Comparing Story Of An Hour 'And The Storm'

Kate Chopin is a very popular author of many different short stories and novels. Most of her stories have a setting in Louisiana and focus on the lives of intelligent women. Two of her most popular short stories being “The Story of an Hour” and “The Storm;” both of which can be found online and in print. “The Storm” is a story that is partly based on her own life; it mirrors her own affair with a married man, Albert Sampite, who she takes from to form her character Alcee. “During this time she was romantically linked with Albert Sampite, a handsome and unhappily married man.” (Jones, 1) Whereas “The Story of an Hour” represents her mother’s life, “Kate’s father, Thomas O’Flaherty, was killed in a train accident in 1855 (the imagined effect

However, both stories are told in the third person point of view which makes them better for the reader to be able to comprehend the whole story. Although part of “The Storm” is told from the characters’ point of views, most of it is told in the third person. Both stories also have different writing styles, Chopin wrote “The Storm” fluidly throughout the whole story. Whereas she wrote “The Story of an Hour” in an almost poetic way, with every line expressing its importance. In “The Story of an Hour” there are essentially two themes that the reader can extract. The first is that Chopin believes that all marriages, even the ones with the most love are full of hardship and depression. Chopin expresses that two people can love each other with all of their hearts but ultimately drag the other person down without meaning to or knowing they are doing it. The second is that a person should not find joy in losing a loved one. Instead of finding comfort in a loved one dying, one should be upset instead. “She can realize the full potential of her life, so she, like the trees, feels aquiver with life.” (Rosenblum, 1) “The Storm” has many themes, some of which are the sexuality of women, honesty and the lack of guilt. In this short story, she raises some issues when the characters, Calixta, and Alcee

Louise Mallard, the most important character in the story, is a woman who is told her husband was killed in a train accident while working. On the outside, she reacts as expected for a woman who just lost her husband that she loves. However, what the reader can infer is that she is actually happy that her husband is no longer living. “There would be no one to live for her during those coming years; she would live for herself.” (Chopin, 1) With the death of her husband she has a new independence, she no longer has to live to please him. Therefore, when he walks through the door and is still alive, she is beyond upset and ends up having a heart attack that kills her. Brently Mallard, Louise’s Husband returns home after being away from work only to be told that everyone thought he was dead and his wife having a heart attack because of his return. Josephine, Louise’s sister is a character that is not very important. She is presented with the task of breaking the news to her sister about the death of Brently. “It was her sister Josephine who told her, in broken sentences; veiled hints that revealed in half concealing” (Chopin, 1) Richards, also not a very important character, is Brently’s friend. He is the one who first learns of Brently’s death while reading in the newspaper and tells Josephine, although refuses to tell Louise the news himself. “The Story of an Hour” is a tragic story