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

817 Words4 Pages

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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