“The story of an hour” and “trifles”

Many authors talk about things pertaining to life matters in their stories. Things like love, relationships, and happiness. In some stories in literature, there are characters that marry for love, happiness, and other things. Two stories in which this happens are 'The Story of an Hour' and Trifles. (Deneau p. 200-210) The main women in these selections marry for love and happiness at first but their feelings about their marriages change. Their marriages have been taken for granted. 'The Story of an Hour' and Trifles discusses this idea through theme, irony, tone, symbolism, and style.

The theme of 'The Story of an Hour' and Trifles is marriage gone wrong. The women in these selections have a change of heart, in that their feelings about their marriages change. They no longer feel happy and content; (Magil P. 10-15) instead they feel unhappy and confused. In Trifles, Mrs. Wright feels isolated from the world. She feels like her life is in a cage. Her marriage isolates her from friends and family so that she has no one to lean on. Mrs. Wright's life was like the quilt that she was sewing. The quilt symbolizes how she felt. One critic says that the quilt's pattern symbolizes that too many male jibes and that too many examples of her deprivations have accumulated (Drama Criticism, 195). In 'The Story of an Hour', Mrs. Mallard feels like she is trapped in her marriage and there is no way out. She wants to be free from her marriage and live for herself. (Palmisano P. 15-85)

Another theme of 'The Story of an Hour' and Trifles is freedom. It is said that marriage restricts freedom (Short Story Criticism, 247). Whoever marries, or even loves, gives up large areas of freedom-usually willingly (Short Story Criticism, 247). ...