Both A Pair of Silk Stockings and The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin, were written from a third person point of view, making the story less subjective and more objective. As a result the reader is unable to put him or herself into the story. The narrative structures of A Pair of Silk Stockings and The Story of an Hour differ in that the setting, the time and overall story plots are completely different. There is one similarity that sticks out, both protagonists are selfish. There is really strong symbolism and imagery in both stories which puts the reader inside the story. The narrative structure of Chopin’s A Pair of Silk Stockings indicates that the story takes place in a big city, most likely New York or somewhere similar. This can be assumed because Mrs. Sommers visits a department store, goes to a shoe department store, a magazine stand, and eats at a fancy restaurant. The fact that she mentions how the shoe store is across from the department store and only a few feet away there was a magazine display and the restaurant was on the same corner. Maybe it was a downtown area with lots of shops and restaurants and the theater. The story starts out with her finding the money and spending a couple of days contemplating what to do with it. She “walked about apparently in a dreamy state” trying to figure out what to do, …show more content…
Chopin’s description that the stockings “glide serpent-like through her fingers” (Chopin, Vogue 7, 1897) in relevance to her temptation to start buying things she doesn’t necessarily need, can be seen as a reference to sin. This serpent imagery can be seen as a temptation from Satan to indulge carelessly in fancy materialistic items. At first Mrs. Sommers is practical but her exhaustion from having forgotten to eat seems to cloud her better judgement and her exhaustion, from her poverty stricken life, leads to her indulgence and misuse of her
The “Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin and ‘”The Hand” by Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette are similar in theme and setting. Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette and Kate Chopin create the theme of obligatory love and the unhappiness it entails. Both stories illustrate the concealed emotions many women feel in their marriage yet fail to express them. The two stories take place in a sacred room of the house and both transpire in a brief amount of time. The differences between the two stories are seen through the author’s choice of characters in each story. In “The story of an Hour” Kate Chopin involves other characters in Mrs. Mallard’s life, whereas, “The Hand” deals with marriage and togetherness and only involves the husband and wife. Symbolism is
The Loss of Freedom “A Pair of Silk Stockings” and “A Wagner Montee” In the stories of “A pair of silk stockings” and A Wagner Montee” the theme of loss freedom is shown through their past, present and their emotional reactions leads one to shelter themselves from the harsh realities of the real world for the main characters. In “A Pair of Silk Stockings” the main character Mrs. Summers is held captive in a shallow everyday obligation to the nurturing of her children, creating very little time for herself. This can be seen when “The neighbors” said that “She had no time--no second of time to devote to the past.”
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.
Kate Chopin again writes another short story with a way of getting the attention of the reader in a short period of time. “A Pair of Silk Stockings” is based in early to mid 1900's in a average town. Shops, a theater and such lies in the center of town. The author tells of a widowed mother that is not so well off, that discovers a sum of money and is taken away in her own shopping spree and perhaps her own dreams.
In Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour," the main character is a woman who has been controlled and conformed to the norms of society. Louise Mallard has apparently given her entire life to assuring her husband's happiness while forfeiting her own. This truth is also apparent in Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House. In this story, Nora Helmer has also given her life to a man who has very little concern for her feelings or beliefs. Both of these characters live very lonely lives, and both have a desire to find out who they really are and also what they are capable of becoming. Although the characters of Nora and Louise are very much alike in many ways, their personalities
At first glance, Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour,” Susan Glaspell’s Trifles, and Henrik Isben’s A Doll House seem to have nothing in common. However, the short story and plays have many similarities. Particularly, five women from these tales— Louise Mallard, Minnie Wright, Mrs. Peters, Mrs. Hale, and Nora Helmer—make drastic decisions that appear to be motiveless. Without context, any reader could be confused by Louise’s death, Nora’s departure, and Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale’s unanimous effort to cover up the murder that Minnie Wright committed, which also seems to lack serious motive. However, all of these women’s settings, situations, and lives have connections that make their motives similar. Emotion motivates all five women—not just
Short stories are always very enjoyable to read. They are very concise but mostly have such a deep message resonating throughout the text that the reader is left pondering over an extension of the story to imagine the possible ending if they were novels instead. The works under consideration are meant to be compared because of their unique theme which reflects how two authors can write similar yet distinctive stories in different times. Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” and “The Necklace” by Guy De Maupassant are two such short stories whose themes center around role of gender and marriage with special focus on the female characters. Even though there are similarities, there are also
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.”
In The Story of an Hour, by Kate Chopin, the main character is Mrs. Mallard, a frail woman who, in the end of the story, dies of heart problems. In The Interlopers, by Saki, there are two main characters, Ulrich von Gradwitz and Georg Znaeym. They are the exact opposite of Mrs. Mallard, being strong, healthy young men. However, their end is somewhat the same as frail Mrs. Mallard’s. Ulrich and Georg die, but they are killed by wolves.
The Story of an hour written by Kate Chopin is the best short-story because theme, characters, point of view, and style show the attitude that some women felt or may feel regarding marriage being repressive in their life and a longing for freedom. The story opens with Mrs. Mallard’s sister Josephine informing her that her husband has been killed. Because of Mrs. Mallard’s heart condition Josephine and Richards, who is a friend of the family and there to help deliver the news, are concerned with how the news will affect Mrs. Mallard. When Mrs. Mallard hears the news to is over taken with grief and locks herself in her room. While in her room she imagines herself in her new life that is no longer bogged down by her duties as a wife. When
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
Kate Chopin's The Story of an Hour is a great story that conveys an important message about life and how difficult it can be for women, particularly in previous centuries. Back in the late 1800s and early 1900s, when this story was written, women were quite often mistreated and had to live restricted lives that lacked opportunity. Generally, women weren?t liberated during the 19th century. Traditionally, women did all the hard work in the house and had no opportunities to make their own living or pursue their own personal dreams. Kate Chopin does an outstanding job of portraying a woman living in these times. The Story of an Hour is a good depiction of the unspoken repression that women faced in the past. Kate Chopin's major theme of the
FIrst, Chopin uses location in both of her stories. In "The Story of an Hour" the location of the short story is in Mrs. Mallards home. After learning of her husbands death, "She went away to her room alone" (Story 463). Mrs. Mallard was locked away in her room alone with an "open window" and a roomy arm chair that she "sank, pressed down by a physical exhaustion that hauned her body and seem to reach into her soul" (Story 463). According to Hicks, in the overview of "The Story of an Hour", '"the emotion in Mrs. Mallards bedroom is indisputable, the "suspension of intelligent thought" removes from the reader the need to share in the window 's grief and instead allows him or her to remain an onlooker, as eager as Mrs. Mallard to see "what was approaching to possess her" ' (2). In "A Pair of Silk Stockings" Mrs. Sommers was buying expensive clothes for herself in stores, buying nice food at
Kate Chopin's short story, "The Story of an Hour" is largely about the forms of repression that women were forced to endure during the epoch in which the story was written (1894) and during much of the time that preceded it. During this time period, women quite frequently had to subjugate themselves to the will of their husbands, or to some other man who had a significant amount of control over their lives. Chopin chooses to address this phenomenon in an indirect manner with this particular short story, although she does so in a thematic manner which, of course, is the ""¦idea that lies behind the story. Every story narrows a broad underlying idea, shapes it in a unique way, and makes the underlying idea concrete" (Clugston 2010, 7.1) The theme that "The Story of an Hour" is based upon is the notion of the liberation of women from the overbearing influence of men. Chopin chooses to illustrate this theme quite dramatically through literary devices of symbolism and metaphor.
After reading “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin the reader can see that the text reveals a major theme about freedom with the use of a few characters, a basic setting, and plot. This text was written to address the crisis of the restricted lives women were forced to live during that time period. In the beginning of the story, the narrator is discussing how they were being careful to break the news of Louis husband’s death because she had a heart problem. In the middle of the text, we learn how the news was accepted. Finally, in the end of the text, the author adds an interesting plot twists that brings the meaning of the story together. Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour,” is the best story because it developed the theme of the loss of freedom can be detrimental through her use of plot, setting, and character.