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

“The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin and “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner are two short stories that share very similar characteristics. The two stories are easily compared due to the exquisite details each author provides. In both stories, repression of women is revealed greatly in the protagonists, the settings, and the mood that the stories are written in. Kate Chopin was born in St. Louis, Missouri. She was very well read for such a young age, and she received her education at the St. Louis Academy of the Sacred Heart. Chopin married a man by the name of Oscar Chopin, where they lived in New Orleans, Louisiana. But in 1884, Oscar Chopin passed away. Shortly after, Kate Chopin returned to St. Louis where she began her literary

Both stories demonstrate how the two women are trying to escape the chains that society has put on them. During the time that they were written, it was common for women to feel as though they were being held back from who they could be as a person. In “The Story of an Hour,” Louise Mallard feels trapped in a marriage that she is not happy in. Her heart trouble that she passes away from is not considered a “physical ailment” (Jamil 216). Her heart issues, however, are a symbol of how she has surrendered her heart to someone without knowingly doing so. The repression that she experiences has “long brewed into the depths of her heart” (Jamil 216). Therefore, the troubles of her “heart” are what eventually kills her in the end. Much like Louise Mallard, Emily Grierson in “A Rose for Emily Grierson experiences inhibition from her father. Emily’s father makes her feel as if no man is good enough for, which causes her to long for love from another man. Since Emily is desperate for love, she is “willing to bend and perhaps even flaunt tradition” (Kurtz 40). Emily Grierson feels as though she has been held back for so long because of her father. She seeks love and is desperate for a loving relationship; therefore, she will go above and beyond to find someone to fill that void that she