The theme of freedom in The Story of an hour and Worn Path

Introduction

The author of the story of an hour, Kate Chopin and the author of a Worn Path, Eudora Welty have used the theme of freedom to promote their vision on what freedom should resemble. These theme is very prevalent in the two stories. Chopin in her story expressed Mrs. Mallard as a person who has been denied freedom by things such as her marriage, the story talks of the mental and emotional freedom she gains when she confines herself in her room there is a bitter twist between the fact that she has the freedom of an upper class married woman and the fact that her marriage denies her freedom. Welty in her story places Phoenix as a black woman in a time where slavery was still not completely forgotten and the instances that took place as she journeyed to fetch her grandson’s medicine completely show that the Negros had not yet gained total freedom. These two women character used in these two stories show how they struggle for their freedom.

In the story of an hour Chopin expressed Mrs. Mallard as a woman who deals with self-discovery issues. It is evident enough that her marriage had dined her a sense of freedom because after she learns about the death of her husband she feels a certain feeling of relief and total freedom overcome her (Gale np). This feeling is evident that she is a wife who had been denied her freedom by her husband and with his death came her freedom. She even goes further to imagine life without her husband she envisions her future as that one with total freedom. Mrs. Mallard feeling of being free helps Chopin bring out the theme of freedom in her story.

In Welty’s story Phoenix’s grandson is the reason she goes on a journey. His throat is permanently damaged, and pains a lot. She takes this journey in order to go fetch, medicine that will free him from the pain he endures in this throat. This pain is a symbol that his grandson is not free, but pain is holding him back she wants these medicine so that her grandson who is the only relative she has can be free (Gale np). Also, the fact that this story is place in a time where the memory of slavery was still fresh in people mind signifies that Phoenix as a Negro had not yet gained her freedom completely.

In The Story of an hour, Mrs. Mallard after receiving news of the death of her husband confines herself into her room. It is only in her room that she gets the mental and emotional freedom to be joyous about the news of his husband’s death. She uses her room as her free space so she can express her emotions and still be able to hide them from those who expect her to be remorseful of her husband’s death. (Gale np). Mrs. Mallard is joyful because she will never have to bend her will to that of her husband. Mrs. Mallard considers the feeling of freedom as the best and the strongest feeling she has experienced. The feeling of freedom was stronger than what she had felt for her husband when he was alive. Chopin uses the story of an hour to show how marriage traps women, and deny them their own freedom since they have to obey and do according to the will of their husbands (Toth 11). This is proved by the way Mrs. Mallard felt trapped in her own marriage.

In Welty’s story, how the white hunter speaks to her after rescuing her from her dog is evidence enough that he has no respect for her. He assumes that Phoenix cannot be able to walk all the way to town therefore he resolves to telling her to go home. This shows that Phoenix is not free from the judgment of the people and she has to endure people like the hunter. The hunter in another instance holds a gun to her face this completely shows that the hunter is violating her freedom to life and has no respect to her life. In their conversation it is obvious that the hunter has a biased attitude on the African American (Gale np). This completely shows that even after the black had earned their freedom legally the whites had not yet accepted that fact and this limited their freedom

At the end of Chopin’s story Mrs. Mallard collapse and died due to the shock and of seeing her husband enter the house, and the realization that she had just lost the freedom she has gotten some few minutes ago was taken from her. She was not ready to live without the freedom she had envisioned. The dream of experiencing totally freedom died with the return of her husband (Chopin np). In welty’s story the events and hardship that Phoenix has to endure tom free her grandson from pain are enough proff that freedom is not easily gained but fought for (Bloom 225). Phoenix’s experience is evidence that freedom can be gained if fought for

Conclusion

These two stories portray the theme of freedom following the experiences of the characters present in the story. Chopin’s shows how the feeling of freedom is a liberating feeling through Mrs. Mallard. She also shows how marriage can deny one freedom from doing his or her will. In Welty’s story she is able to use symbolism to show how the Negros have been denied total freedom by the whites. Both of these stories bring out the theme of freedom well following the events that took place in them.

 

 

Work cited

Bloom, Harold, and Blake Hobby. The Hero's Journey. New York: Bloom's Literary Criticism, 2009. Print.

Chopin, Kate. The Story of an Hour: Short Story. Toronto, Ontario: HarperPerennial Classics, 2014. Internet resource.

Gale, Cengage L. Study Guide for Kate Chopin's "story of an Hour.". Detroit: Gale, Cengage Learning, n.d.. Print.

Gale, Cengage L. Study Guide to Eudora Welty's a Worn Path. Detroit: Gale, Cengage Learning, n.d.. Print.

Toth, Emily. Unveiling Kate Chopin. University of Mississippi, 1999. Print.