A Deeper Look into Narratives: Kate Chopins The Story of an Hour and Guy de Maupassants The Necklace - Essay Example

Stories, even fictional ones, are often based on real life situations and the often aim to show their observations through the narrations that they want to portray. Since family is a society which is very common to all peoples, it has become one of the central themes of most stories. Such stories do not simply let readers have an inside look on what is happening in one household or another but they also reflect what can be seldom discussed outside the house. Every family has issues to confront but some are just simply taboo so that they are rather hidden from the public eye. Nevertheless, the causes, the envy and emotions may be just as true to anybody so that the narrations are not only used to inform but also to send a message to the readers. This paper will present two fictional stories which portray the family in the author’s unique styles. Kate Chopin’s The Story of an Hour and Guy de Maupassant’s The necklace will be compared and contrasted regarding the subject matter, form, perspective, content and styles writing of the authors. The Story of an Hour is about a woman’s marriage to a working class man who was reported to have been involved in an accident. Having frail health, her loved ones tried to break the news tactfully to her and when she cried and locked in her room, they thought that she might have just been overwhelmed with the grief the news has brought along. However, they did not know that the female character was in fact happy about the death of her husband because finally, she will be free. She will not only be free physically to do the things she wants to do and go to places she wants to visit but she will also be psychologically and emotionally independent. The woman then dreams of the places she will be going to and the enjoyments she will discover as she lives her life as a widow. Nevertheless, little did she know that there will be a turn of events that will not make her see another day. When she finally came out of her room to wait for the expected dead body of her husband, the husband comes home all well and alive. The woman fainted at the sight of him and the doctor declared her to have died because of her extreme joy upon seeing the love of her life. The Necklace tells the story of a husband who had a very ambitious wife. Since the woman was beautiful but was unluckily poor, she got married to a working man. Unfortunately, the woman was never content with what her husband brought to her. Instead, she often dreamt about the good life, of dainty dishes, clothes and parties. To show his love and concern toward his wife, the husband once brought an invitation to a ball for him and his wife. However, contrary to his expectations, the wife felt angry about the invitation. Therefore, the man asked about her reaction only to know that she was thinking the impossibility of her joining the ball without any appropriate dress. The husband sacrificed his savings for the dress but the woman was still not content without a jewelry. The husband suggested her to borrow from a friend which the wife did. The wife enjoyed the ball until morning while the husband was made to wait for her in a deserted anteroom. Unluckily, she soon discovered that the borrowed jewelry got lost. Consequently, the couple had to buy a new one to replace the borrowed jewelry. Therefore, they had to live more simply, getting rid of all the helper and living in a rented space. The wife had to work hard to help her husband pay the expensive jewelry. Pretty soon, the wife came across her old friend. Looking old and impoverished, her friend did not recognize her until she introduced herself. Eventually, she had to tell her friend about the jewelry only to find out that the borrowed necklace that she lost was a fake. Firstly, the aforementioned literary works take the form of narratives. They tell different stories with similar themes, concentrating on what happens behind closed doors within the family members. They are both told by third person narrators. Chopin’s storyteller is omniscient which means that the narration is not only based from what is observed by the naked eye but the narrator feels free to speak about what might be going on in the mind of the character. For instance, when Mrs. Mallard was inside her room all alone, she is not only pictured by her actions but is also described with the thoughts that she is considering. The narrator did not limit himself to the bounds of the setting but as an omniscient spectator, he follows the main character inside the room and talks about her as if he is there alone with the protagonist, able to read her every move and thought. On the contrary, Maupassant’s speaker is limited because he bases the narration from the actions and descriptions which can be seen and the speeches that the characters verbalize. The storyteller does not tell things that cannot be observed such as thoughts and feelings. Consequently, Chopin’s story sounds subjective and therefore has a greater impact in the mind and emotions of the reader. On the contrary, Maupassant is quite subjective in his approach so that the story is told matter-of-factly. Nevertheless, the impact made by the second narrative is still great. As both authors used story as their form of literary device of expressing their thoughts and ideas, they do not sound very sermonic despite the fact that they were obviously written to teach moral lessons to the readers. The first thing that is obviously noticeable in the two aforementioned narratives is that, they both relate the stories of a husband and wife. However, they are written by a female and male writers so that the presentations of characters and circumstances are quite different. Firstly, The Story of an Hour reflects the emotional and psychological abuse committed against females. It has feminist viewpoints that portray how women are treated unjustly because of what the society dictates (Aslan). The story reveals that Mr. Mallard never hurt his wife physically and that he was a loving husband. However, the wife was not satisfied with her role as a housewife who was bound nowhere else but the home. She was not the kind of woman who could be satisfied with what people expect her to be. She is independent in her thinking who is unfortunately imprisoned within the bounds of norms and mores. Therefore, although there is no physical abuse, the protagonist has suffered emotionally and psychologically. On the other hand, Maupassant also presents the female character, Mrs. Loisel as wanting and desiring as Mrs. Mallard. However, Mrs. Loisel’s wants and desires are achieved through psychological and emotional manipulation in contrast to Mrs. Mallard’s suppressed and never achieved dreams. This makes Mrs. Loisel to be viewed as a protagonist who portrays negative characteristics and is seen as the abusive party in the husband and wife relationship. One could perhaps suspect that naturally, as a female writer, Chopin used the woman character of her story as the protagonist while Maupassant used his female character as the abusive partner. The presentations could be said to be subjective considering that the genders the authors represent are portrayed as the abused or rather passive characters. Although there is no evidence that the authors are subjective, it could perhaps be safe enough to assume so especially that when one looks at the work of Maupassant and compare it with Chopin’s story, the characters of their own gender are rather considered as the better characters. Nevertheless, this perhaps is not just a matter or defending the male or female characters but the point being made here is the differences in the male and female perspectives of writers. Nevertheless, whichever the case is, both authors present likely factual circumstances which are stark similarities in the aforementioned narratives. Read More