Comparing Story Of An Hour And William Faulkner's A Rose For Emily

Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour" and William Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily" both take place in an era where men are dominant and women are repressed. Women are expected to be married in their middle ages and spend the rest of their lives cooking, cleaning, and taking care of their husbands. In “A Rose for Emily”, the narrator conveys that the town was not pleased with Emily because she had turned thirty and still wasn’t married. The female protagonists in both the stories are deeply affected by the male-dominant societies. Each woman yearns for freedom in a different way and both stories, using literary elements such as irony, and symbolism, bring the reader to unexpected and ironic conclusions.
The theme of Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour”, is freedom, independence, and happiness. Most of the symbolism used in the story is to emphasize the freedom that Mrs. Mallard has

This quote symbolizes the beginning of a new life for Louis since her husband is no longer alive to tell her what to do. The open window in the room is also symbolically important as it suggests a new found sense of freedom for Louis. Along with symbolism, there is also a great amount of irony presented in the story. After the news of Mr. Mallard’s death, Josephine is worried about her sister thinking that she might make herself sick when Louis is, in fact, happy knowing that she is now free from her marriage. “It was the joy that killed her,” they said, but it is evident to the reader how untrue that is (Chopin, 79). Through her thoughts, it is known she was happy for just that hour, that she thought her husband was dead. After seeing Mr. Mallard step in through the front door, Louis was terrified, and it was not the “joy” that killed but the shock of seeing her husband alive (Chopin,