Abigain In 'The Bargaining Of Winnie's'

Paul Newman once said, “People stay married because they want to, not because the doors are locked” (74). There is no such thing as the perfect relationship, however, being involved in a healthy relationship is essential for a person to feel valued, safe, and happy. Unfortunately, in the situation of Kelly Sundberg’s personal essay “It Will Look Like a Sunset,” and Kate Chopin’s short story “The Story of An Hour,” include extreme examples of unhealthy relationships. The essay “It Will Look Like a Sunset,” shares painful experiences of Sundberg’s physical and emotional abusive relationship with her husband Caleb, while “The Story of an Hour,” shares a rare reaction of a married woman, Louise Mallard, who explores her emotions cautiously when hearing about the death of her husband. Each woman faces their own prison created by their husbands. The two marriages represent the figurative meaning of doors being locked in a marriage. Both pieces of literature convey the theme of confinement by using the literary devices of foreshadowing, imagery, and conflict.

The representation of gender roles and marriage has always been a controversial issue. However, much can be learned about unhappy marriages when examining the roles of both females and males within the marriage. The examination of gender roles and marriage are seen through the following short stories The Story of an Hour, The Necklace, and Country Lovers, along with scholarly articles based on gender role and marriage. Evaluation of these literary works shows quite clearly that social and economic class affects choice in marriage.

In Chopin’s short story, she demonstrates how men in the late ninetieth and early twentieth century treated their wives more as possessions than individuals, thus when the protagonist Mrs. Mallard learns her husband Brently Mallard just unexpectedly died, she feels “free, free, free!” (15). Since, Chopin published this short story in 1894; women often got married while they were quite young and typically to men much older. Likewise, divorce was never usually an option for unhappy marriages. Subsequently, Mrs. Mallard appears unhappy in her marriage, after learning about her husband’s death, she pictures how much better her life is going to be, “There would be no powerful will bending hers in that persistence with which men and women believe they have the right to impose a private will upon a

Women are taught from a young age that marriage is the end all be all in happiness, in the short story “The Story of An Hour” by Kate Chopin and the drama “Poof!” by Lynn Nottage, we learn that it is not always the case. Mrs. Mallard from “The Story of an Hour” and Loureen from “Poof!” are different characteristically, story-wise, and time-wise, but share a similar plight. Two women tied down to men whom they no longer love and a life they no longer feel is theirs. Unlike widows in happy marriages Loureen and Mrs., Mallard discover newfound freedom in their respective husband’s deaths. Both stories explore stereotypical housewives who serve their husbands with un-stereotypical reactions to their husband’s deaths.

Aware that this concept of marriage is a tool for financial security would be misunderstood in a society where women are liberated and independent; Weldon has brought the idea into the 20th century Australia. Weldon has made the connection between Charlotte’s marriage to Mr Collins and the Australian “rich land owners import Asian girls as wives.” The introduction of television and the internet in our context has made the suffering and hardships of foreigner’s woman extremely accessible, therefore we are able to sympathise with and understand why these women would forfeit their chance of true love in order to “escape the hunger and poverty of their own lands.” Through the connection modern responders are able to appreciate the importance of marriage held within society and are able to understand more completely that by making “the business of her life to get her five daughters married, Mrs Bennet was protecting her daughters from financial

Even as he suffers, the parallel of his grief to that of the woman’s dissipates for we are privy to the knowledge that Odysseus is likely to have once been a man who cut down the father of another home. Though the language of grief is universal, spreading itself to Odysseus in likeness, the application of it remains ironic because the self-pursuant and capable hero persists in the blindness that his own hands brought about the same pain in many

During the 1800’s it was very rare for women to marry for love. Most marriages were arranged for financial gain. When in a marriage during this time period, the husbands were given most of the control over the household, the children and their wives. According to the article “Histories: Women in the 1800’s,” It stated that all of a women’s possession’s belonged to her husband, this included earnings (if she worked) and her property. It wasn’t uncommon for women to be unhappy within their marriages because with a lack of voice in a marriage can lead anyone to a mental breakdown. In Kate Chopin’s “The story of an hour” and Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” both women felt trapped in their marriages. They both strived for freedom and independence.

When examining both Robert Browning’s, My Last Duchess, and Charlotte Mew’s, The Farmers Bride, the reader witnesses the poems positions of marriage in the natural world. Within both works, it is quite evident how each relationship is vastly different from the modern world, yet parallel it at the same time. Whether it be: the interactions between the two people or the conditions of the marriage, it is made more than apparent that both can be applied to modern conceptualizations of marriage.

Marriage is an important stage in people lives, for this is when someone has found someone to live the rest of their life with and to love. This is a general idea of marriage, for a study was done to see what University Students think the meaning of marriage and stated “Marriage, which includes the coupling of two people possessing different interests, desires and needs, is a special association given shape by social rules and laws and significantly affects individuals’ development and self-realizations … meeting both individuals’ biological, social, psychological and motivational needs, bringing new generations to world, gaining a place in society, the feelings of being safe and protected, the sense of cooperation, being confident about the future, feeling proud of each other” (Özyiğit 680). This shows what a group of people thinks about marriage, and the problem with the group that taken the survey were generally young people who have no idea what marriage is for they may not be married. Kate Chopin knowing how serious people take marriage poked fun at it with many of the stories she wrote during her time. Chopin’s stories would be about what people see as forbidden during a marriage such as the wife having an affair with someone and the wife truly not loving her husband. The short story “The Story of an Hour” written by Kate Chopin story demonstrates the tyranny within some marriages which relates to current day marriages.

Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Birthmark” examine the complex relationship between a husband and wife. The two works take two different approaches to convey the same message: Marriage is not a fairytale, it requires sacrifice and unselfish behavior in order to work. Relationships are difficult to begin and harder to maintain. Mr. and Mrs. Mallard and Aylmer and Georgiana are two relationships that shatter the surreal perception of marriage and expose readers to the raw truth, marriage is not a fairytale.

One day she comes to him in the garden to discuss the arrangement, she has grown bored of him and her suitor feels uncomfortable having him around. She has found exactly what she needs in this new man, not another slave, but rather a man willing to take the reins. Severin explains that he does not want to lose her and even that he would kill her than let another man marry her. She continues her role as his master and threatens to surrender her control over him to her husband to be. When Severin grabs her and threatens her with her dagger she switches around and starts saying that she loves him also and that this was all a jest. She says she wants to leave Italy and marry him. She asks him to take care of a few formal matters while she says goodbye to her friends in the city and that they will leave the next day. He goes to mail her letters while she packs and when he returns the servants tell me that she called for him. He goes to her room with some trepidation and sits at her feet. Then she reverts to her mistress self and calls to have him bound so she can whip him and elicit his love for her from him. He gets bound to a support in the room and she puts on her furs to get ready for his “punishment.” When he asks for the whip, she calls out and from behind a curtain emerges her young, greek courtesan, to dole out the whipping. The Greek whips him into fury, shame, and despair and then he and the Venus leave Severin all alone. Severin thinks of

In the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, many married women felt a sense of hopelessness in their lives. In a time of our history when women were restricted in many ways, one might assume marriage would be a place of comfort for women, a place of relative equality. However, as many of the women writers of this period illustrate, marriage might leave women feeling caged, trapped, and desperate. Two great examples of this are Kate Chopin’s short story “The Story of an Hour,” and Susan Glaspell’s short story “A Jury of Her Peers.”

From a feminist critical perspective, it is clear to perceive that her husband’s death was a release of freedom from her marriage. The text describes that at times, she did and did not love her husband. However, love had not mattered anymore because she was now free. Whether they loved each other or not, she would have still been his property. This restriction of freedom was no longer her cross to bear. The death of her husband would pave her a path for a new life.

In, “The Story of an hour” by Kate Chopin is about the protagonist achieving her freedom as she has aspirations to become independent; which is her freedom. Through this short story, the protagonist Mrs. Mallard was confined by gender relations through marriage (Lucas). As noted in this short story there is gender inequality presented by both male and female in marriage, as both “believe(d) they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow creature” (Chopin 204). Furthermore, the quote as mentioned illustrates the gender inequality present in marriage as either male or female enforce their other partner to follow orders and obligations. Thus, because of the inequality in gender relations, confinement is felt by the other partner. Consequently, leading to a lack of aspirations and a feeling of imprisonment felt by the other partner.

As a convention, marriage for women has been a landmark of success. It is necessary for a woman to enter into marriage to be recognized by the society as successful. The requisites of marriage such as love and affection are often neglected in exchange for some financial value imposed by the husband. In The Story of an Hour it is exemplified in ?a heart trouble? of Mrs. Mallard while in The Girls in Their Summer Dresses points out to Frances? longing to keep her husband in spite of her doubtful interest upon her.