Comparison of Kate Chopins Story of an Hour and William...

Historically, women have been treated as second class citizens. The Napoleonic Code stated that women were controlled by their husbands and cannot freely do their own will without the authority of their husband. This paper shows how this is evident in the Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin and A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner. In both stories, the use of literary elements such as foreshadowing, symbolism, and significant meaning of the titles are essential in bringing the reader to an unexpected and ironic conclusion. The background of both authors, which was from the South, we can conclude how they could described the situations that they faced such as political and social presumptions problems especially for women at that†¦show more content†¦Through Mrs. Mallard, we could see the social repression that women felt at that time. Therefore, in this story there is so much repression, Chopin said They were locked into marriages that probably loved. At least Mrs. Mallard says her husband never looked at her save with love (Chopin 34). In The Story of an Hour, Chopin was simply referred to the character as Mrs. Mallard Ââ€"an appendage of Brently Mallard Ââ€" then when she was free, she was referred to as Louise, her first name. Chopin was trying to say that marriage makes women repressed and bends the will (35). Even though marriage does bend the will, I assume that Brently Mallard was still a good man because he never looked upon her wife with anything but love. She knows that her husban d loved her, but that is never be enough for her to feel any love from him as it says and yet she loved him, sometimes(34). Chopin does not seem to think that it is the husbands plan to bend her will to make their marriage successful. Mrs, Mallard was breaking the lens means that she broke what has tied her to her husband which is repression. It seems that she only lived (mentally and spiritually) for one hour during her whole life when she knew that her husband was dead. She went to her room and looked out the open window (Chopin 33). The language is foreshadowing the ironic women momentShow MoreRelatedThe Story of an Hour and a Rose for Emily Essay2219 Words   |  9 PagesCompare Contrast The Story of an Hour and A Rose for Emily Kate Chopins The Story of an Hour and William Faulkners A Rosefor Emily both characterize the nature of marriage and womanhood bydelving into the psyches of their female protagonists. Also, althoughChopin makes no clear reference to geographic locale in The Story of anHour, both authors usually set their stories in the American South, whichimpacts these characterizations. These two tales share many other points ofreference in common