Story Of An Hour Literary Analysis

William Faulkner paints a tragic tale about the inevitability of change and the futility of attempting to stop it in "A Rose for Emily". This story is about a lonely upper-class woman struggling with life and traditions in the Old South. Besides effective uses of literary techniques, such as symbolism and a first plural-person narrative style, Faulkner succeeds in creating a suspenseful and mysterious story by the use of foreshadowing, which gives a powerful description about death and the tragic struggle of the main character, Miss Emily. In general the use of foreshadowing often relates to events in a story, and few are attempted to describe character. Faulkner has effectively

Kate Chopin’s short story, “The Story of An Hour,” emotionally illustrates the hour in which a young woman with a heart condition finds out her husband has been killed in a mining accident. In the beginning, she grieves over the loss of her husband, but she soon becomes relieved and joyous when she realizes that she is now free. However, her husband returns after having been far from the mines for the day and her heart problems return and she dies. Kate Chopin was an early feminist author and was well acquainted with death after losing many siblings as a child, her husband (who left her a large amount of debt), and her mother with whom she was very close. As a means of therapy, Chopin took up writing and her ideas about feminism and death are very clear. In “The Story of An Hour,” Chopin uses multiple symbols and an allusion to a Greek god to illustrate and support the idea that male oppression harms the souls and lives of women.

In literature irony, symbolism, imagery and foreshadowing are important devices that create the theme of a short story. Kate Chopin, the author of “The Story of An Hour”, uses many different devices to create the theme of “The Story of An Hour”, irony and foreshadowing. In addition, Chopin uses a straight forward technique to portray the quality of life.

In “A Rose for Emily”, William Faulkner uses symbolism, imagery, simile and tone. Faulkner uses these elements to lead his characters to an epiphany of letting go of out-dated traditions and customs. The resistance to change and loneliness are prominent themes within “A Rose for Emily”. Faulkner uses “A Rose for Emily” to caution his readers that things are not always what they appear to be.

The Story of an Hour," by Kate Chopin is the tragic story of a woman whose newfound position as a widow gives her strength. She develops a sense of freedom as she embraces her husband's death as an opportunity to establish her own identity. The tragedy is when her newfound identity gets stripped away as the appearance of her husband reveals that he is still alive. The disappointment from this tragedy kills her with a heart attack symbolizing the many conflicts that she faced throughout the story. The conflicts the character faces within herself and society show that the social norms for women were suppressing to their strength and individuality as human beings.

While writing “The Story of an Hour”, Chopin brilliantly utilizes not only the rhetorical device of irony in order to add complexity to her short story, but she also includes the literary device, foreshadowing.

Kate Chopin's short story "The Story of an Hour" presents a young married woman named Mrs. Louise Mallard, who has a "heart trouble"(26). Suddenly, Mrs. Mallard receives a news that her husband, Brently Mallard has died in a train accident. She weeps and ascends to her room. Within a short period of time, she is able to fully come to terms with her husband's sudden death. Instead of mourning over his death, she feels joy and excitement. She can now act as herself and has the freedom she is longing for. Ironically, her husband comes home alive and she dies of the realization that her freedom and identity will be taken away again. The imageries that Chopin uses help the readers imagine Mrs. Mallard's excitement and the new life waiting for her.

The past is a former time usually including troubles or valuable memories. Holding onto such troubles in the past can have a detrimental effect on the rest of someone’s life. In William Faulkner’s short story, “A Rose for Emily” one particular character, Emily, is stuck in her own past ever since her father passed away. She desperately tries to stop time and change even though it comes at the expense of human lives. Cut off from the outside world, Emily does the same thing everyday, almost like a tradition, although the community around her is evolving. William uses many symbols in his story to portray this struggle. Both Emily’s house and her gray hair help to convey Faulkner’s theme of how holding onto the past in the midst of constant change can lead to madness.

The main symbolism running throughout A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner, is the theme of how important it is to let go of the past. Miss Emily clings to the past and does not want to be independent. The Old South is becoming the new South and she cannot move forward. The residents of the South did not all give in to change just because they lost the Civil War. In A Rose for Emily time marches on leaving Miss Emily behind as she stubbornly refuses to progress into a new era. In the story, symbolism is used to give more details than the author actually gives to the reader. Symbolism helps to indicate how Emily was once innocent but later changes, how her hair, house, and lifestyle, helped to show her resistance to change. The story is not

In the work “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner, Faulkner purposely does not apply a chronological sequence of events to manipulate the audience’s perception of time. The story beings with the conclusion of Emily Grierson’s life, to reveal the “present” to the audience. Then Faulkner uses past memories of the Townspeople, to display details and unravel stages of Miss Grierson’s life. Consequently, an objective view; time consistently moves continually, and a subjective view of time; one’s past memories are fixed and correlate with the present, are created. Miss Emily Grierson ineffectively attempts to conquer time and ends her days as a lonely spinster with sinister reputation.

Cleverly, William Faulkner uses many symbols in “A Rose for Emily” to signify change and decay. From well described characters to the use of Miss. Emily’s home, decay unfolds all around. William Faulkner descriptively uses Emily’s Home, Homer Barron and Emily’s physical transformation to symbolize change and decay throughout the story.

In "The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin, the protagonist Louise Mallard conveys the sheer principle of freedom for a woman in the 1950s. She exhibits feelings of guilt, confusion, and happiness when greeted with the death of her husband, Brently Mallard. Louise feels trapped in her marriage feeling unable to convey her thoughts due to a restraint from complying with the standards of women during the time. The reader can gather that her mannerisms are a response to feeling the release of abandonment and the common ideals of women during this time when Chopin writes, "Free! Body and soul free" (Chopin 40)!

“A Rose for Emily” is a short story by William Faulkner, and Resistance to change is the underlying theme. Faulkner uses a lot foreshadowing to show the resistance to change. According to the article, “The Structure of ‘A Rose for Emily,’” Emily's attempts to stop time by confusing past and present and refusing to accept change. Time is symbolic of Miss Emily’s inability to move forward with the news of Mr. Homer departing.

Kate Chopin’s short story, “The Story of an Hour,” is an interesting portrayal of the institute of marriage, from one woman’s perspective, in the late 1800’s. Chopin details a wife’s emotional journey, during the span of one hour, as she discovers that her husband has unexpectedly passed away. Through this character’s innermost thoughts on her marriage and her future, the role of marriage in the story is revealed to the reader. Upon learning that her husband is deceased, the main character, Mrs. Louise Mallard, becomes distraught and withdraws to her room to be alone with her thoughts.

In the short story "The Story of an Hour" Kate Chopin, the author, presents the reader with an obscure view of marriage. Chopin's main character, Mrs. Louise Mallard, experiences the excitement of freedom instead of the devastation of loneliness after she receives the news of her husband's death. Mrs. Mallard disturbingly finds out that Brently, her husband is still alive. She know knew that her only chance at freedom is gone. The disappointment instantly kills Mrs. Mallard. Published in the late 1800s, the overbearing nature of marriage presented in "The Story of an Hour" may very well reflect, but not restricted to, that era.