Story Of An Hour Disillusionment Essay

Wyche disputes all the critics who suggested that the text was either about whether Jig should carry the pregnancy to a full term or have an abortion. Wyche feels that the text was a metaphor representing pain which comes as a result of an end of a relationship between two people. One of his main ideas was therefore to dispute some of the ideas that critics had put forward in the past and bring forward a new meaning to the short story. As Wyche noted most of the critics saw a metaphor of abortion but failed to see that the abortion could also be used as metaphor to mean something else which in this case means the pain of a breakup. By bringing other critic’s point of view into play, he successfully acknowledges what they wrote and their ideas but also presents him with a point to dispute the same. Even if he does not refuse the ideas produced by earlier critics, the author presents a different point of view from whatever was presented before.

In the story, “Hills Like White Elephants” written by Ernest Hemingway tells a dialogue story of a woman named Jig and the American man who is waiting at the train station for their ride to Madrid. Jig and the American man are having a casual conversation about the scenery that the nearby hills look like white elephants. Then, there conversation turns serious as they talk about their relationship and their future unborn child. In Ernest Hemingway’s story the character’s conversation is important because it represents the lifestyle of a carefree life of an adult, the decisions of their actions, and their unplan future.

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.

Question: Explain how events such as the Vietnam War and Watergate affected the American public’s opinion of the U.S government.

I chose to do my analysis on the short story, “The Story Of An Hour”. The themes I see in this story is the quest for identity/coming of age, romantic/love, birth, and death. It is about a woman named Mrs. Mallard. She was an elderly lady and had a heart complications. Her sister Josephine and her husband’s friend Richards had to break the news to her that her husband, Brently Mallard, has been killed in a railroad disaster. Mrs. Mallard was sorrowful and sobbed in her sisters’ arms. After her grieving process, she wanted to be alone, so she went to her room and locked herself in. As she sat in the window, she seem to be calmer and accepted her husband’s death. She was not distressed of what had happened. She began to say the words “free” and her heart

Kate Chopin’s The Story of an Hour is a brilliant short story of irony and emotion. The story demonstrates conflicts that take us through the character’s emotions as she finds out about the death of her husband. Without the well written series of conflicts and events this story, the reader would not understand the depth of Mrs. Mallard’s inner conflict and the resolution at the end of the story. The conflict allows us to follow the emotions and unfold the irony of the situation in “The Story of an Hour.”

Comparatively, the relationships between the two main characters in the stories portray women’s yearning for freedom with different types of confinement. Psychological and physical confinements are terms that we can see used through out both stories. While “Story of an hour” basis its character being emotionally confined, and her great awakening being the room in which she grasps

48-55, ProQuest, http://nclive.org/cgi-bin/nclsm?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/ 226924170?accountid=3442. Literary critic Mark Cunningham presents personal views and ideas about the character, Louise Mallard, in “The Story of an Hour.” He presents the argument that Louise did not pass away after seeing her husband, Brently Mallard, arrive home. Rather he argues she passed away from the emotional strain brought on by the awakening moments of freedom experienced soon after learning of her loss. Cunningham also explains

     In conclusion the title, the "story" refers to that of Louise's life. She lived in the true sense of the word, with the will and freedom to live for only one hour. Only an hour because her husband ruined the

The ending of the story is rather ambiguous as it is not completely obvious what decision the two end up making. The man could have talked the girl into undergoing the procedure, or not. At one point toward the end, Jig tells him to “please please please please please please please stop talking”, and when he doesn’t she threatens to scream. This probably means that she had made up her mind, but it could be in either direction. In the end, she smiles at him, and he asks her if she feels better; she says that she feels fine. That could mean that she had made peace with the decision to abort their child or that she was proud of herself for finally standing up to him and making her choice not to abort final. Either way, making this choice is harder on her as she would be the one to undergo the operation, and she very well knows that he most likely will not stay with her if she decides to keep the child. No matter what she chooses, however, their relationship will never be the same.

“ The Story Of An Hour” portrayed woman as often weak, useless, and honestly does not have a say in the marriage. Louise Mallard took her husband’s “death” as a chance to be free, independent and her own woman, she would no longer have a man controlling her, and a man would not bring her down. She said over and over under her breathe “free, free, free”. There would be no one to put a burden on her. The thought of freedom, independence, and being her own woman, made Lousie Mallard happy

Jig knows that having the child will make her look like a whore in the eyes of her community, thus she knows that she has to get rid of the baby, but in her heart she wants to keep it.

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.

The short story, “Hills Like White Elephants”, by Ernest Hemingway, is not the type of story that explicitly reveals its meaning. However, one must read between the lines in order to understand the purpose of this story, and certain literary elements are deliberately placed within to aid the reader. 3 elements in particular stand out in “Hills Like White Elephants” and their placement within are what make the story important and meaningful. Looking deep in the core of this story, the reader may see the usage of setting, conflict and symbolism to convey the issue of dealing with unexpected problems and confronting the future.

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