The Story of an Hour vs. The Interlopers “ ...For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.” (James 4:14) Words of truth from the book of truth. We have no idea how long our lives will be on this earth. This concept is brought to light even more in the two short stories we will be discussing, “The Story of an Hour” and “The Interlopers”. These two stories share some similarities and some differences that we will be looking at. These two stories show us a very important concept… “The Story of an Hour” and “The Interlopers” are perfect examples of how the expected does not always happen. In “The Story of an Hour” we see Mrs. Louise Mallard receives news of the death of her husband. The …show more content…
In the first story, Mrs. Mallard is within the privacy of her home, unlike “The Interlopers” which takes place in the outdoors. “The Interlopers” had a long standing rivalry and wished ill upon each other, while in “The Story of an Hour”, Mrs. Mallard is sad to hear of her husband’s death, even if later she feels it has set her free. The death at the end of the two stories differs as well. In “The Story of an Hour” Louise dies from sadness that her newfound freedom is now taken away, in contrast to “The Interlopers” where the two men die from man eating …show more content…
In “The Interlopers” has an unexpected ending of death, comparable to “The Story of an Hour” where the end of Mrs. Mallard’s story ends unexpectedly with death as well. In “The Story of an Hour” we see some selfishness in the character of Mrs. Mallard when she is so sad about her loss of freedom that she forgets to rejoice that her husband is alive again. In the same manner, we see some selfishness on the part of the characters in “The Interlopers” when they believe that their lives will be better without the other person and how they each hope their men arrive first to free them and kill the other, before they make peace with one another. In “The Interlopers” we see peace found at last between two long standing
The Story of an Hour: The first sentence sums up all that is wrong with suspense in this story, "Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble, great care was taken to break […] the news of her husband 's death.” In The Interlopers, story pertaining details were introduced as scene-setting, a subtle plot-motivating technique this story abandons. The remaining “suspense" is developed entirely through Mrs. Millard’s hyperactive imagination as she dreams of the future. Her euphoric visions are repeated, and repeated again. An uneasiness is created for the sole reason that most people know that sane people don’t think this way. Ultimately, the lazy suspense building cheapens the ending and while successfully creates tension, dissolves itself by being overly obvious and unvaried.
And eventually die together as comrades. In the story of an hour the irony is whenever Mrs. Mallard neighbors find out that her husband has died they try to break the news to her softly so that she will not die from her heart condition, but it turns out that her husband never died in a train wreck, so her surprise at seeing him walk in the door alive causes her to die. “
In the beginning of both stories, the characters are very unhappy with their situation. Ulrich is angry with his poaching neighbor, and then upset that he is trapped under a fallen tree, and Mrs. Mallard is unhappy because she has just been informed that her husband is dead. As the stories progress, the characters unexpectedly begin to change their minds about the events that are taking place. Ulrich decides that maybe the tree has trapped him and his enemy together to help them see how insignificant their feud really is compared to the important things in life. Mrs. Mallard realizes that the decease of her husband leaves her free. By the time the climax is reached, the main characters in both stories are delighted with the course of events. And then, when all seems well, an ironic twist at the end of each story leaves the main characters dead! The plots of these two stories actually have many
“The Interlopers” and “The Story of an Hour” both have some similarities and some differences between them. They both start out as completely different stories, but further into the stories, it is easier to find the similarities between the two. The main storylines are nothing alike. The settings of the two are completely different, such as both stories have happiness before they die, which in both stories they do in fact die; and while one deals with physical struggle and the other with emotional, they both contain emotional resolutions. However, they share similarities in terms of use of irony and also the ending of each story.
Moreover, "The Story of an Hour", shows that Louise felt her husband's domination through the "powerful will bending her" (14), later she is in "this possession of self-assertion which she suddenly recognized as the strongest impulse of her being." (15). This last statement indicates this newborn contention in Louise, made only possible by Mr. Mallard's death. In Mr. Mallard's death, Louise finds herself being able to assert herself in unimaginable ways; Mrs. Mallard is no longer limited to the confines of her marriage. Ultimately, all of this new brazenness and freedom is dependent
In “The Story of an Hour”, the main character Mrs. Mallard, gets news that her husband has been killed in an accident. Her sister delays telling her the news because she has a bad heart, but when she finally tells the news, Mrs. Mallard wants to be left alone. They think that she is very upset by her husband’s death, but
The two short stories share one similar theme, and contrast in others. The theme these two stories can compare is how the women, Mrs. Mallard and Clair feel about their loved ones and the relationship problems they face. The unsteady relationship becomes apparent when Mrs. Mallard expresses that she feels a sense of freedom when she hears of her husband’s death, which is odd for any marriage unless there is a sense of unhappiness within the relationship. Learning Mrs. Mallard feels free after her husband’s death makes the reader believe she was in an unhealthy
In "The Story of an Hour," Mrs. Mallard seems to be overwhelmed with joy because of her husband's death.
Two short stories The Story of an Hour and The Interlopers have both similarities and differences are very interesting, and the way they are written is compelling. These two stories, though they do have differences, have many similarities.
There are situational ironies in both. In The Interlopers, they are fighting with each other and you expect one to die, then the story twists, and they become friends. Then the story twists again, and the ending makes it seem like they both die.
In “The Story of an Hour” we are taken through a journey. The journey is the thoughts and emotions going through Mrs. Mallards (Louise) mind. The journey only takes an hour, so everything moves at a fast pace. Louise seemed to process the news of her husband’s death without an initial element of disbelief and shock. She goes right into the reaction of grieving for her husband. She quickly begins to feel other emotions. At first she does not understand them. The journey is a way that Louise comes to her final thoughts of freedom. She looks into the future and looks forward to living a long life on her own terms.
Starting with the main characters, in Interlopers, the main characters are both men, while in The Story of an Hour, the main character is a woman. In Interlopers, the men actually do die, while in The Story of an Hour, her husband’s death was a mere hoax. In Interlopers, the men were fighting over a multigenerational family feud, while in The Story of an Hour, she was rejoiced by her husband’s death, because he was controlling.
The death of the main character Louise Mallard is a commonly debated topic when discussing “The Story of an Hour.” In Mark Cunningham’s article “The Autonomous Female Self and the Death of Louise Mallard in Kate Chopin’s ‘Story of an Hour’” he makes arguments for the common interpretations of Mrs. Mallards death. He states that “it is critical commonplace” to assume that the sight of her husband alive kills her (n.p.). Even though the story never directly states that Mrs. Mallard sees her husband, it is easier for ones brain to jump to the conclusion that her
The Interlopers shows external conflict, between Ulrich von Gradwitz and Georg Znaey. The external conflict between the men and their families is important to the story; it builds suspense and drives the narrative forward. It also makes the ending much sadder; after a lifelong conflict, the men make up and almost straight away, are killed. In contrast, while the conflict in The Story Of An Hour also makes for a heartbreaking ending, in this case the conflict is all internal. Mrs Mallard faces inner turmoil, as she tries to balance her sadness at her husband's passing, and the joy she feels at his death; after all, his death means her freedom. Both stories show the end of something very inherent in the characters lives, but the thing that ends differs greatly between the stories. In The Interlopers the end of the long lasting feud between the characters is important, not only to the story, but also to the characters. This rivalry has become a part of who they are, so by ending the conflict, they grow and change as people instantaneously. Meanwhile in The Story Of An Hour the end of Mrs Mallard's entrapment is what's significant to the character, and by extension the plot; the shocking results of her sudden sense of freedom drive the story forward. Varying types of irony are used in both stories, but the irony that's most used in each story is different. The Interlopers features more verbal irony than dramatic irony. An example of the verbal irony used in the story is when, after getting crushed by a tree, Georg mocks Urich by saying "Ulrich von Gradwitz snared in his stolen forest."(Saki) This is verbal irony because Ulrich didn't actually steal the forest; it was a sarcastic statement. The Story Of An Hour on the other hand features more dramatic irony than verbal irony. An example of the dramatic irony in the story comes when Mrs Mallard's sister tries to comfort her, assuming Mrs Mallard is
In ‘The story of an hour’, it is set in a house in the 1890s, a time when women had little to no rights. Louise was the typical housewife married to the working man. She was to keep the house in order and have dinner ready when the man got home. This confinement and role Louise had to play gives her “heart trouble”. At first when Mr. Mallard is reported dead, Louise weeps suddenly then goes to her room. She spends the next several minutes looking at how free she is now that her husband is gone. The setting of the story affects the context greatly. If it had taken place in the 21st century, Louise might not