Billie Clarkson
Professor Chrismon
Composition II
2 October 2017
Mallard vs. Manka Love can be the conqueror or it can be the controller. In marriage, two people must have harmony and communication in order to maintain a happy, healthy relationship. The stories being analyzed show how a marriage could turn out in either direction in accordance to how it is handled. In the short stories, “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin and “Clever Manka” by an anonymous author, the two main women, Louise Mallard and Manka, struggle with the theme of marriage and partnership in life. Both women are similar in that they analyze their marriage due to their desire for greater independence because they are controlled to some degree by their husbands. However, …show more content…
Louise Mallard is given a strong sense of feeling trapped within her marriage and only being defined by it. Throughout the story, she does not speak in a strongly negative way about her husband, but after learning about his death, her almost immediate response is to think “she would live for herself” (Chopin 673). There is a distinct repetition and emphasis of the word “free” and the phrase “on her own” through the story after she has shut herself in her room, seeming quite ecstatic about the notion of being her own person without a spouse to tie her down. However, it does not appear that he treated her poorly, indicated by her statement that “She knew she would weep again when she saw the kind, tender hands folded in death; the face that had never looked save with love upon her, fixed and gray and dead” (Chopin 673). Rather, Louise seems to merely want to experience being a single, independent woman without the weight of marriage upon her any longer and the restrictions that come with it in the nineteenth century. On the other hand, Manka seems rather contented with her place in the marriage but craves to be more involved with her husband’s business dealings. Her husband, the burgomaster, is indicated as a very important person within the rural area they live in, and any conflict with his dealings could interfere with their way of life due to his position. She does her best to shy away from involvement, but it becomes inevitable when he construes a poor decision, to which, “Manka was ashamed of her husband for making such a foolish decision. . .” (Landy and Allen, 19). Manka appears to defy her husband out of nothing more than the intention of ensuring he is making just decisions, rather than unhappiness or unrest, because when she is confronted, she accepts the consequences
Professor Chrismon
Composition II
2 October 2017
Mallard vs. Manka Love can be the conqueror or it can be the controller. In marriage, two people must have harmony and communication in order to maintain a happy, healthy relationship. The stories being analyzed show how a marriage could turn out in either direction in accordance to how it is handled. In the short stories, “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin and “Clever Manka” by an anonymous author, the two main women, Louise Mallard and Manka, struggle with the theme of marriage and partnership in life. Both women are similar in that they analyze their marriage due to their desire for greater independence because they are controlled to some degree by their husbands. However, …show more content…
Louise Mallard is given a strong sense of feeling trapped within her marriage and only being defined by it. Throughout the story, she does not speak in a strongly negative way about her husband, but after learning about his death, her almost immediate response is to think “she would live for herself” (Chopin 673). There is a distinct repetition and emphasis of the word “free” and the phrase “on her own” through the story after she has shut herself in her room, seeming quite ecstatic about the notion of being her own person without a spouse to tie her down. However, it does not appear that he treated her poorly, indicated by her statement that “She knew she would weep again when she saw the kind, tender hands folded in death; the face that had never looked save with love upon her, fixed and gray and dead” (Chopin 673). Rather, Louise seems to merely want to experience being a single, independent woman without the weight of marriage upon her any longer and the restrictions that come with it in the nineteenth century. On the other hand, Manka seems rather contented with her place in the marriage but craves to be more involved with her husband’s business dealings. Her husband, the burgomaster, is indicated as a very important person within the rural area they live in, and any conflict with his dealings could interfere with their way of life due to his position. She does her best to shy away from involvement, but it becomes inevitable when he construes a poor decision, to which, “Manka was ashamed of her husband for making such a foolish decision. . .” (Landy and Allen, 19). Manka appears to defy her husband out of nothing more than the intention of ensuring he is making just decisions, rather than unhappiness or unrest, because when she is confronted, she accepts the consequences