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Story Of An Hour And Aunt Jenne Rich Literary Analysis

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Lipika Chandrashekar Professor K. Jamie Woodlief LIT 165 February 23, 2018 Kate Chopin and Adrienne Rich: Freedom Versus Oppression and Gender Struggle “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin and “Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers” by Adrienne Rich are works based on the main idea of the plight of women in a male-dominated world in their respective time periods and their struggle to get their freedom. They were written during a time when women were controlled by some male authority figure through every stage of their life, starting from their father at birth and eventually by their husbands after their marriage. Although they are essentially based on the same theme, the portrayal of the theme is different in both. While Chopin’s short story gives a woman hope to be free from the confinement of her marriage, Rich’s poem shows a woman dreaming about the freedom she knows she will never get, through the tigers in her tapestry. …show more content…

The setting of “The Story of an Hour” is Mrs. Mallard’s home and for the most part, it is her room where she locks herself after hearing the news of her husband’s death. Louise’s locking herself in her room after finding out about her husband’s accident seems to be a symbol of confinement or the feeling of being caged. However, the setting of “Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers” directs the reader towards a dream world of Aunt Jennifer, one where the Tigers on the tapestry represent the freedom and independence women want to have. So, while the setting of one is a closed and confined space representing the protagonist’s feelings before realizing her newfound freedom, and the setting of the other is open and unrestricted representing the protagonist’s dreams, both settings convey the same message of male domination in the lives of the main

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