The Story of an Hour

A smart, free lady, Louise Mallard comprehends the ‘right’ path for ladies to act, yet her interior considerations and emotions are definitely not right. At the point when her sister declares that Brently has passed on, Louise cries significantly as opposed to feeling numb, as she probably is aware numerous other ladies would. Her savage response promptly demonstrates that she is an enthusiastic, decisive lady. She realizes that she ought to lament for Brently and fear for her own future, yet rather she feels happiness at her recently discovered freedom. Louise isn’t remorseless and realizes that she’ll cry not without a fight when the time comes. Be that as it may, when she is out of others’ sight, her private contemplations are of her own life and the open doors that anticipate her, which she feels have quite recently lit up extensively. Louise experiences a heart issue, which demonstrates the degree to which she feels that marriage has mistreated her. The ambiguous mark Chopin provides for Louise’s concern ‘heart inconvenience” recommends that this inconvenience is both physical and passionate, an issue both inside her body and with her relationship to Brently. In the hour amid which Louise trusts Brently is dead, her heart thumps emphatically without a doubt, Louise feels her new autonomy physically. Alone in her room, her heart races, and her entire body feels warm. She spreads her arms open, emblematically respecting her new life. ‘Body and soul free!’ she rehashes to herself, an explanation that indicates how all out her new autonomy truly is for her. Just when Brently strolls in does her ‘heart inconvenience’ return, and this inconvenience is acute to the point that it executes her. The incongruity of the closure is that Louise doesn’t kick the bucket of delight as the specialists guarantee yet really from the loss of happiness. Brently’s passing gave her a look at another life, and when that new life is quickly removed, the stun and dissatisfaction execute her.

A few symbols in Kate Chopin’s ‘story of an Hour’ make a sentiment of solace, health, and gloriousness inside the pursuer’s psyche. The main image I will talk about is the ‘agreeable seat’ which she sinks into after the news of her spouses’ passing. At that point, I will talk about the open window, which she sits before through which she sees numerous images of things that are great. At long last, I will discuss the depiction of Mrs. Mallard herself and her agreeable circumstance, which will integrate every one of the images that make the sentiments of solace and health in the peruse. The rocker in the story in which Mrs. Mallard sits subsequent to detaching herself in her room after becoming aware of her spouses’ passing is portrayed as ‘agreeable’ and ‘large.’ The seats’ area is additionally vital, it is confronting an open window, this symbolizes being available to change, and the way that it is open demonstrates that it is to some degree warm out proposing life as opposed to the cold of winter symbolizing demise. The descriptive words ‘agreeable,” spacious,’ and ‘sank’ symbolize a sentiment of being grasped by the seat, a sentiment of adoration and warmth.

Around the turn of the 20th century, women were repressed by their own families and husbands which is pictured very well in the stories: “The Yellow Wallpaper” and “The Story of an Hour.” “The Yellow Wallpaper” written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is the story of a woman who believes in and needs the opportunity for self-growth, to find herself, and her happiness outside of her house. Jane, as it is believed to be the name of the narrator, is having a hard time in her life as she is suffering with what is likely post-partum depression and has to be fully cured in order to get on with her life.

Jane supposedly has post-partum depression because the author herself suffered from it and she told her own story. In “The Story of an Hour” Kate Chopin tells the story of Louise, a woman who is seeking of her personal freedom. Louise suffers from a heart disease and she just got the sad news that her husband passed away and is in a battle within herself deciding if she should be sad, or really happy that she is free. Though both these characters and stories seem to be different at first, the themes, the setting, and the characters are more similar than they appear to be.

These short stories were written during a period when women were suppressed by men. Women were not allowed to vote, own property or even have an education. In “The Yellow Wallpaper,” Jane describes her husband John, as a man who has the ultimate authority in their house and also her doctor at the same time. He is a patriarch who doesn’t consider her needs and that was normal for the time as women were suppressed and prevented from any type of growth. Jane admits that she wants to escape that kind of life as she feels like she is in a prison.

She has no say in anything as she says that she is put in the yellow room without any say in it only because John thought that was good for her and that was going to make her better. However, he didn’t know that he was doing more damage than repairing and that is visible in her words: “John does not know how much I really suffer. He knows there is no reason to suffer, and that satisfies him” (Gilman 174). He never talks to his wife and asks her what she really feels but does what he thinks is right for her. Similarly, in “The Story of an Hour” Louise Mallard was imprisoned inside of her house by Brently as she suffers from a heart disease and any news can damage her heart. This news is made clear at the beginning of the story where the news of her husband’s death is being delivered in the gentlest way possible.

Also, other facts show this imprisonment like the only people she would have interactions with were her sister and Richards or that when Brently entered the house he had to unlock it with the key. As seen, both these share the same theme of a suppressive marriage to women who search for personal freedom and can’t express themselves nor be independent. But at the end, they both experience the freedom. The moment when Louise was alone in her room and she finally realizes the truth she says “free, free, free!” (Chopin 97) and the for Jane was the moment when she confronts her husband and shouts “I’ve got out at last, in spite of you and Jane? And I’ve pulled off most of the paper, so you can’t put me back ” (Gilman 187). Both, Jane and Louise understand their strength and what they are capable of accomplishing. They understand that they can go on with their lives on their own, as strong and independent women.

A similarity that is evident when reading the story is that both women were incorrectly diagnosed. In “The Story of an Hour”, as mentioned before, Louise Mallard suffers from a heart disease and everybody is so gentle when telling her the news. But at the end, the moment that Brently enters the house she has a heart attack and dies. It wasn’t a “joy that kills” (Chopin 98) that killed her, it was that loss of joy. She got a glimpse of that new life, full of happiness and in the moment that it was taken away, it was disappointment and shock that killed her. As for Jane, she is diagnosed with hysteria, which was a term used to describe emotional disturbance and was thought to be very common for women at that time. Since she was diagnosed with hysteria, the best way to cure her was thought to be the rest cure. She didn’t need that.

Jane had depression and people not believing her on how she really felt was only drowning her more into that dark world and made her go crazy. She needed to interact with people, write, or go out and enjoy the outside world in order for her to get better. She was not going to get better by spending all her time isolated from everything with only her thoughts. Therefore, if these women had the right diagnosis and their relatives knew what was really bothering them, they wouldn’t be so vulnerable and have such an unhappy marriage. They would love their lives.

To continue, both these stories take place inside of a house. In ‘The Yellow Wallpaper”, the narrator is put in a room that suffocates her and thinks of it as a jail. She sees herself as a prisoner. There is something about the yellow color of the room that bothers her profoundly which is seen clearly in her description of the room: “The color is repellent, almost revolting, a smoldering unclean yellow, strangely faded by the slow-turning sunlight”(Gilman 174). She wants to get out of that room, go to a different part of the house where she can feel calm and relaxed.

On the other hand, in “The Story of an Hour,” Louise goes in her room to process her husband’s death and clear her mind. It is that moment in her room when she fully understands that she is free from that marriage. In the room she understands what that death really meant: a better life on her own, by her own rules. Both of these protagonists found themselves in their bedroom and at the end they both came out of it fully understanding their power and liberty, “Free! Body and soul free” (Chopin 97). For Louise and Jane the setting is very important, a choice or not, as it makes them reconsider their lives and look for their missing piece which was their freedom.

As mentioned, both of these women were in their room when they found themselves. However, Louise went by her own will there to reflect on her life, differently from Jane who was put in there. After Mrs. Mallard hears the horrible news, she has the choice of going up to her room, sitting in her chair and looking out of her window. The outside world, the trees, the birds, the sky, the wind, make her realize the new life that she has ahead of her. The window is a clear representation of her new life, a new life where she would be as free as a bird. A new life where there was no more place for an oppressive marriage just time for herself and her desires: “There would be no one to live for her during those coming years; she would live for herself” (Chopin 97). On the other hand, Jane was put in that bedroom for the only purpose of her getting better as her husband told her that, “He said we came here solely on my account, that I was to have perfect rest and all the air I could get” (Gilman 173). It wasn’t a personal choice.

She was deprived from everything, all she did was sleep, walk a little bit, eat and sleep some more. Stuck in that room she had to find something to distract herself and that is when she started noticing those strange patterns and that woman behind the wallpaper. She started envisioning herself in her and tried to free the woman as she realized that she was so similar to her. Once she was free, she just wanted to get out of that suffocating room.

Another thing that makes these two stories viewed differently is that “The Yellow Wallpaper” is written in the first person. Jane, who is sick and mentally unstable, tells the story which makes it less reliable. She was sick meaning that she couldn’t think straight. She would describe everything that she considered bad. Perhaps her husband and his sister really tried to cure her and make her feel better and get her out of the state that she was in. Meanwhile, in “The Story of an Hour,” the story is told in the third person. We don’t know who the narrator is, but it surely is an outsider. We get to see more of the surroundings, a better perspective and it is more believable and more reliable.

In conclusion, “The Story of an Hour” and “The Yellow Wallpaper” share plenty of similarities from theme, setting or the character of the protagonist but with slight differences which are what make them unique in their own way. These stories were written during the same time, which was a time where women wanted rights and privileges. Both of the authors were activists in feminism and women rights so the best way for them to show what was really going on was putting life on paper.

American female writer whose novel full of fervently consciousness. In her novel , she managed to reveal the psychology course of a woman who lived a miserable marriage life due to the lost of freedom and independence and shows feminist consciousness, by the employment of the method of blend and unity of emotion and scenery, the method of contrast, and the method of irony. To begin with, the method of blend and unity of emotion and scenery can be witnessed all around the novel.

As far as the fifth paragraph is concerned, it reveals easterly the exhilaration of the protagonist by describing the “delicious breath in the an, “a peddler crying his wares”, and “countless twittering sparrows in the eaves”. The author does not write the glee of the heroine directly, whereas, she chooses to express the pleasure and exciting emotion by applying the emotion on the surroundings with exhilaration. By the employment of the mingling emotion and settings, readers tend to be easier to comprehend what the protagonist feels and what the author wants to express.

Besides, Kate Chopin is likely to adopt the method of contrast to manifest the feelings of the heroine. Hearing the news of her husband’s death, instead of being paralyzed inability, the protagonist’s reaction to that is weeping with sudden and wild abandonment at once. By this contrast, readers can notice the distinction of heroine and other women. Unlike the others, she would express her feelings free rather than repress her sadness and some other emotion.

In addition, that shows her yearning and pursuit for freedom to some degree, and reveals her female consciousness that woman should be an Independent Individual, of course, Including women In marriage. Actually, the method of irony also characterizes this short novel. At the latter part, here states “She breathed a quick prayer that life might be long. It was only yesterday she had thought with a shudder that life might be long. ” under the repression of marriage life, she could not be herself.

Therefore, all sorts of days that cannot belong to her own are nightmare which could bring her nothing but sense of shudder. While, since her husband passed away, she could retrieve freedom and experience a fresh . Therefore, she wished that the life might be long. However, It Is the ending that completely shows the Irony. Doctor claimed that the protagonist “died of the heart disease–of the Joy that kills. Whereas, It was not the Joy but the desperation, that her husband came back alive means her freedom would be deprived again, that killed her.

In the end, the heroine was dead but her husband alive. By the way, her heart disease may be metal disease that caused by As the same as men, women are also independent individual and posses freedom and their own life, even if women who have got married. While most female did not hold that consciousness, Kate Chopin was able to arouse feminist consciousness in the short novel by applying the writing skills of mingling and unity of emotion and settings, contrast and irony.

How Is Charles? Thesis on “Joining Charles” “Joining Charles” written by Elizabeth Bowen tells the story of the young woman Louise who is going to shift to France as it is the place where her husband Charles works and lives. The story takes place on the morning of her depature in the White House which is the home of Charles’ family and Louise isn’t happy about herself joining Charles in France. Even though Charles isn’t the protagonist of the story and doesn’t interact at all, he is present throughout the whole story.

Louise constantly thinks about him and how it is going to be for her in France and in the future with Charles together. She doesn’t seem to like him at all. This emotion becomes obvious in many parts of the story when she thinks about him. Louise doesn’t want to get a baby of Charles, she turns her head away from his picture in the morning and in the end she doesn’t know what to tell to the mother of charles most probably because her whole attitude towards Charles is so repellent and it would be very unlikely something positive.

Yet the reader can only guess how Charles actually is as there is no clear description of him, nor does he interact at all. The only hints to his character gives the oneeyed cat Polyphemus which can talk according to Louise, some phrases of charles’ sisters and mother and the thoughts of Louise. The cat doesn’t have any good experiences with Charles and asks Louise to ask Charles what had happend to his other eye. Louise is the only one who can understand Polyphemus and the sisters interprete the cat’s behaviour different.

For them Polyphemus loves Charles and thats why he spends so much time with Louise. The sisters see Charles as a brother who takes care of them. They look up to him and make him in their thoughts to a perfect lover, brother and son. Even if his arrangements gives them disadvantage they remain nice as they are ‘good souls’ how Louise calls them. For the mother Charles is a kind of hero, someone who is ‘sensitive, gallant, generous, a knightly person and who is transcending modern conventions’. But still she realizes that Louise isn’t really happy.

Perhaps she somehow knows how Charles really is and that is why she tells Louise in the end that ‘marriage isn’t easy and that many things might be difficult’. From other parts of Louises thoughts the reader comes to know how he takes part in the family life. He isn’t really interested in how the family goes, asks only very unintimate things and makes kind of fun of his sister’s feelings. All in all Charles doesn’t seem to be a very nice person more likely an egostic and perhaps evem evil character.

All those who have been really close to him don’t want to interact with him. Louise aswell as the cat don’t seem to have good experiences with him. The sisters mostly don’t see him the way he really is because he seemed to be always nice. He perhaps kind of bedazzeld them, them and his mother but as for the mother it is not clear how she actually thinks of him. The perfect son image which is created doesn’t stand with her last action. That gives another hint that he is a rather bad, egostic and ‘difficult’ person.

Gestures are generally widely understood, although they may have different meanings in other cultures.

Illustrators

• do not have specific meaning
• add meaning to a verbal message examples: adjusting one’s clothes, biting nail or playing with objects
• these indicate to others that a person is upset or nervous.

Affect displays -are person’s body movements that convey feelings and emotions through facial expressions and body positions.

Adaptors – typically unconscious behaviors and are used when a person is tense or anxious.

Must avoid the following:

• Sitting or leaning back
• Resting your chin on your hand
• Crossed arms

Adaptors The Facial and Head Signals – are used in our everyday dealings with other people or even in our family.

Are important in tourism and hospitality industry to provide excellent guest service, The Head  In hotel or restaurant, you will use your head to send a message. Rapidly nodding your head can leave the impression that you are impatient. On the other hand, slower nodding emphasizes interest. The Mouth SMILE is very important in the industry. It conveys a message that you are approachable and is willing to assist your guests. The Hands Confident and positive handshake breaks the ice and in an interview.  No perspiring hands and dirty nails.

The Feet Avoid compulsive Jabbing of the floor, desk, or chair with your foot; this can be perceived as a hostile and angry motion and is likely to annoy a person. Facial Expressions and Eye Contact They are not body language but they are types of nonverbal communication that can have an effect on business relations. Communication in the Workplace Wherever we are, communication always exists. In tourism and hospitality industry, communication is very vital part towards the attainment of guest service satisfaction.

Without proper communication, the smooth flow of operation in a hotel, restaurant, resorts or other businesses that deal with guest will be impossible.

• The Need for Communication in the Workplace
• Communication is its lifeblood.
• The management can send message to employees.
• The decision making and control are also being implemented through effective communication. Managers of any company spend as much as 95% of their time in interpersonal communication. An effective communication in the industry requires knowing the right time to talk and time to keep silent.

The Communication aphoristically barrier

• Language barrier
• Emotion barrier
• Lack of subject knowledge
• Stress Overcoming Communication Barriers

The best way to overcome barriers is depend upon the person.

• It should be taken seriously to avoid miscommunication.
• Use simple and clear words.
• Using ambiguous words and Jargon’s should be avoided.
• Identify the source of barrier and eliminate it.

The Good Communication Skills

For tourism and hospitality industry professionals, mastering the art of communication is a very important skill required in the provision of excellent guest service. It is also a social skill that each individual needs to develop to improve relationships.

Wars to improve communication skills

• Listen very well to the speaker
• Never try getting your ideas in a hurry
• Recognize different points of view Be considerate with whom you’re talking to
• Be wary of giving out ideas or expressing a feeling
• Trying out new words in conversation
• Try to elicit ideas from whom you are talking with to ensure that you understand each other.

Good Communication skills include:

• Correct pronunciation of words
• Correct use of the language/ sentence construction
• Good diction

Proper stress on words – Considering your speech. In the tourism and hospitality industry you will be dealing with various guests, it is also important that you make an extra effort to learn the proper way of speaking to void communication barriers between the foreign guest and employee.

Types of accents

1. The Natural Accent – mother tongue or first language
2. The Neutral Accent
3. The Artificial Accent Talking about your social health. You need to consider your social health because this refers to the ability to get along well with people around you, making and keeping friends, offering and getting help when needed.

Characteristics of socially healthy individual

• Willing and can accept differences with other people.
• Gets along well with family members.
• Befriends people both sexes.

Meets and interacts with people easily. Accepts other people’s ideas and suggestions. On Being Proactive The ability to be involved in providing excellent guest service is being proactive person. Being a proactive person may mean to openness to dynamism, to change, to better options, for other possible things to be done and the ability to face in a positive way challenges that she/he might encounter.

Proactive Person – Is actually smart, value-driven, more resourceful, more diligent, more creative and more cooperative.

Social Grace – Is more popularly known as good manners and etiquette.

This is very important to be in our character as it shows our ability to project ourselves in nay occasions especially when meeting various professional people in the tourism and hospitality industry.

Etiquette This refers to a pattern of behavior that one should have in order to have consideration for others, good taste, appropriateness and good conduct. Some practices that has to develop and master by the future Tourism and Hospitality professionals.

• During conversation
• During Introduction of People
• During Invitation too Party/Social event
• On dining
• On the use of table wares and equipments

Business Etiquette – It is another important thing to consider. Future tourism and hospitality professionals should start learning the etiquette required in a business and practice them in situation that is applicable for them.

• Be on Time
• Greet the people around you
• Have that telephone manners
• Be conscious of behavior during office occasions
• Respect and appreciate other people
• Be conscious with company policies
• Respect and appreciate each employee Etiquette in Public Places
• In the Street. At the Bus. In a Train. At the Restaurant. At the Cinema. At the Church

Introduction to Literature

Nathan Pritts February 11, 2013 A Glimpse into The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin Literature can be found at every turn and there are many different genres to choose from. Each brings with it a new world for the reader to immerse himself. Literature allows the reader to experience a new perspective. It allows the reader to feel and connect with the story and its characters. No matter the genre, the world created in a literary work provides enlightenment to the reader in spite of the varying emotions it conveys.

One such literary work is Kate Chopin’s, “The Story of an Hour”. This short story captured my interest through its use of irony. In studying this specific work, I chose to use a reader-response approach to evaluate and analyze the text. Using a reader-response approach allows me to connect with the story and reflect on the wide array of emotions presented in the story. In order to connect I had to read imaginatively and immerse myself in the story and put myself in the shoes of the main character, Mrs. Mallard.

Once that was taken care of I had to consider or analyze what I had read, and then draw conclusions or interpret what I had read. In short, “The Story of an Hour” is about a woman who experiences a multitude of conflicting feelings at the news of her husband’s death due to a tragic train accident. Some of the feelings Mrs. Mallard experiences in this story are grief, exhaustion, fear, joy, and freedom. It is interesting to note that many of Chopin’s literary works represent women who are struggling to be free or to have independence of self.

Also noteworthy is the fact that Chopin’s father died in a train accident and Chopin herself “…grew up surrounded by smart, independent, single women” (Wyatt, 1995, para. 2). It is no wonder that she portrays Mrs. Mallard as a strong, independent woman, in spite of her heart trouble. At the onset of the story, one might have the opinion that Mrs. Mallard is weak because of her heart trouble and the “great care” that is taken in relaying the news of her husband’s death. However, it is quite the opposite. Initially she is distraught; stricken with grief and exhausted. But these feelings give way to something more.

Using simile, the writer paints a clear picture of a new beginning…“She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life. The delicious breath of rain was in the air” (Clugston, 2010). These thoughts of a new beginning brought with it fear for Mrs. Mallard. She was fearful of what she was feeling which could be described as joy or anticipation. Not wanting to seem heartless, in my opinion, she “beat it back with her will”, to no avail. She was finally free. Free to “live for herself” and to only think of her needs.

This desire for freedom and self seems to be a running theme in many of Chopin’s literary works and can be seen in the character, Edna Pontellier, when she stands naked on the beach at Grand Isle. In a review by Lewis P. Simpson (1971), he quotes Seyersted who says that Edna “symbolizes a victory of self-knowledge and authenticity as she becomes fully herself. ” I believe that this depicts Mrs. Mallard as well. Mrs. Mallard knew that her husband loved her and because of that she would still feel sorrow and grief, but she would also feel relief. Relief because she knew she had the rest of her life ahead of her to live it as she pleased.

Unfortunately for her, that relief was short-lived when in an ironic twist, her husband, Brently Mallard walked in the front door alive and well and Mrs. Mallard died. There are many different genres of literature but in particular I really enjoyed Chopin’s short story The Story of an Hour. The textbook tells us, “Literature restores the past, stimulates the imagination, glorifies the commonplace, evokes emotions and links feeling to thinking, upholds a vision of the ideal, and explores significant human questions and reveals human nature (Clugston, 2010).

This rings true for this piece of literature. It brought together elements of imagination, symbolism, and metaphors that paint a vivid picture of a woman who feels repressed in her marriage and embraces the freedom she feels at the news of her husband’s death. This piece allowed me to experience a new perspective. It allowed me to feel and connect with the story and its characters. It created a world that I could immerse myself into.

References

1. Clugston, R. W. (2010). Journey into literature. San Diego, California: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.
2. Retrieved from https://content. ashford. edu/books/AUENG125. 10. 2/sections/sec2. 3
3. Kate Chopin: A Critical Biography by Per Seyersted; The Complete Works of Kate Chopin by Per Seyersted; Kate Chopin Review by: Lewis P.
4. Simpson Louisiana History: The Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association , Vol. 12, No. 1 (Winter, 1971), pp. 86-88
5. Published by: Louisiana Historical Association Article Stable URL: http://www. jstor. org/stable/4231171 Wyatt, N. (1995).
6. Biography of Kate Chopin. Retrieved from http://www. vcu. edu/engweb/webtexts/hour/katebio. html

Manka and Louise

Both short stories are a patriarchal society that restricted the roles of women, especially in their marriage. The setting in Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” takes place in a small city in the early 1900s. This story has actual characters with names, such as Louise Mallard. The main character is Louise Mallard, she is a women looking to get freedom from her husband, and she gets that chance when he dies in a railroad accident. The setting in “Clever Manka” takes place in a rural farming community is Czechoslovakia.

This story has stereotypical characters, such as the Burgomaster, the farmer, and the shepherd. The main character in is Manka; she is a woman that is a very quick thinker. She shows the burgomaster how clever she is by knowing all the answers to his riddles. In “Clever Manka” and Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour”, both demonstrate differences in health, personalities, and relationships. One difference between Manka and Louise is their health. Manka is a young woman who is in good health. She has no health problems, but on the other hand Louise does.

In the beginning of “The Story of an Hour”, it’s stated that “Louise had heart trouble” (Chopin 666). Knowing that Louise had heart trouble, her sister carefully told her about her husband’s death, to try to refrain from Louise having a heart attack. Another difference between Manka and Louise is their personalities. Manka is an independent woman. She has a very intelligent and confident personality. To show how clever she really was, the Burgomaster gave a riddle to her father (the shepherd) to give to Manka.

It was “tell her to come see me, but she must come neither by day nor by night, neither riding nor walking, neither dressed nor undressed” (Manka, 18). Her father told her what the burgomaster said. She showed how smart she was by going to his house at dawn (Neither by day nor by night), wearing fish net (neither dressed not undressed), with one leg over a goat and one foot on the ground (neither riding nor walking). The Burgomaster was so surprised by her cleverness that he had to marry her. He then told her “you are not to use that cleverness of yours at my expense. I won’t have you interfering in any of my cases.

In fact, if ever you give advice to anyone who comes to my for judgment, I’ll turn you out of my house at once and send you home to your father” (Manka, 19). Even the burgomaster was intimidated by Manka’s intelligence. Even though Louise did not seem as intelligent as Manka, she still had a thinking personality. After Louise’s Sister Josephine told her about her husband’s death, she went up to her room (where most of the story took place) and she began to think. She then realized she was free from her husband, and she was now happy that she was not under his ruling anymore.

She said “There would be no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself” (Chopin 667). Another difference between Manka and Louise is their relationships with their husbands. They are both married this is one similarity that they share. Manka and the Burgomaster seem to get along well, except when she got into one of his cases. He told her if she interfered with any of his business he would send her back to her father’s house and he was going to do just that. He told Manka she could take one thing with her.

She asked if she could stay till after supper, he agreed. She ended up getting him drunk and taking him to his father’s house. He woke up and asked her “what does this mean? ” She replied “You know you told me I might take with me the one thing I liked best in your house, so of course I took you” (Manka, 20). He then told her that she was to clever for him, and then they went back home. After that their relationship got stronger, and if a case was too difficult for him they went to her for advice. On the other hand Louise and her husband didn’t have such a good relationship.

In the story, not much is said about Mr. Mallard and her relationship. Going off how she reacted when her sister told her he had died in a railroad accident, their relationship was sketchy. She loved him—sometimes, but often she didn’t. In the story, she said “Free! Body and soul free” (Chopin, 668). Her sister came up to her room to see if she was okay. Bringing Louise downstairs, they saw at the base of the stairwell, Mr. Mallard as he came through the door. As soon as she saw him Louise died. When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease– of joy that ills. In both short stories, “Clever Manka” and “The Story of an Hour”, we read about two very different women, and compared and contrasted their health, personalities, and relationships with their husband’s. Although they did had some things in common, one was they both lived in a dominant male society.

References

1. Chopin, Kate. “Story of an Hour. ” Successful College Writing. Ed. Kathleen McWhorter. 4th ed. Boston: Bedford/ St. Martin’s, 2009. 665-668
2. “Clever Manka. ” Introduction to Literature. Eds. Alice S. Landy And William Rodney Allen. 6th ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin,