Soldier's Home Story Of An Hour Analysis

The stories “Soldier’s home” and “The story of an hour” both contain protagonists whose true feelings are misinterpreted by others. As each story progresses the characters display different ways of confronting their emotions and dealing with their circumstances. Louise thinks through her life and comes to a conclusion that not only improves her, but helps her feel better about the world around her. Chopin writes, “It was not a glance of reflection, but rather indicated a suspension of intelligent thought”(15). Krebs, on the other hand, tries not to think and makes his situation worse. Krebs is described in the beginning as feeling “the need to talk but no one wanted to hear about it”(Hemingway 162). Louise has no resources for a support system, so she works it out on their own by confronting the problem; Krebs has many resources and ways of getting help, but refuses to acknowledge the problem and dissociates from it. Each story shows two different ways of problems by either acknowledging them and thinking them through, or avoiding them …show more content…
As Louise takes time to stop and think about what happened, “there was something coming to her and she was waiting for it”(Chopin 15) Krebs dismisses his thoughts and avoids thinking about them at all. Hemingway describes his response by writing how “he, too, had a reaction against the war and against talking about it”(162). Neither character wants to express their feelings to others, however Louise faces her emotions while Kreb runs from his. Each person has strong feelings in the beginning, but how they react to them dictates what they will feel in the future. After accessing her emotions and situation Louise “Breathes a quick prayer that life might be long”(Chopin 16). Krebs shuns his emotions entirely and feels that he is “not in his (God’s) kingdom anymore”(Hemingway 165). Both coping methods are commonly used, but have vastly different