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. Both can be seen in a close examination of the way Louise Mallard, the protagonist of “The Story of an Hour”, and Delia, the protagonist of “Sweat”, react to their encounters with their husbands demonstrates that authors Kate Chopin and Zora Neale Hurston use both short stories to tell similar stories about the difficulties married women during the time period.
First, Louise Mallard, a pampered woman takes her marriage for granted. Louise Mallard a wealthy woman with heart trouble who has been pampered throughout her …show more content…
Delia was constantly beaten by her husband, Sykes, who found joy in scaring her. “So fur as beatin’ is concerned, yuh ain’t took near all dat yo gointer take ef yuh stay ‘round me” (Hurston 535). Delia was the head of the house, she paid all of the bills, cooked, and cleaned. Her husband, Sykes, had no job and spent all her money on his mistress. Sykes and his mistress tried to kill Delia so that they could have the house for themselves. They planted a deadly snake in a box so that it would bite Delia and she would die. “Syke! Syke, mag Gawd! You take dat rattlesnake ‘way from heah!” (Hurston 534). Little did Sykes know that the snake was going to bite him and he would die, “she saw his horribly swollen neck and his one open eye” (Hurston 537). When he died, she immediately felt relief and received her spring. “She never moved, he called, and the sun kept rising” (Hurston
First, Louise Mallard, a pampered woman takes her marriage for granted. Louise Mallard a wealthy woman with heart trouble who has been pampered throughout her …show more content…
Delia was constantly beaten by her husband, Sykes, who found joy in scaring her. “So fur as beatin’ is concerned, yuh ain’t took near all dat yo gointer take ef yuh stay ‘round me” (Hurston 535). Delia was the head of the house, she paid all of the bills, cooked, and cleaned. Her husband, Sykes, had no job and spent all her money on his mistress. Sykes and his mistress tried to kill Delia so that they could have the house for themselves. They planted a deadly snake in a box so that it would bite Delia and she would die. “Syke! Syke, mag Gawd! You take dat rattlesnake ‘way from heah!” (Hurston 534). Little did Sykes know that the snake was going to bite him and he would die, “she saw his horribly swollen neck and his one open eye” (Hurston 537). When he died, she immediately felt relief and received her spring. “She never moved, he called, and the sun kept rising” (Hurston