REFLECTIVE ESSAY

Reflective Essay



Reflective Essay

Introduction

In this final reflective essay, comparisons have been made between the work of Chekhov's Proposal and Chopin's "The Story of an Hour". The approach of both the writers has been analyzed in relation to the topic of gender roles and marriage. There may be similarity in the approaches of both the writers while talking about relationships. The essay will compare and contrast both novels and interprets the significance of both approaches.

The story of an hour

"The story of an hour" (1894) is widely anthologized short story by American writer Kate Chopin. Daniel Deneau critic says is "probably [her] best known piece of short fiction." Originally published in implementing the December 6, 1894 Vogue magazine under its original title, "the dream of an hour.” Writer describes a woman's reaction to news of the sudden death of her husband and subsequent news that he is, in fact, alive. The body of the text has 20 paragraphs, 1009 words and 4531 characters. The story exemplifies Chopin's belief regarding the roles of women in marriage and feminine identity.

This story is about the best hours in the life of Mrs. Mallard. The story takes place in Mr. and Mrs. Mallard's house at the end of the 19th century. Mallard's friend Mr. Richard has read the name at the list of "killed" after a big railroad disaster and he and Josephine, the sister of Mrs. Mallard has to break the news with Mrs. Mallard backbone care because she is afflicted with a heart trouble. She reacts with excitement and goes into her room to thinking about that. There she does not understand that she is free now and live for only an hour ago we anymore. After Josephine is in fear of her and so Mrs. Mallard comes out of her room with a triumph in her eyes. At the end of the story Mr. Mallard gets home without any idea about the accident.

Discussion

Kate Chopin went beyond the technique and style of Maupassant wrote and gave her own taste. She had an ability to perceive life and put down on the creative role. She put a lot of concentration and emphasis on the lives and struggles of women continuing to create an identity of its own within the limits of man-ruled patriarchy (Basch, 1979). In The story of an hour, Madam Mallard is allowed time to reflect upon learning of the death of her husband. Instead of fearing the years before her own, she stumbles upon another embodiment all together. "She knew she would weep again when she saw the good hands, soft folded in death's face had never looked save with love upon her, fixed and gray and dead. But she saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely. And she opened and spread his arms out to them at the reception (Chopin, 2007).

The first concept was the idea of freedom and happiness. It involved in the story that love can sometimes ...