Gender Roles and Marriage

GENDER ROLES / MARRIAGE 2

Gender Roles / Marriage

Gender roles and marriage to me can be very tricky with the gender gap and roles of marriages we can all see that they are both comparisons and contrast between them. In my reflection to become in my essay I will talk about two different worlds the Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin and The life of Walter Mitty by James Thurber. Within these two stories I will talk about several things. The content, the form, the style, comparison between the two, the contrast between the two, symbols, themes, the plot, literature tools, and for a further note being almost divorced after thirteen years of marriage I can relate to these subjects and talking about the two gender roles and marriage roles is my argument here and I am pleased to announce it.

The Story of an Hour, by Kate Chopin

The author uses strong messages of hurt and heartache from the woman who has locked herself in a room, just staring out of a window dwelling on her husband's death. The point of view of Kate Chopin's literary work, "The Story of an Hour" is told through the third-person omniscient view. The description of her emotional state and reaction to the news followed by her thoughts was as if the narrator was right next to Louis through the entire hour (Clugston, R. W. 2010.) The point of view in this piece allowed the narrator to clearly identify the characters associated with the circumstance and this provided clear intent throughout the story without the hint of a twist of fate at the end. The point of view position provided clarity and comprehension of her situation.

In Chopin's "The Story of an Hour", she uses a number of symbols. Mrs. Mallard's husband is a symbol of rules that society expects her to follow, and his death is a symbol of her

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freedom. After she hears of his death and sheds her tears, she goes upstairs to be alone. She looks out the window that represents her new world of freedom. The trees that she notices outside of the window represent her new life. The rain represents the washing away of her old life. At the end when he comes into the house and is alive, she dies. These symbols tie into the theme of the story. The theme would be Mrs. Mallard does not grieve his death but rejoices in her freedom. When she realizes her husband is alive and dies herself, she gains the ultimate freedom, death. All of the symbols relate to one another because they all relate to the idea of her desire for freedom. "Physical exhaustion that haunted her body" (Clugston R.W. 2010) this says that she is so emotionally broken inside that she is being beaten up by her own body the haunted part being the symbolism the death of her husband has caused her own being to haunt her, meaning she is severely grieving. Another strong symbol of how badly the woman is hurting is this quote from the story, "sob came up into her throat and shook her, as a child who has cried itself to sleep continues to sob in its dreams."(Clugston R.W. 2010) The symbolism is the child who cries in their sleep, the woman is crying like a child would, but for a deeper reason.

A journey of the wife's mind and her experiences and perspective is well described. Her mind and experiences allows one in the work to experience in some degree sights, sounds, and the ability to smell a spring rain. "There was something coming to her and she was waiting for it, fearfully. What was it? She did not know; it was too subtle and elusive to name. But she felt it, creeping out of the sky, reaching toward her through the sounds, the scents, and the color that filled the air." (Deneau, D. P. 2003) All is witness of the power of descriptive words or phrases that lends itself to the reward of imagination.

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I did not expect that the tone of this story was sad, a very powerful writing with a twist. Then when the story talked of being "She was young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain strength."(Mou, X. 2011) This tone of the story has made its way throughout and compromised the reader into a deep thought of sadness for all to see and imagine how a loss of a loved one can deeply impact a person into depression. One can only think that of the husband coming into a house after years of one thinking he had gotten killed in a train accident would have been a form of suicide. The tone of the story is sadness. What would you do if you lost your husband or wife? How would you react? Would you react differently in this situation? And if so how? The tone of the story can also be of somewhat rejoice as well with the trees springing into the air and breathe of fresh air, with the sense of rain coming in the spring makes for a bit of a reliever in a sense.

With critical thought into this short story by Kate Chopin we can all assume that she was one of the best short story tellers of her age. Mrs. Mallard and the loss of her husband and the depression that had leaded onto despise, and her heart trouble, we can all sense the symbolic approaches with imagination and thought. The tone of the sadness throughout the story, and the everlasting triumph's if you will are being blessed with such a great literature piece.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, by James Thurber

In James Thurber's "The Secret Life of Walter", Mitty, he uses imagination beautifully. Imagination is used when Mitty has daydreams that placed him in extraordinary situations while his wife gives him specific and direct orders on what he can and cannot do during their weekly trip to town. Their lack of communication between each other only adds to the humor of the

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