Comparative Analysis - Book Report/Review Example

Their main difference is related to their goals and the way in which they thought they could achieve them. SIMILARITIES The protagonists in both stories are women who lived in times when the society defined the worth of women according to their affiliations with their male counterparts. Cray, Kotler and Beller portend that women were repressed during the post Civil War era and could not act according to their own will without being influenced by their husbands. Although Chopin does not make a clear geographic locale of the story, the characterizations portray signs of having been set in the American South just like the Faulkner’s story.

The two stories share common points of reference. For instance, the two protagonists succumb at the story end. The causes of the two deaths are also closely related i.e. in the way they felt about the men around them. According to the doctor, Louise died of the joy that kills (Chopin 20) while Emily died grieving for her father’s death (Faulkner 5). Both protagonists are facing enhanced health challenges that have caused increased negative changes in their lives. Louise’s condition is physically related while that of Emily is mentally related.

According to 123HelpMe.com, they both experience widow status in their lives; Emily’s lover dies while Louise thinks that her husband is dead. The two characters have also shut the world out in different aspects. In “The Short Story of an Hour” Louise, “She would have no one to follow her” while chasing away everyone who dared talk to her in enclosure (Chopin 3). In “A rose for Emily” the protagonist literally shut herself away from the world after her father’s and sweetheart’s death, “After her father's death she went out very little; after her sweetheart went away, people hardly saw her .

” (Faulkner 2). The two women’s role in the society was restricted to household chores such as cleaning, cooking and dining. The society viewed women as house hold providers while men were supposed to be the house keepers. For instance, some women in “A Rose for Emily” commented, “Just as if a man—any man—could keep a kitchen properly” after realizing that Tobe was keeping the Grierson house (Faulkner 2). This is an implication that men and women have distinct roles in society.

Women were also expected to get married during their middle ages. The society in “A rose for Emily” was not pleased and expressed displeasure when Emily attained thirty while not yet married. “Two days later we learned that she had bought a complete outfit of men's clothing, including a nightshirt, and we said, "They are married." We were really glad .” (Faulkner 4). The two characters were bonded in various life situations. Louise was enslaved by marriage while Emily was bonded in solitude.

Louise felt that her husband’s strong will compromised her freedom, “There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature” (Chopin 12). According to Morton, another similarity between the main characters in both short stories is exemplified by the plot development. The beginning of the two stories portrays the two women as being unhappy. Louise was initially unhappy with her status as an ordinary housewife although this temporarily changed after receiving the news of her husband’