The story of an hour third person omniscient

Since time immemorial a family is considered as the basic unit of a community. Marriage is always the first step in the formation of a family and for the family set-up to work effectively there are roles the family members are assigned or better yet are expected to perform by default. However lack of this structure and split of roles leads to chaos in families a scenario that is quite often witnessed in the modern day society with the rise of conflicts in marriage.

The theme of the story of an hour is based upon conflict in marriage whereby the author Kate Chopin develops two characters i.e. Louise Mallard and her husband Mr. Mallard. The author uses the third party limited point of view to support this theme as she takes the reader through a myriad of thoughts that were bombarding Louise’s mind upon receiving the news of the demise of her husband. She whispered to herself gently “freedom!” This clearly depicts that her marriage devoured off her freedom and especially her husband. Despite his death causing her grief it came along with a great gift as well of offering freedom something that more valuable to love and marriage.

The author displays the theme of conflict in marriage in very discreet manner whereby ensuring that the reader does not only read through the story but is keen enough to see in between the lines and has a strong understanding of the story. This is brought when Mrs. Mallard heads to her room and as she drifts into day dreaming she acknowledges a strong feeling of happiness of her husband’s death and she wishes that her life would now be long. This occurs since it dawns on her that she had acquired her ticket of freedom and the conflict in her marriage is clearly depicted when she reflects on her thoughts the previous day where she presumed that her life would really be long a clear indication of unhappiness in the marriage on her part.

The author as well uses the literary element of characterization to support this theme. This is brought out whereby Mrs. Mallard is considered as the wiener and especially in her position whereby it is witnessed that she is out of a job and is a housewife. Mr. Mallard whom is viewed as the cause of the conflict as he exercises his uncalled for authority over his wife and is seen to be the main source of income since at the end of the story the author states that he walks in from work. The author has used characterization to show superiority complex in the marriage which may be the root cause of conflict in the marriage and may be related to modern family setups whereby this is certainly a major cause of marriage conflicts.

In the story of the hills like a white elephant the story is based around a couple that is madly in love and despite the difficult times that the couple is facing owing o the unwanted pregnancy they discuss on the best course of action which they conclude is abortion. The lady who appears as the weaker significant other jut like Mrs. Mallard cannot make up her mind by deciding if that is really right despite her evident disapproval of the decision. This clearly indicates how much women support their spouses in marriage even in matters that do not please. In the story of an hour Mrs. Mallard still continues persevering in the relationship despite her husband infringing on her freedom, something that greatly fuelled her unhappiness in her marriage. In this story the woman values love over anything else and is ready to make any sacrifice just to be with her boyfriend as it evidenced when she accept to go through with the abortion and asks him if she does it whether he would still love her.

The third-person limited point of view is used to focus on Mrs. Mallard whom is the main character of the story. The author uses this point of view to explain hook line and sinker on everything that was bombarding her mind and especially when Mrs. Mallard is in her room where she has a great vintage of the world outside that was so full of life. Through this the reader acquires a great understating of her mental status and this literary element as well supports the story’s theme of conflict. This point of view enables the reader to drift into the setting of the story whereby one is able to experience the emotions and thoughts of the character, a factor that arouses one’s interest to continue reading the story. The story as well contains literary elements such as tone. This evidenced mostly in the character of Josephine who uses a tone of sympathy to beg her sister to open the door so as to avoid getting herself sick through mourning her husband’s death. The authors as well enable the reader to clearly visualize the situation e.g. when she says “She sat with her head thrown back upon the cushion of the chair, quite motionless, except when a sob came up into her throat and shook her, as a child who has cried itself to sleep continues to sob in its dreams” (Chopin, 1894).

The writer uses symbolism to back her point of view as it is observed when she changes Mrs. Mallard’s emotional stature as being weak when she was grieving her husband’s death to the strength she acquires despite being in a very vulnerable position when the writer states “There was a feverish triumph in her eyes, and she carried herself unwittingly like a goddess of Victory” (Chopin, 1894). The writer’s point of view changes at some point in the story when it becomes third-party omniscient the story when Mrs. Mallard was in her room as she stares into the sky in deep thought critically thinking of the occurrences as she day dreams. The writer moves a step further to explain the character’s thoughts and feeling during this moment “It was only yesterday she had thought with a shudder that life might be long clearly indicating her knowledge of the character’s every thought” (Chopin, 1894).

The hills like white elephants is a story where the author merges uses the third party omniscient point of view by creating two characters whom are a man and a woman who are apparently in a relationship and even a third character that is the woman at the bar who is serving them the drinks. The couple is facing a problem of having an unplanned pregnancy and are not quite settled on which should be their next course of action. This is clearly depicted in their conversation whereby there’s evidence of differences in their view when the man says “let us just have a good time”. The author uses symbolism when the couple asks for a drink of liquor ice which is has a very bitter taste to show how the lives of the couple were at the moment and then added insult to the injury with absinthe to show that the unplanned pregnancy would further make the lives of the couple more unbearable

The author as well applies the use of the literary element to support this point of view. This is clearly evidenced mostly in the drinks the couple requests for while at the bar. Absinthe which is a bitter drink is order and it simply symbolizes the tough times that the couple is going through at the moment. This liquor as well symbolizes that the woman is going through and especially that the moment she had been waiting for which is to get a child had come at the worst moment of her life and hence she had no option but to terminate the pregnancy a thought that she dreaded even just imagining it for a second.

In the story of an hour the theme of marriage is brought up in a couple that appears to be relatively quite old in marriage with lots of experience in it as well since the author indicates that just the previous day Mrs. Mallard had imagined how long her would be a clear indication that she was already fed up to the core in the marriage. In the hills like white elephants the author puts across a young couple probably in their youth whom are probably in their youth and are most likely in the process of coating their relationship hence it explains their unruly and promiscuous behavior of over indulgence in alcohol especially when the lady states “trying new drinks is all that we do”.

In the current world freedom is a diverse topic and it means different things to different individuals. Both the story of an hour and hills like white elephants bring out the issue freedom in two entire different platforms. In the story of an hour freedom is brought out as the ability for one to do what they deem right something that dawns on Mrs. Mallard in the middle of a crisis i.e. the demise of her husband. This reality check makes her so elated that she even dies from happiness as it is pointed out by the medics. On the other hand in the story of an hour both Jig and the boyfriend have a different perspective on freedom. For Jig freedom refers to the ability to make a choice (Rsoriano, 2013). The fact she is faced with the choice of whether or not to keep the child is a factor that she highly considers especially because with choice comes consequences and in this case if she terminates the pregnancy her conscience would be haunted all her life due to the murder of an innocent child.

Her boyfriend on the other hand views freedom as not settling down hence being in a position that would enable him to do whatever he wants (Rsoriano, 2013). This shows his lack of willingness to be responsible and settle down through talking his girlfriend into terminating the pregnancy. He does this by telling that they would have all that they had lost and would travel anywhere just like before and things will be back to the way they were before. Through this he knows that he will have achieved his freedom by not having anything to tie him down to settling such starting up a family.

In marriage communication is an integral part of the relationship that help the spouses solve issues. A problem half shared is a problem half solved in the story of hills like white elephants it is crystal clear of the importance of this aspect through the endless conversation that the couple holds over the drinks. During this conversation they are in a better position to solve the problem on their hands and come to a unified decision all together. This helps in preventing conflicts in marriage and it helps in strengthening the bond of a couple. Unlike in the story of an hou8r where Mrs. Mallard’s husband is portrayed as a bully a factor that greatly affect the communication pattern I the marriage. This led to Mrs. Mallard being sad in her marriage as she was oppressed through denial of her freedom.

Love is a great factor that spices up marriage however there are couples that are just married for convenience purposes. In the hills like white elephants story love is placed above anything else in the couple’s life. A factor that they employ whenever they are faced with problems to act as stepping stone to overcome the troubles no matter how complicated it was. In the story of an hour one can suggest that the couple was not married due to both o0 them being but one can suggest it was due to convenience purposes such societal status etc. This is because in the story Mrs. Mallard admits to not really loving her husband but rather loving him at times. This explains the fact she did not really weep over his demise as it would have been expected under normal circumstances were it another lady in her shoes.

Both stories have a similar setup in the plot. This is the sense that the authors bring out the story to gradually build over time until the climax of the story where the plot shift and gradually goes down to the conclusion. This is evidenced in the story of an hour when the climax of the story is reached when the viability of freedom dawn on her despite the fact that she is in a rather compromising situation. In the story of hills like white elephants it is evidenced in the third page when the couple proclaims their love to each other and then decides that they actually go for the option of aborting. The story then gradually degrades to the time the couple leavers the station.

In conclusion, both stories bring out the best and worst scenarios of marriage through creating scene that a reader in the modern society can easily relate to. The stories have moral lessons as well that go a long way in educating the youth on various matters such not to engage in premarital sex by providing a good example of a consequence; hence empowering the m as well as the society as a whole.

References

Chopin, K. (1894). The story of an hour. Retrieved from The story of an hour: Rinehart and Winston.

Chopin, K. (n.d.). The story of an hour. Retrieved from Cummings study guide: http://cummingsstudyguides.net/Guides3/Chopin.html.

Hemingway, E. (2003). White Hills like elephants. In An Introduction to Short Fiction. 6 th Ed. Bedford/St. Martin’s.

Hills Like. White Elephants. (1999, October). Retrieved from Study mode: http://www.studymode.com/essays/Hills-Like-White-Elephants-Ye-5791.html.

Rsoriano, J. (2013, October 8). Freedom in the story of an hour. Retrieved from English