What Is The Difference Between The Yellow Wallpaper And The Story Of An Hour

When it comes to marriage and the dynamics of the relationship, women have been viewed as the more submissive counterpart of the relationship. In “Story of an Hour” and “The Yellow Wallpaper”, Kate Chopin and Charlotte Perkins Gilman demonstrate that society has unfair expectations of women through oppression of women in marriages, a longing for independence, and mental conflict about whether they want to keep their husbands or themselves satisfied. People often fail to see how much someone can be affected by a dynamic of that sort, and how much strain and effect it has on women mentally and emotionally but it is something that over time, they learn to hide it away and deal with it alone.

When a person is held back by someone else for so long,

Apart from the mental battle she experiences throughout the story, Louis from Story of an Hour is also trying to come to terms with her independence and what that means for her as a person now that she is free from the constraints of her husband.When she first hears the news of her husband's accident, she is in the process of grieving, but as she continues to come to terms with his death, she also starts to feel a sense of relief which is what causes her to have conflicting feelings and a sense of guilt.The joy that turns out to be more "monstrous" than Louise seems initially to think possible, and the resulting emotional strain brought about by her new understanding of her marriage and her supposed sudden freedom from that marriage. “When she abandoned herself a little whispered word escaped her slightly parted lips. She said it over and over under her breath: "free, free, free!" The vacant stare and the look of terror that had followed it went from her eyes.”(Chopin). When Louis comes to accept her independence, she couldn't be happier, now that she is able to become her own independent person in society. In the Yellow Wallpaper, the narrator strives for some space of her own; the room she would have chosen would not fit two beds and had no other bedroom for John nearby. The narrator’s husband, John tries to help her depression throughout the story but in the

Unfortunately that may not be the case for some. In Story of an Hour, as Louise finally starts to accept her freedom and independence from her husband, she is finally able to become her own person free from being held down by her husband. Within Chopin’s story, shame functions as a form of discipline. Even in Brently’s absence, Louise monitors her behavior and restrains both her speech and bodily movements in response to others who exert his power. Louise's joy at discovering that she could "live for herself" as a widow is perhaps the strongest proof of her moderated and restricted embodiment in the novel. Of course, this is followed by her unexpected death at having her independence taken away upon seeing her husband, who is still very much alive.Louise's heart beats strongly throughout the hour she thinks Brently died; in fact, she physically feels her newfound independence. Her body feels warm and her heart is racing when she is by herself in her room. In her symbolic way of welcoming her new life, she spreads her arms wide. She keeps saying, "Body and soul free!" to herself, demonstrating how she now feels independent. Her "heart trouble" doesn't return until Brently enters the room, and this time it is so severe that it kills her. The irony of the ending is that Louise actually dies from the loss of joy rather than from joy as the physicians believe she