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Comparing The Story Of An Hour And Good Country People By Kate Chopin

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Ewa Rankin
Essay #2: Fiction
Option #2: Part of our class discussions of fiction have revolved around “moments of awakening” which take place in stories and have varied effects on the main characters. These moments often come as a result of some trauma, emotional or physical, but not always. Choose two characters from two different stories and answer/explain the following: A) Describe in detail the character’s moment of awakening. B) Explain how this moment affects and/or changes the character. C) What is the author’s message about these moments and how people should or shouldn’t react?

The two characters I chose to discuss in this essay are Mrs. Louise Mallard from “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin and Hulga Hopewell from “Good Country People” by Flannery O’Connor. I focused on these characters because the stories they are in, clearly show “moment of awakening” which had impact on both of them. I will try to explain it in this essay. …show more content…

Louise Mallard who is married, she is also a protagonist, central figure and the person whom all the other characters revolve. It seems like she understands the proper way for women to behave and her internal thoughts and feelings are anything but correct. At the beginning of the story, we find out that she suffers from a heart problem which indicates the range to which she feels that marriage has oppressed her. The moment of awakening comes to her when she realizes she is free to be her own woman. She receives news of her husband’s death and at first she spends an hour in planning of the possible, not grieving as anyone would

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Kate Chopin's The Great Awakening explains how Edna Pontellier, an everyday woman of the nineteenth century, opens up and explores herself. A majority of the important characters in her story are the men in Edna's life. Men like Leonce, Robert, and Alcee all are key pieces to her awakening. They all influence Edna in their own ways. Leonce Pontellier is a controlling husband and an all around materialistic man.

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Often times when a person is forced to outwardly conform while questioning themselves it leads to a struggle between their inner selves and what is expected of them. Outward conformity often oppresses a character’s true feelings of loneliness and being misunderstood. In The Awakening by Kate Chopin, the protagonist, Edna Pontellier, leads a dissatisfactory life. She is stuck in a loveless marriage, and has children, all in an attempt to conform to the social norm of the Victorian woman. However, she inwardly questions whether or not she should try to break free from this life to find her own independence and happiness.

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Mrs. Mallard’s actions cause the readers to contemplate a hidden meaning woven into the story line. Mr. Mallard is assumed to die in a railroad accident, leaving Mrs. Mallard devastated. Instead of feeling sadness or grief, Mrs. Mallard actually feels free. "There would be no one to live for her during those coming years; she would live for herself. There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature" (Page 499).

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