

References

1. Adichie, C. N. (2009). The danger of a single story. TED Talks.
2. Mwangi, E. (2015). English in East Africa: Historical Foundations and Modern Controversies. Oxford University Press.
3. Nkrumah, S. (2017). Dispelling Myths: The Realities of African Daily Life. African Journal of Social Studies.

Relationships are not easy by any means. There are three pieces of literature in this unit that express this truth very well. “The Storm” and “The Story of an Hour” are both works by Kate Joplin, and Andrew Marvell continues the expression of this feeling in his poem “To His Coy Mistress.” Each of these poems allows the reader to get a perspective on how different relationships have different complications and how every situation is a little different, yet the same.

In Kate Joplin’s “The Storm,” she writes about a 19th century southern love story. It does a good job of giving an easy to follow example of how relationships are complicated. The piece tells the story of how a small boy, Bibi, and his father, Bobinot, wait out a big Louisiana storm at a local store. They begin to get worried about the third member of their family, Calixta, but they don’t know what to do to help her. Calixta is at home and realizes that there is a storm brewing. Just then, on of her old boyfriends, Alcee, just so happens to be passing by and runs to her house when the bottom begins to fall out of the storm. She continues to get more and more worried about her family. To take her mind off things, her and Alcee begins to talk, but before they know it, they begin making out, and then continue to love on each other. This does the job and totally distracts her from the storm that’s raging outside.

As the storm begins to pass, he leaves. A few minutes later, Bibi and Bobinot come home to check on Calixta after worrying about her all night long. She acts like she is really glad to see them and they never know that her ex was there overnight. A few days after the storm is over, Alcee writes a letter to his wife, Clarisse, saying it’s good with him if she wants to stay longer on her trip. She is good with that because she thinks a break from her husband will be good for a few extra days. Little did she know that he was cheating on her with his ex.

Kate Joplin achieves this same emotion in another one of her works “The Story of an Hour.” This story is about Louise Mallard who has some heart trouble. She doesn’t know about her husband’s death, and people close to her don’t know how to tell het the tragic news. Her sister, Josephine, is the one that eventually tells her this news. She finds out that her beloved husband died in a railroad accident. She begins crying ferociously and goes upstairs cry alone in her room. Louise looks out an open window and looks at nature. While she’s doing that she smells approaching rain and hears a guy on the corner yelling out what he’s selling. She suddenly begins to get an uneasy feeling. She begins repeating the word “free” to herself over and over again for some odd reason. Her sister starts knocking on her door begging her to come out, warning her that she’ll get sick if she doesn’t. Louise tells her to go away but finally gives in and opens the door. They both go down stairs together and the front door unexpectedly opens, and in comes her supposed dead husband. He hadn’t been in the train accident or even aware that one had happened. The sight of him caused Louise to have a heart attack and die then and there from shock of happiness.

Andrew Marvel took a page out of Choplins book so to say and tried to portray those same feelings in his poem titled “To His Coy Mistress.” It’s spoken by a nameless man to a nameless woman, both who don’t have descriptions. The speaker tells the mistress how much he likes her and admires her. Only thing is there isn’t much time for the two of them. He tells her that life is short but death is forever. He warns her that when she’s on her death bed, worms will try to “do the deed” with her if she refuses to do it with him. He then says that now that he’s told her what will happen when she dies, they should go ahead and do it while they’re still young. He says that they can release all their held-up frustrations during it which will give them both “freedom.” This poem gives us a look inside all the many confusing thoughts of the characters.

Overall, I believe that each of these three respective pieces give their own examples of the different complications in different relationships. Every relationship, no matter what kind, has complications. In “The Storm” her ex-boyfriend comes back into the picture which rekindles the old flame that they once had. This complicates her and her currents husband’s relationship. In “The Story of an Hour” the woman is grieving over what she believes to be her dead husband. After some time, her husband shows up at the door and causes her to have a heart attack which ultimately kills her. This obviously causes complication in their relationship because now this poor man’s wife is dead over one big misunderstanding. This trend continues in “To His Coy Mistress” where this guy is trying so hard to get this girl he likes to get down and dirty with him. However, his method of trying causes things to get awkward between the two. Ultimately, he never achieves his goal and ruins their relationship. All three of these readings are great examples of how relationships have their own specific complications and the effects they have on the relationship as a whole.

Looking through the Story of an Hour through a gender lens made it easier to view the story. For example, The man and the women act differently and respond to things differently throughout the passage. The man and the women have different roles in the story, the man is supposed to be the powerful, strong, and determined and the one who makes the money while the woman is supposed to stay home and make dinner and clean the house up. There is a gender stereotype in the story of how the man is supposed to treat the woman and how the woman is supposed to act or how the woman does everything at home while the man goes to work. You can see in the story of how the woman reacts to the mand dying you would expect her to be crying sad and heartbroken but she is happy and feels free that her husband has died.

The gender lens in the story has many different points towards the woman and the man. The man is supposed to have the power in the story and have dominance over the woman. When the husband dies, the woman finally feels open and free and like a weight has been lifted off of her. “She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life. The delicious breath of rain was in the air. In the street below a peddler was crying his wares. The notes of a distant song which someone was singing reached her faintly, and countless sparrows were twittering in the eaves“ (kate Chopin, 3). From this quote from the book, you can see how the woman feels and how it is different than what society thought it would be. The woman finally feels free and feels like she has the power now since her husband has died and can’t be stereotyped by society anymore.

In Story of an Hour, the man is supposed to set the rules for the woman and tell them what to do. Louis is husband is the one working and gaining all the power and money when Louise can’t because of the stereotype that society has on women. She can’t express herself or the way she feels towards this to anyone or society because society forbids it. “Due to her unhappiness in marriage, she ends up getting a heart disease that weakens her immune system “ (kate Chopin, 4). This explains how she feels during the marriage and how she cannot speak up or say anything to anyone because of society and the way they look at gender. Louise feels as if she can’t do anything in her marriage because of society and the way society portrays women and what they are supposed to do.

In society, women want to be able to do what they want and have freedom and not be stereotyped or have rules set by society. In the book, Louise wants freedom and to be out of the marriage but she can’t get that because society doesn’t approve of it so she feels unhappy and sad in the marriage. Louise no matter how much she tries can’t do anything because of society and the way they treat a woman. “’free! Free! Free!” (kate Chopin 10). This is how Louise reacts to her husband passing how. She feels free and happy that her husband has died and feels like she has beaten society.

Looking through the Story of an Hour through a gender lens made it easier to view the story. Society treats women as if they are nothing and suppose to do nothing while men can do anything. The man and the women have different roles in the story, the man has more power and wealth than the woman. Louise feels very unhappy with the marriage and with the way society and the man treat her. There is a gender stereotype in the story of how the man is supposed to treat the woman and how the woman is supposed to act. You can see in the story how the woman reacts to the man dying, you would expect her to be crying, sad and heartbroken but she is happy and feels free that her husband has died.