In The Story Of An Hour, Hills Like White Elephants, And The Yellow Wallpaper

The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin and The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman written in the 1890s both reflect gender roles of this time, specifically women’s roles. In these stories both of the women are oppressed by their marriages, and by the end of the stories both wish to be rid of their husbands. Also, in both of these stories these women experience mental illnesses, mainly depression. These illnesses were looked at as something minor during this time, was it because psychologists were uneducated, or because as women their mental stability did not really matter? These stories connect so well because of their work to bring to the surface the reality of gender roles in the 1800s. Even though these stories were fictional their ideas were very real. By comparing how men and women were treated during this time, and how they are treated more equally now, it shows that with time American has come a long way.

Women in history stood best known for a less ascendant sex in the mid-nineteen centuries. Since times have gone by women had fought for their equal rights and freedom. There had been many stereotypes, where the women were considered as a slave to the men’s because the women’s position was to be the homemakers and a mother to their children, while the men’s are out socializing with others. If they were not happy with the marriage, they cannot just walk out or complain because a women role is to endure all these pains without a word coming out of their mouths. Two out of the ordinary short stories, “The Yellow Wallpaper” and “The Story of An Hour,” mostly focused on a women’s dilemma that they faced near the 19th century. The two main characters in the short stories show some resemblances in some ways, but both characters portrayed them in different ways of how they dealt their sorrows in their marriages.

During the nineteenth and twentieth century there was a number of changes made in America. Woman were looked at as less than back then and to a certain degree they still are today. There was a number of women that died or went insane because of the standards that they had to meet in order to be considered good women. In this research paper I will talk about the experience of the narrator of The Yellow Wallpaper and Blanche DuBois from the story A Streetcar Named Desire. It will be shown within these pages how the moral and societal standards for women were far different than they were for men, and how the standards changed over the years. Furthermore it will be shown how this effected the women of those two stories.

“The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, and “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, are similar in that both women are trying to find their pathway to freedom. “The Yellow Wallpaper” and “The Story of an Hour” are two feminist work in which liberation is the overlying theme. Both of the main characters accomplish freedom from their spouses’ mistreatment in their short stories; however, opportunity is accomplished through craziness in “The Yellow Wallpaper,” and death in “The Story of an Hour,”. “The Story of an Hour” provides a clearer depiction than “The Yellow Wallpaper” of how Mrs. Mallard is a stronger character than the anonymous female protagonist in “The Yellow Wallpaper,” because she stresses the importance of freedom through

“The Yellow Wallpaper” Charlotte Perkins Gilman and “Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin are great examples of feminist works of literature. Both short stories portray women who are trapped in one sense or another---although, “The Yellow Wallpaper” depicts a more literal portrayal of this. There were several similarities and differences in both of the stories in the way the women are both feeling trapped, then are both get a sense of freedom from their entrapment, and also both short stories leave us with questions. Both, “The Yellow Wallpaper” and “Story of an Hour” portray women who feel trapped and also both have an illness, although they are different afflictions. In “The Yellow Wallpaper”, the narrator (who is never mentioned by name) is, in a sense, trapped in a room because of her nervous depression and describes her husband, also her physician, as being “very careful and loving, and hardly lets [her] stir without direction” (Gilman 474).

The nineteenth century was a trying time for women in America. A woman’s purpose in life was to take care of the home. The idea of ornamentality came about during this time period; this is the idea that a woman’s purpose is to stand there and look pretty like an ornament on a tree (Beam 189). This oppression affect women in every aspect of their lives. One way this was shown was through writing. Many authors of this time created fictional characters that lived the lives they wished they lived themselves; they made these women free. In both “The Story of an Hour” and “The Yellow Wallpaper,” the characters of Mrs. Mallard and Jane both are oppressed and find freedom through the story. Kate Chopin and Charlotte Perkins Gilman lived in this time

Promoting the authority of men over women in the 19th and 20th century, the Napoleonic code denied and relinquished women’s rights, such as leaving the house , working, and even controlling their own bodies. Due to the limitations that these rules put on women, it made it very difficult to build their own self-identity and have happy and fulfilled lives. The Napoleonic code influenced not only Europe, but also other countries such as the United States, as men and women alike were convinced that women did not deserve the same rights as men. While both women in Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” and William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” respond to their situations after obtaining freedom in different ways, they illustrate the multiple facets of women’s oppressed social conditions during that era which caused many women various manifestations of depression, other physical and mental ailments, and for many, lead to loneliness and unfulfilled lives.

With the narrator being the woman, the reader gets a unique view of the events of the story. This story is an insightful look into the mind of woman confined by her environment and by her own self. It explores the expectations placed on women during the time period and how it impacted them.

The short story “The Story of an Hour” written by Kate Chopin is about a lady named Mrs.Mallard who has a health issue that effects her life dramatically. When she is told her husband has passed away due to an accident things change. This story shows how it is difficult to deal with things within yourself which proves some people grieve differently. Mrs. Mallard has a desire to be independent which is the opposite of how society views things.

In the stories “The Jewelry” by Guy de Maupassant, “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, and “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the female characters are unequal and less important than the men in society. The duties of women during this time period did not consist of much more than seeing to her husband’s needs and caring for the home and children. The authors show the lack of independence women were allowed in the 1800s, especially in marriage. The stories express women’s cry for equality and their feelings of entrapment in their marriage. Each story elaborates on the importance of social class in the 19th century, how women were presented in society, and how society

To Room Nineteen and The Story of an Hour are two excellent pieces of literature that reflect the position of women in the entire world. Since the twentieth century subdued women have struggled to have a voice. Not only did they look for equality as regards position in society, but also to be happy without depending on men. Moreover, if you continue reading this essay you are going to find how oppression due to lifestyle affects the main characters of the stories already mentioned as well as how they are dependent on men. Besides, you will notice that escapism from reality is present in both stories.

These two stories exemplify the epitome of women’s repression in the male-dominated society of the late nineteenth century by conveying the feelings of

Kate Chopin “The story of an hour” is about a women named Mrs. Mallard who has heart trouble and just found out that her husband died which she is happy about. Mrs. Mallard in my eyes is grieving from her heart condition and not the fact that her husband is supposedly dead. In line 13, it says “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!” (15). Mrs. Mallard is happy that she is dying because she will be free from the pain of her condition. In line 5, it says “When the storm of grief had spent itself she went away to her room alone. She would have no one to follow her” (15). Mrs. Mallard knows that it is her time to go and she is ready, she

This essay will analyze the situation of women that are mirrored in The Story of an Hour and Hills Like White Elephants.

“The Story of an Hour” describes the journey of Mrs. Mallard against the Cult of True Womanhood as she slowly becomes aware of her own desires and thus of a feminine self that has long been suppressed.  While this journey begins with the news of her husband’s death, Mr. Mallard’s unexpected return at the very end of the tale tragically cuts short the journey towards feminine selfhood.  Yet the tale is tragic from beginning to end, for the very attempt to create an identity against the gender constraints of patriarchal society is riddled with a sense that such an attempt can only end in defeat.  “The Story of an Hour” demonstrates that the patriarchal society that defines gender roles which control and delimit women’s experiences deny them a self founded on true feminine desires.  Ultimately, Mrs. Mallard’s journey towards selfhood only serves to reveal the erasure of identity, indeed of being, that women experienced in the nineteenth century.