Themes of Regionalism in Cather's A Wagner Matinee Essay

Willa Cather’s My Antonia and Mary Austin’s The Land of Little Rain are two literary works that effectively recreate the landscape of the stories they are telling. Their writing styles have a few similar characteristics, such as their word choice and their usage of visual elements; however, they take advantage of various writing elements that make their writing styles distinct, such as the use of figurative language, emotion, and rhetorical questioning.

Two more pertinent points are made by the author, in regards to the grandmother, follow in quick succession; both allude to further yet-to-be seen gloom within the story. O’Connor writes of the grandmother “[s]he didn’t intend for the cat to be left alone in the house for three days because he would miss her too much and she was afraid he might brush against one of the gas burners and accidentally asphyxiate himself” (1043) and of the way she is dressed “[i]n case of an accident, anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at once that she was a lady” (1043). These two observations are innocent enough on the surface but provide true intent on the foreshadowing that O’Connor uses throughout the story. It is these two devices, irony and foreshadowing, that I feel are prominent and important aspects of the story and are evidenced in my quest to decipher this story.

This quote explains that her Uncle doesn’t really care about any of her family because her sister died in his care, brought her mother to a “crazy folk” facility, and is selling her family’s farm for a choice he made.

At the beginning of Kate Chopin’s short story, “The Story of an Hour” the young, yet physically frail protagonist, Mrs. Mallard, is tactfully informed of her husband’s recent demise. Immediately after receiving the grim news, she makes it perfectly clear how she feels about the circumstances. Mrs. Mallard “…wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister’s arms” and subsequently isolated herself inside of the privacy of her bedroom. Reflecting on the events alone, she displays a welling of despair; however Mrs. Mallard notices that, unlike her husband, the world outside of her bedroom window appears vivid and alive. When cogitating about her external observations, and dissolving her finite trepidation, Mrs. Mallard comes an epiphany:

A5. There are quite a few similarities between the poem "A Wagner Matinee" and the book "My Antonia". One of them is that they both involve one character seeing another character after a long time. One quote from My Antonia that proves this is "I told Antonia I would come back, but life intervened and it was 20 years before I kept my promise." A quote from "A Wagner Matinee" that proves this is "She questioned me absently about various changes in the city, but she was chiefly concerned that she had forgotten to leave instructions about feeding half-skimmed

In Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” allows one to explore many ironic instances throughout the story, the main one in which a woman unpredictably feels free after her husband’s assumed death. Chopin uses Mrs. Mallard’s bizarre story to illustrate the struggles of reaching personal freedom and trying to be true to yourself to reach self-assertion while being a part of something else, like a marriage. In “The Story of an Hour” the main character, Mrs. Mallard, celebrates the death of her husband, yet Chopin uses several ironic situations and certain symbols to criticize the behavior of Mrs. Mallard during the time of her “loving” husband’s assumed death.

In “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, the author depicts how someone can be trapped in an unproductive and unsatisfying reality because of other’s thoughtlessness, exploitation, and domination. When combined with the contemporary society’s belief, presumably the later half of the 19th century, a further understanding of Chopin’s thoughts and feelings can be realized. Mrs. Louise Mallard, the victim and messenger of this story, is the image of such a person. Her relationship with her husband is so oppressive and limiting that even death is considered a reasonable means of escape. The condition of life for Mrs. Mallard is terrible, yet for some reason she doesn’t seem to come to the full

In the short yet complex work “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, readers see a woman who goes through a complete spectrum of emotions in the short span of an hour. When the main character learns that her husband is dead, like most, she is shocked and utterly filled with grief. As the story continues, a dramatic change takes place within the mind of the main character, Louise. Upon the conclusion of her natural, wifely grief, she realizes that she is finally out from under the grasp of her husband and is now a free woman in a time when men dominated life at home and the goings on of society. Through his death, Louise finds the opportunity to be born again. Many of the emotions that the main character goes through are depicted through the imagery of her constantly changing environment, and the author specifically uses the architecture of her home as a main tool. In the story, the use of visual imagery projects the rise and fall of the main character as her life transitions quickly back and forth. Through an analysis of her characterization, these changes ultimately prove too much for her to handle. In Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour,” a character analysis can be performed based on the changes in her environment compared to the changes in her life situation. The layout of the world around Louise is used to show her initial grief, sudden realization of freedom, and her gateway to a new life free from oppression of men.

Wilhelm Richard Wagner was one of the greatest opera writers of all time. He helped to take opera to a whole new level from even Verdi and Puccini. Some say that Wagner was very egotistic, however; “his extreme egotism rested on conviction, Wagner had the ability to do great things” (Colles 207). He was extraordinary at composing music as well as formulating words. He was not a prodigy however his musical skills surpassed many other composers from his time period.

In “The Story of an Hour,” Kate Chopin describes the series of emotions a married woman with a heart condition, Mrs. Mallard, endures after hearing about the death of her husband, Mr. Mallard. She assumes that she will be a mournful widow, but she ends up silently rejoicing. It turns out that she was not happily married and the thought of freedom from her attachments of marriage gave her

The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin is a short yet complex story, describing Mrs Mallard’s feelings. It focuses on the unfolding emotional state of Mrs Mallard after the news of her husbands death, and has overflowing symbolism and imagery. It is an impressive literary piece that touches the readers’ feelings and mind and allows the reader to have a connection to Mrs Mallard’s emotional process. Although the story is short, it is complete with each word carrying deep sense and meaning. It is written in the 19th century, a time that had highly restrictive gender roles that forbade women to live as they saw fit. Mrs Mallard experiences something not everyone during this time has the luck to have; the happiness of freedom that the reader only

Sometimes her mom would make her help with cutting onions or peeling peaches and as soon as she was done she would run out the door when her mom’s back was turned. She viewed the chores inside the house was endless and depressing and would much rather work outside. She hears her mother stating that she can’t wait till the son, Laird gets bigger so he can do the chores outside and the girl can do the chorus inside with her. The mother states, “I just get my back turned and she runs off. It’s not like I had a girl in the family at all.” At this point the girl feels like she can’t trust her mother, she knows her mother loved her yet she feels like her mom is always plotting against her to keep her from working with her father. She didn’t expect her father to really listen to what her mother was saying, Laird, in her mind wouldn’t be able to do the job as well as she does. Looking at her father’s bloody apron she reminds that reader that the foxes were feed horse meat, other farmers whose horses will get old or injured would call her father and him and henry would go kill it and butchered it. However, if they already had a lot of meat they would keep them for a while. The winter she turned eleven they had two horses, Flora and Mack. It was this winter where she heard her mother go on more about her helping in the house. She states that she no longer feels safe because the people around her who thought the same way. She stated, “The word girl had formerly seemed to

Henrik Ibsen one of his most famous literature works “A doll’s house” and Kate Chopin’s short story “The story of an hour” portrays to the Victorian era, when women didn’t have rights at all. Both authors were born in an era where they saw or lived a women’s life, and many women faced many aspects in life, such as being submissive to their husband’s, they were viewed as possessions than as people, and they lived a life that they weren’t satisfied with during the Victorian age. Even though Ibsen did not live the life of a woman, he still saw how woman were being mistreated, in spite of being a male he knew that woman’s were taken for granted. Ibsen’s play corresponds to his point of view of how women were seen as manipulated as “dolls”, and Chopin’s story “The story of an hour” was based on how women values were not tolerated. Both literature works consist of two women that were easily maneuvered by their husband’s that have little concern for their beliefs or feelings. Both characters, Nora and Louise lived a life where their words are meaningless to men, their reputations were not important in a society where men were seen as superior than women. Both works of literature, “ A Doll’s house” and “ The story of an hour” uses similarities and differences aspects to portray to the Victorian era that resemble in their writings.

In “The Story of an Hour,” Kate Chopin describes to her readers a young woman’s response to her husband’s death, or at least his presumed death. The opinions readers will draw from this story will vary from person to person due to personal experiences. The experience and wisdom that I have gained through the trails and tribulations of my life help me to understand, relate, and even despise Mrs. Mallard’s character. On one hand, I feel pity for Mrs. Mallard. I think she felt trapped in a situation that she found to be inescapable. She felt lonely, restless, and did not know how to help herself. Yet, on the other hand, I do not feel sorry for

“The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin describes an hour in the life of an oppressed woman bound by marriage in the nineteenth century. It is only when Mrs. Mallard’s husband dies in a sudden railroad accident that she realizes she is no longer tied together by the ropes of man. At first she is shocked and horrified by the tragedy, for she did say “she had loved him – sometimes” (Chopin). However, once the tears were wept, a new bountiful life of freedom was now in the eyes of Mrs. Mallard. Chopin uses imagery, third person omniscient point of view, and concepts of relief and joy in “The Story of an Hour” to convey the true feelings of Mrs. Mallard as she is freed from the strenuous and unjust oppression of women due to society’s expectation of gender roles.