Story Of An Hour And Desiree's Baby Literary Analysis

Improved Essays
Analyze how the protagonist of the two assigned Chopin stories are similar. What are important differences between them. How do these differences affect the behavior of the protagonist.
In the stories "The Story of an Hour" and "Desiree 's Baby" the two protagonist are trapped in a world where there is inequality between men and women. During that time men had more authority than women did which is why we see this female struggles. Both protagonist were anxious and struggled for the approval of their husband. In the Story of an Hour Mrs. Mallard is happy with her husband and loves him but she desires her freedom much more. Since her heart was weak she does not die because she figures her husband is not died. (People did not understand her
…show more content…
Although both connect because I believe it was written in the Victoria era, where women were gaining right & advantages. In the Story of an Hour , Mrs.Mallard tears knowing her husband is gone but moments later we see her happily. There was a moment where she opens the window and sees wonderful objects. The window in this case symbolizes her freedom. She loved her husband very dearly but she was just tired of living in a world where she did not have equal treatment. Later in the story, "her dead husband" knocks on the door confused about the news they tell him. This is where Mrs. Malllard 's heart can not take the news. In the story, it was mentioned that Mrs. Mallard died from the suprising news. Although, if one truly analyzes then we figured that she died because of the shock of knowing she would lose her independence. Mr. Mallard wants independence while Desiree wants to feel part of a family where her husband accepts her. Of course Mr. Mallard dies and Desiree just ends up walking in a unstable road just like her emotions were during that time. Also in Desiree 's Baby, Armand is viewed as a powerful male figure whom rejects his own family because they are not a certain skin color. At the beginning, Armand was loving to his wife and baby. Although towards the end, he starts to be distant and wants to them to be no where near. There was a part where Desiree

Related Documents

  • Superior Essays

    Freedom is the option of have the right to make your own choices. Having such freedom to be able to choose on our own is a right that many do not have because of situational circumstances. In the short story “A Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin the reader sees a woman morns for her husband’s death. In the poem “To His Coy Mistress” by Andrew Marvell a nameless man ask a nameless women to be with him even though a woman cannot be with a man before she was married during that time period. A play Oedipus the King by Sophocles explains how a Greek King must choose between facing his faith and his choice of free will.…

    • 1193 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Feminist Criticism Essay Feminist literature criticism is the analyses of stories mostly through the female’s perspective, and their own feminist theories of how women are portray. Through feminist literature women find that they are depicted as being inferior to men, having less power, having no say, being weaker, and there is a lot of inequality between males and females. Two stories that displays these negative look on women are The Story of an Hour and Trifles. In The Story of an Hour we learn about a women who feel like she is incarcerated in her own home, and does not have freedom because of her husband.…

    • 456 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Judging a book simply by its cover is misleading. A book with an attractive cover can be made up of poor substance and one with a dull cover can be built with lots of substance. In her story, Kate Chopin, illustrates a time where racism is prevalent in society. In “Desiree’s Baby”, the main character Armand falls in love with Desiree based off of her looks. When her looks become tarnished in his eyes because he believes she has black heritage, he disconnects her and his child from his life.…

    • 494 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    What do women want in a marriage? Is it love and happiness or is it unfaithfulness and torture? Most women desire love and happiness, but not all receive what they wish. Some women have it all from a great husband with a great job who treats them like a queen and they take it for granted. Other women have a horrible life whose husbands do not do anything for them, cheat on them, and treat them no better than dirt on the ground when all they wanted was to be loved.…

    • 715 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Metaphor, simile, irony, and symbolism, these are just a few of countless figurative language uses that are used in short stories, poems, novels and any other literary work. The use of any of these literary languages is to figure out what the author is trying to say. The author might also add a certain tone to the story, or a central theme to help the reader understand. In the short story, “The Story of an Hour”, written by Kate Chopin there are two main uses of figurative language used to allow the reader to better understand the thoughts of the main character and also to get an idea as to why Chopin wrote this short story. The use of irony is central to the theme as well as symbolism.…

    • 1136 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The story of an hour is a story of an hour is a short and brief story written by Kate Chopin, in which she talks mainly about Louis Mallard; a women who eventually suffers from heart disease. Louis Mallard also suffers from the death of her husband, Brent Mallard. It’s said that Mr. Mallard dies in a rail road accident. At first, Mrs. Mallard suffers deeply much from her husband’s death, therefore, cries for his death. After a while she seems to accept her reality and starts looking the good side from it.…

    • 1231 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In this report, two stories will be compared. These two stories are the Story of an hour by Kate Chopin and The Yellow wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. In both of these stories, men are the dominant character and do not give much power or control whatsoever to the women. Both of these stories were written by women in a time period where these types of writing were entirely unheard of.…

    • 800 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” and “Desiree’s Baby” has many elements that can be compared and contrasted. These stories share similar characteristics such as time period and the theme of marriage. With these characteristics there are many things that need to be considered in each story such as why the time period is a big deal and what it has to do with the theme of marriage. However, there are some contrasts in the two stories like location and antagonistic motives. These contrasts should be taken into account because they are what make the stories two different stories and not a rewrite of one or the other.…

    • 946 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    An Hour Patriarchy

    • 1859 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Although the modern world still faces many troubling issues, it is important to recognize and be appreciative of the progress that has been made in decades past. One of the most fundamental changes that have taken place throughout history is the feminist movement and its liberating effects on women. Many places around the globe, including even the most advanced Western societies, have struggled with rulings of patriarchal societies. This means that women have been ostracized within their own society where men naturally inherited power over them. As a result of women remaining voiceless throughout much of our history, the application of feminist criticism to works of literature is significant to our understanding of patriarchal power.…

    • 1859 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Despite of being a woman living in the 19th century, Kate Chopin’s works often depict the images of young, beautiful, sensitive, and intelligent women who seek freedom and professional independence. The Story of an Hour, The Storm and Desiree’s Baby are three of her many short stories that portray women who live miserably in their marriage. This journal will be focusing in discussing the themes found in these three stories. The main theme in The Story of an Hour is the forbidden joy of freedom. For Mrs. Mallard, freedom is a pleasure that can only be imagined privately in which it seems that it would take her whole life for it to become real.…

    • 771 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    (1) Kate Chopin's story "Desiree's baby" uses traditional gender roles when it is discovered that the baby isn't white to demonstrate the strength of the patriarchal society. (2) When Desiree's husband found out that the baby he had with Desiree wasn't purely white, the extent of the patriarchal society in the story becomes clear. Desiree's husband, Armand, sends Desiree away assuming that the lack of white heritage would come from her side. When Desiree asks him about the child he says decisively that "it means that (she) is not white" (2) despite the appearance of her skin. These actions illustrate the decisiveness and strength of patriarchal men (Tyson 142).…

    • 236 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “…Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.” “Desiree’s Baby” by Kate Chopin, is about a young woman and man, who falls in love with each other and gets married. Armand and Desiree have a child, but its skin color is not white. Desiree does not know her ethnicity nor does Armand, so he accuses her of being black and ruining his family name. I will be exploring how pride, love and race has affected the marriage of Armand and Desiree.…

    • 562 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Kate Chopin uses characterization to help guide the readers through understanding the changes occurring throughout, “The Story of an Hour”. It is through her use of round/dynamic and flat/static characters we as readers are able to relate to what Ms. Mallard is going through without having to have experienced this situation ourselves. In this story we meet a young woman, Ms. Mallard, her sister, Josephine, her brothers close friend, Richard, and her husband, Brently Mallard. In the very beginning of the story Ms. Mallard is given some truly tragic news. She learns that her husband Brently has been killed in a tragic accident.…

    • 1282 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Mixed Emotions The Story of an Hour is a short story written by Kate Chopin that illustrates the unusual, negative, and secretive side of a marriage that is unknown to the rest of the characters in the narrative. Chopin uses many different kinds of literary devices in this short story in order to portray the confinement, freedom, and hope that death brings about for Mrs. Louise Mallard, the main character. The story focuses on the way Mrs. Mallard handles and copes with the breaking news of her husband, Brently Mallard’s, recent death. It explains the way she feels and the thoughts going through her head and ends with an ironic, surprising twist.…

    • 1236 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Feminist Approach in The Story of an Hour In The story of an hour, Louise Mallard experienced a sense of freedom after she was told that her husband died in a train accident. At the beginning of the story, miss Mallard suffers from grief and sorrow because she has lost her husband, which reflects a woman`s emotion, and that’s normal in the lady's case. With her fizzy emotions and weak heart as maintained in the story, from here begins the suffering and show sympathy with miss Mallard's condition. After hearing the bad news, she goes alone to her room, leaving behind her sister and her husband`s friend who told her about her husband`s tragedy, and her appears another sympathy towards her for being alone in her room which makes…

    • 945 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays