The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin and A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner

Restraints of Society

Since the beginning of time, women have been treated as second class

citizens. Therefore, women were forced to face many problems and because of

this women were repressed. During the post Civil War era, the Napoleonic Code

stated that women were controlled by their husbands and couldn’t freely do their

own will without the authority of their husband. Each character longs for freedom

in a different way, but because of the men in their lives they are unable to make

their own life decisions. In both stories, “The Story of an Hour,” by Kate Chopin

and “A Rose for Emily,” by William Faulkner the use of literary elements such as

foreshadowing, symbolism, and the significant meaning of the titles are essential

in bringing the reader to an unexpected and ironic conclusion. From the

background of both authors, who are from the South, we can conclude how they

could describe the situations that they faced such as political and social

presumptions and/or problems especially for women at that time.

In the short stories "The Story of an Hour," by Chopin and "A Rose for

Emily," by Faulkner, the main characters are both female. Both women in these

stories were bound by what society expected of them. Each woman in different

ways tries unsuccessfully to gain her freedom. Emily and Mrs. Mallard live in

male-dominated societies, and none of the women were free to do or be what

they wanted. Louise ("The Story of an Hour") and Emily ("A Rose for Emily") not

only feel but live the demands that society and their family have placed on them.

In Faulkner’s "A Rose for Emily," the title character felt imprisoned by her

life and looked for a way to gain her freedom. Emily must endure her fathers

never ending denial that there is any man suitable for his daughter. Emily was left

alone after her father died, and the townspeople thought that some of her kin

should come to her. Instead Emily lived by herself with only a black male servant.

Mr. Grierson, the father of Emily, prevented her from dating men because he

thought they were not good enough for her. After the death of Emily's father she

decided to date Homer Barron: "a foreman, a Yankee-a big, dark, ready man, a

Northerner, a day laborer," in order to have company and a man that will share

with her his time and will care for her just as her father did (470).