The Little Match Girl By Hans Christian Andersen

In “Story of an Hour” Chopin’s purpose was to show that not all marriages are happy that some women felt or feel that are trapped. For example, “But she felt it, creeping out of the sky, reaching toward her through the sounds, the scents, the color that filled the air.” (lines 39-40). The character Mrs. Mallard describes her emotions as she did not know what to do know with the freedom she just got. In “Paper Matches” Jiles purpose was to show how even little kids like the girl in the story felt trapped. For example, when the little girl asks, "Why are we in here, I said, and they are out there?" (lines 3-4). This shows that the impact of not being able to do things freely impacted all females, little girls, and grown women. Both author's express how women felt at the time through the characters of the story and the

Marriage in 1894 was not all about love, but a choice made for you. The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin, shows how not all marriage has a happy ending. The story is a perfect example of why a spouse should not be chosen for you. No one shall experience a tragic ending similar to Louise Mallard. Although the story was written 122 years ago, it is shocking that till this day, some relationships are comparable to Brently Mallards and Louise Mallard’s marriage.

Comparing Tillie Olsen’s “I Stand Here Ironing” and Jamaica Kincaid’s “Girl” Daughter and mother relationship is an endless topic for many writers. They meant to share the bond of love and care for each other. Nevertheless, in the real world their relationship is not as successful as it ought to be. The stories “Girl” and “I Stand Here Ironing” are examples of this conflict. The author of the short story “Girl” Jamaica Kincaid use her life story to reflect in the story. In her short story “Girl”, Kincaid presents the experience of being young and female in a poor country. The story is structured as a single sentence of advice that a mother gives to her daughter. The mother expresses her resents and worries about her daughter becoming a woman. The author of “I Stand Here Ironing” is Tillie Olsen, similarly her story portrays powerfully the economic domestic burdens a poor woman faced, as well as the responsibility and powerlessness she feels over her child’s life. Moreover, the woman is grieving about her daughter's life and about the circumstances that shaped her own mothering. Both stories have many features in common. Not only do they explore the troubles that could exist in the relationship between mother and daughter, but also they raise questions about motherhood, especially when a mother lives on a shoestring, the stories explore the difficulties that a young mother has to endure while raising her child in poverty. Although the two stories refer to different place and

Ibsen 's play A Doll 's House centers on a stereotypical and comfortable family in the nineteenth century which, outwardly, has the appearance of respectability to which any audience can relate. There are many indicators that reveal that this family upholds a false image, such as the symbolic title “A Doll 's House". Nora is introduced as a "little Spendthrift" (p 6), which foreshadows future tension in her relationship. Torvald believes she is spending money frivolously, but she has actually secretly borrowed money to save his life, and is using the money he gives her to pay back her debt.

Margarita Engle, a poet, and novelist, once said, “Marriage without love is just one more twisted form of slavery.” In the eighteenth century, marriage was the exit door of many women from their homes whether they believed in love and filled their hearts with hope, or had no choice, and they were sold to men as if they were cattle. In The Story of an Hour, Kate Chopin shows complex issues such as marriage, independence, symbols, and ironies. After hearing the news that Brently Mallard was dead in a railroad accident, Richards, Mr. Mallard’s friend, went to the house to be next to Mrs. Mallard and to help her at this difficult moment. Contrary to what everyone was worried about, Mrs. Mallard knew that she would lament her husband’s death, but she was full of hope, dreaming of her freedom, appreciating life beyond the window, and a new beginning. Unfortunately, Mrs. Mallard’s dreams faded when she went downstairs and her husband arrived alive, and she could not stand it and died. Focusing on The Story of an Hour, there are three main points related to women in the early eighteenth century, such as oppressive marriages, women’s new perspective and ways of liberation, and women’s submission and obedience that demonstrates how women survived, even though they were not heard.

A Doll 's House by Henrik Ibsen, is a play that has been written to withstand all time. In this play Ibsen highlights the importance of women’s rights. During the time period of the play these rights were neglected. Ibsen depicts the role of the woman was to stay at home, raise the children and attend to her husband during the 19th century. Nora is the woman in A Doll House who plays is portrayed as a victim. Michael Meyers said of Henrik Ibsen 's plays: "The common denominator in many of Ibsen 's dramas is his interest in individuals struggling for and authentic identity in the face of social conventions. This conflict often results in his characters ' being divided between a sense of duty to themselves and their responsibility to others." All of the aspects of this quote can be applied to the play A Doll House, in Nora Helmer 's character, who throughout much of the play is oppressed, presents an inauthentic identity to the audience and throughout the play attempts to discovery her authentic identity.

Kate Chopin’s short stories testify to display to the readers her viewpoints about love, sex and marriage that one is not usually aware of. These three topics all tied together. Typically, it’s easy to think that when you love someone you get married to them. You only commit yourself to them and no one else. Of course not all marriages work out but that’s life. In two particular short stories though, it establishes the struggle for woman around the 1800’s. Kate Chopin’s “The story of an Hour” and “The Storm” demonstrates the dark side of love, sex, and marriage.

Fairy tales are an entertaining and memorable way to teach valuable lessons to children. However, things have not always been this way with fairy tales. In the past, fairy tales could serve as an outlet for unpopular ideas and thoughts, or a way for people with little value in society to express themselves. Fairy tales were often tightly related to their author’s culture, possibly because it made the story more familiar. In Hans Christian Andersen’s “Den Lille Havfrue”, better known as “The Little Mermaid”, Andersen uses prominent mythological and cultural ties to display the struggles of a young girl who wants to see what the world offers, as opposed to staying at the bottom of the ocean and living a mermaid’s long, but soulless and definite life.

The Tough Princess by Waddell is a children’s book that can be considered part of the fairy tale genre, shown through its inclusion of stereotypical conventions. It can also be classified as a fractured fairy tale – which is a tale that has been retold or created in order to give a different view on the original plot. The original review of the book by Child Education, suggests that the book “breaks all the conventions of the traditional fairy tale and is all the more fun for that”. Within this essay, I will be discussing to which degree this is accurate, in terms of subverting all of the conventions and whether the reasoning behind he subversion is simply for comedic effect, or not.

Kate Chopin’s “Désirée’s Baby”, published in 1893, still has an impact on its readers one hundred and twenty-four years later. Chopin captains a timeless voyage straight into the heart of Louisiana, following a unique and arduous circumstance. Madame Valmondé took in and adopted a small orphaned girl her husband, Monsieur Valmondé, had found in the shadows of their home. Although her origin unknown, the girl grew to be beautiful and kind. Gifted with a name the young girl was called by Désirée. At the age of 18, young Désirée caught the eye of Armand Aubigny, a young man with a last name known well in Louisiana. He was struck by her beauty and fell in “love” instantly. After a shipment of wedding presents from Paris, the young couple were married.

Orenstein, author of “Fairy Tales and a Dose of Reality”, and Panttaja, author of “Cinderella: Not So Morally Superior”. C. Orenstein’s article is an analysis of Cinderella’s story, with heavy emphasis on marriage in fairy tales romances are not what society expects them to be, and examines the myth of a “fairy tale wedding”; she also analyzes many of the “darker aspects” of true fairy tales in relation to disproving the idea of a “fairy tale wedding”. Panttaja also analyzes Cinderella, but she stresses how the role of Cinderella’s mother and the deceit witnessed in the original Ashputtle story, particularly in how Cinderella wins over the prince and uses trickery to cross social classes and to get what she desires. While both authors address how marriage in fairy tales isn’t about love, C. Orenstein focuses more on the American dream of a “fairy tale wedding”, while Panttaja seems more concerned with how Cinderella uses marriage to cross social

Long before the 20th century women were not as respected as today. Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” and “A Doll House,” written by Henrik Ibsen, are two perfect examples of what can happen when one tires to cadge a kindred spirit. Both women are faced with some hard times and are forced to look within themselves to figure out the true meaning of a fulfilled life. While the two come to this decision in different ways and also meet different fates, they realize they are more than just a doll or a pet to society, and choose a life of freedom over everything and anything else.

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.”

Women in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s had specific roles determined by the males who were dominant in their society. Women began to write stories which told their gender roles in that era. The authors of these stories lived in this time period and their stories reflect a lot of the traditional roles that were expected of them. The author’s purposes, were to tell about how marriage imprisoned women in this period of time. Kate Chopin and Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s stories provide examples of the gender roles. Their reasoning of writing these stories was to call on women of this era to learn how to empower themselves in this society.

Children fairy tales are some of the first books we’re introduced to growing up. Typically, the princess is saved by the heroic prince and they lived “happily ever after”. Some may think our life should be like a fairy tales while others don’t. These tales created gender roles in which appeared to be very important. In the Grimm Brothers fairy tale, “Hansel and Gretel”, the parents leave the children in the forest to starve due to not having enough money to buy food in order to sustain life. The children later find a house deep in the woods where an old, evil witch lures them in and tried to eat Hansel and Gretel. They eventually kill the witch and find their way home to their father with no stepmother to be found as she has died while the children were away. In the fairy tale, “Hansel and Gretel” gender and feminist criticism are highlighted throughout the tale by defining characteristics, consequences from their actions, and societal roles and expectations that were both prominent in German history and modern society.