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LIT 2000 The Story of an Hour and The Yellow Wallpaper Discussion

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Sophie Bartlett
20/SU LIT 2000 41135
Dr. C. Freeman
July 7, 2020
Defining and Discussing Literature
Kate Chopin’s The Story of an Hour and Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow
Wallpaper are historical pieces of literature that express the restraint society placed on women in
the 19
th
century. In The Story of an Hour, Louise goes from [weeping] at once, with sudden,
wild abandonment” to a feeling of freedom and clarity upon hearing the news of her husband’s
death (Chopin, 3). Louise gains a sense of freedom with the knowledge that “[t]here would be no
one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself” (Chopin, 12). In the 19
th
century, women were expected to live with their husbands and do what they are told. They were
expected to have things all put together and to live a quiet and peaceful life. For Louise, this life
set her to one of conformity. She would rather have been doing thing for herself, by herself, than
for her husband and by her husband. In the 1800’s, it was rare to see a woman in public without
her husband, meaning that if Louise wanted to get out of the house, she would have had to go
with her husband, put on all her “womanizing” accessories, then walk straight, smile, and
pretend all was well with the world. With her husbands supposed death, Louise realized she was
free from all of that. The confusion and amazement expressed by Brently Mallard when he sees
Louise’s reaction to him being home shows the lack of observance exhibited by men towards the
true feelings of women. One realizes how truly conformed Louise must have been when Brently
walks back in the door and Louise drops dead with the realization that all those dreams of
freedom are never to be.

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Likewise, The Yellow Wallpaper touches some of those same major points. Points of
oppression and a longing to escape the societal norms in the 19
th
century. The narrator expresses
feelings of neglect and disagreement with the way the doctors and her husband were treating her.
All the advice given to her were given by male doctors. Women were not allowed to become
doctors so she had no way of receiving help from one who may understand her predicament
better than a man would. The woman did not believe that her current situation of no writing,
play, or work was going to help her get better. Secretly she believes that “perhaps [John] is one
reason I do not get well faster. You see, he does not believe I am sick” and expresses her
inability to disobey the orders from the doctors, while also explaining that this way of “helping”
was, in fact, not helping at all (Gilman, 647). In both of these short stories, the women in them
were given limits they could not exceed. Both longed to exceed them, finding alternate ways to
do so, both ending in death. The way society views women both then and now, has changed very
little. Women are still expected to conform to societal norms if they do not want to be seen and
shunned as an outcast. Society has a way of putting these labels on people; labels that these
women stripped off and tore down, if only to prove a point. This point is precisely what makes
these works remarkable pieces of “fictional and imaginative writings” (Abrams, 199).

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Sophie Bartlett 20/SU LIT 2000 – 41135 Dr. C. Freeman July 7, 2020 Defining and Discussing Literature Kate Chopin’s The Story of an Hour and Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper are historical pieces of literature that express the restraint society placed on women in the 19th century. In The Story of an Hour, Louise goes from “[weeping] at once, with sudden, wild abandonment” to a feeling of freedom and clarity upon hearing the news of her husband’s death (Chopin, 3). Louise gains a sense of freedom with the knowledge that “[t]here would be no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself” (Chopin, 12). In the 19th century, women were expected to live with their husbands and do what they are told. They were expected to have things all put together and to live a quiet and peaceful life. For Louise, this life set her to one of conformity. ...
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