Naturalism in The Story of an Hour Essay

During the late nineteenth century naturalism was a major influence in literary society. Naturalism emerged as a response to overly idealistic and imaginative works of the romantic era, as an extension of realism, and in attempt to portray life as it really was. Elements of naturalism vivid imagery and a strong cultural influence in narratives. Of the many typological roles in the late 1800’s, the role of women as the supportive wives was quite common. In “The Story of an Hour,” Kate Chopin tells the story of a female protagonist who goes beyond this role in a way that breaks social norms. In this story, Ms. Mallard, a wife with heart problems, is told that her husband has died in a “railroad disaster” and instead of entering into the stereotypical grieving process she finds a new sense of freedom (1609). This…

with one’s perception of death, there is a unique twist on this inevitable part of life in Kate Chopin’s short story “The Story of an Hour.” Death indicates an initial sensation of freedom for the main character Louise Mallard in this story when she believes to have lost her husband in a tragic train crash; however, one may see it later controlling Mrs. Mallard with her own sudden death at the…

The humans’ actions and behaviors are dictated by both the genetic and environmental features surrounding them. In this story, the writer introduces us Shirley as the main character who is torn between Arthur and Barton in her life. Shirley is in perpetual fear of ending up being poverty like her parents. The story lacks a moral standpoint as the main character misleads the two men for her selfish gain, which is another characteristic of naturalism. "The Story of an Hour" 1. Who told Louise…

There came a time when a woman's role in society was predicted. They were “designed” to play the part of a wife and a mother. The “Cult of Domesticity” was the name of the ideology of feminine behavior. During the late 1800s, women began discovering that they weren’t being treated fairly. They deserved more than they were given and wanted their own agency. Therefore, they started writing in sanctioned publications to try and make a difference in a female’s role. “The Yellow Wallpaper” written by…

The complete "Man and Superman" has four acts and can run over five hours, given its characters' inclination toward extended exchanges about class, religion, the genders and different themes (raised, luckily, by volleys of mind). Of Man and Superman, Shaw himself said that he had written "a trumpery story of modern London life, a life in which . . . the ordinary man's main business is to get means to keep up the position and habit of a gentleman and the ordinary woman's business is to get…

In the year of 1900, the population of New York City was 3.4 million people. Sadly, two thirds of the people were living in unsanitary and crowded tenements (Tenements). What is worse is that many people did not know the tenements. Jacob Riis, the author how How The Other Half Lives, opened citizen’s eyes about what New York City was truthfully like. Jacob Riis however has not been the only writer to write about the reality of the world. Author’s like Kate Chopin, who wrote The Story Of An Hour,…

Bohemian heart, who struggled deeply with contradictory feelings of conventionalism beneath the surface (Blair). Despite not graduating from college, perhaps due to the fact that he preferred playing baseball to studying, he occupied numerous jobs throughout his life. An overview of Crane’s occupations includes newspaperman, short story and novel author, poet, and even war correspondent and reporter for the Greco-Turkish War and Spanish-American War, respectively. In 1897 Crane entered a…

Social Darwinism, coming from Charles Darwin’s theory on the evolution of plants and animals and how they evolve and change over time, had been created to describe how human’s social classes and backgrounds influence their survival in the world, and if you try to change your class of living you will end up right back where you had started. Frank Norris, a famous writer of the late 1850’s and early 1900’s, had written many famous and well known books about naturalism among the realism movement of…

“The Open Boat” Research Paper In the short story “The Open Boat”, Stephen Crane depicts the tale of four crewmen, hours after a disaster that destroyed their ship and left them sailing in treacherous waters aboard a life boat, trying to make it back to shore alive. The characters in the story share the same drive for survival and work beyond exhaustion to achieve their seemingly impossible goal to sail the boat onto a Cuban beach while being assaulted by the forces of nature. The Correspondent,…

Just as the meatpacking industry utilizes every part of the slaughtered animals, the businesses also consume every useable part of the packer town employee through dictated long hours and dangerous work conditions. Upton Sinclair uses the theme of class struggle in The Jungle to illustrate the how the capitalistic economic system in America is a no win proposition for the workingman. The workers are portrayed as pawns in society to make the most money possible for the meat packing industry.…