Literature
The story of an hour centers on a young woman who is married, and it is indicating her reaction to her husband’s death in a train accident (Chopin n.d). The cat in the rain is also a short story of an American wife who is suffering from the mistreatment she is receiving from her husband. She figures herself in the cat that she sees in the rain thus goes ahead to look for that Cat (Hemingway, n.d). This paper will discuss how the two authors use contrasting or similar elements of fiction, the impact of those items on the reader and the overall work and their alignment with the characteristics of their literary era.
There are similarities in two characters of the stories. Mrs. Mallard of the story of an hour and the American wife in the cat in the rain are both protagonist in the particular stories. Both stories were written when there was the struggle for equal rights and freedom among the women (Hui-ping, 2012). Even though the two characters present themselves from entirely different backgrounds, the reader manages to understand the oppression that both receive abuse from their husbands. The American wife tries to look for her trail in life by searching the cat while Mrs. Mallard experiences freedom for a short period then she receives punishment for her happiness. The society does not widely accept want they want to make the American life to continue living her monotonous life, and Mrs. Mallard encounters her death after discovering that her short liberation has come to an end.
Hemingway sets the setting and background of the story, and he also foreshadows the conflict between George and his wife which the reader can see. The reader can identify the contrast between the sea and the room, and the garden and the monument. Chopin adopts a similar style in foreshadowing the personal life challenges of Louise Mallard. She uses the phrase of heart problems instead of using the term disease ad this implies that Mrs. Mallard is not experiencing physical problems but emotional. Kate uses a dangling particle at the beginning of the story in emphasizing the theme of secrecy and the protagonist character’s two sides (Liu & Wang, 2004). The idea is similar to the “Cat in the Rain” where the American wife begins a journey immediately she leaves the room which is maybe short of self-discovery.
The use of irony in the two stories is similar. In Chopin’s story of “The story of an hour”, the reader is made to believe that there will be a happy ending. In the end, it is clear that the main character Mrs. Mallard had an ironic ending just like that of the American wife. Louse Mallard about to receive information regarding his husband’s death and this can negatively impact her since she has a bad heart condition. The irony manifests when the wife hears about the spouse’s death and her reaction was retreating to her room and sitting in a comfortable chair while staring out the window. Mrs. Mallard sees the tree tops that are aquiver with a new spring life meaning that she feels like she has an opportunity of living her life the way she has always wished. There is situational irony in the cat in the rain where they find the cat, but the cat is not the one that the woman was looking for (Lodge, 2002).The reader tends to believe that the wife will be happy after receiving the cat, but that is not the exact reaction (Hui-ping, 2012).
The story of the cat in the rain is revolving around an Italian-American couple. The woman carefully observes from her hotel window how a cat is striving to protect itself from the torrential rains, and immediately she insists that she should rescue the cat. The plot is similar to “the story of an hour” where a woman is suffering from a heart condition but she feels happy when the husband dies, and she observes the top of the trees from the window of her room when she hears about the death of her husband (Deneau, 2003). Both reflect women under men enslavement and the people who cannot openly listen and respect their rights.
There is an external conflict that exists between the husband and wife in “Cat in the rain”. The element is present in the story of an hour where the wife is having a conflict between her health and the getting her freedom. The American woman is seeking attention from the husband and not for a cat. The woman has a feeling of restriction and confinement thus she wishes to have independence, choice, and freedom. The war monument and the death of the husband foreshadow internal and external conflicts.
The two stories adopt similar figures of speech but in different contexts. There is the use of paradox, metaphor, alliteration, similes and personification (Hui-ping, 2012). The figures of speech are crucial in breaking the monotony and making the reader genuinely think so as to identify the hidden meaning. For example, the story of an hour uses the metaphor or personification of the things which were approaching to possess the woman. In the cat in the rain, there is the use of personification where the woman sees the cat and figures herself in her. There is a paradox of joy that is evident in the story of an hour where the doctors believe that Mallard is happy seeing her husband being alive. There is a paradox in the cat in the rain where they expect the American wife to be happy after receiving the cat, but it is different because it is not the same cat she was looking for (Lodge, 2002).
Imagery plays a significant role in the two stories. In the story of Hemingway’s of “The Cat in the rain”, there is the use of a helpless little kitten which symbolizes a young girl. On the other hand, there is the use of a fierce rain storm in expressing passion in Kate Chopin’s “The story of an hour” (Deneau, 2003). The young woman is forcefully made to stay in a new country where she knows nobody, and she faces oppression from his husband while the cat is forced to remain in the cold rain where it is soaked because it lacks the shelter where it can find itself safety. Kate Chopin presents imagery in a different way than that of Hemingway. In her writing, she does not focus on live objects but instead she uses feelings like passion which she represents through a furious stormy rain (Deneau, 2003). The rain gives the two the passion that used to exist between them at a certain time and they quickly free themselves from the other reality. Hemingway (n.d), prefers the use of two life forms which represent each other while Chopin (n.d), just compares two objects that exist in the story.
The fictional elements help the reader to interpret the two stories accurately. They make the flow of the story to be clear to the reader. The stories become enticing to read since the reader is eager to know what will happen at the end. The use of clues and hints suggests to the reader what is going to occur at the end of the story. Conflict existence is helpful in understanding the characters in detail. The elements play a significant role in demonstrating how the authors are solely trying to relate to the story’s reader. The items have a lasting impact because the readers can pick pieces of evidence which they can continuously apply to themselves or others.
The elements perfectly align to the characteristics of that particular literary era since the readers were able and are still able to get a clear understanding of the message of the author. Their plots are clear because they have a particular place and time and the characters are few. Thus the reader will perfectly understand the setting of the story. The irony makes the readers to be keen and to continue reading the story since they cannot predict what is going to happen at the end of the story. Symbolism in that literary era has a perfect alignment because they use objects and ideas that people can recognize. The authors use the figures if speech accurately so that the reader is not bored while going through the story. In conclusion, the authors of the two stories use similar fictional elements in their writing. The elements have a significant impact on the reader thus he/she will have a motivation of reading the story up to the end. All the elements have a seamless alignment with the overall characteristics of their specific literary era.
References
Chopin, K. (n.d). The Story of an Hour. Retrieved 11/08/2016 from http://my.hrw.com/support/hos/hostpdf/host_text_219.pdf
Deneau, D. P. (2003). Chopin's the Story of an Hour. The Explicator, 61(4), 210-213. Retrieved 11/08/2016 from http://www.courseweb.uottawa.ca/ENG1120/ENG_1120/Research_essay_materials_files/Storm%20deneau.pdf
Hemingway, E. (n.d). Cat in the Rain. Retrieved 11/08/2016 from http://www.english.heacademy.ac.uk/explore/resources/seminars/activities/handouts/Hemingway.pdf
Hui-ping, M. (2012). The comparative reading of “Cat in the Rain” and “The Story of an Hour” the awakening and disillusion of women’s consciousness. Journal of Jiamusi Education Institute, 2, 067.
Liu, Z., & Wang, N. (2004). The Epiphany of Women's Consciousness: A Reading of Kate Chopin's the Story of an Hour [J]. Journal of Northeastern University (Social Science), 6, 020.
Lodge, D. (2002). Analysis and Interpretation of the Realist Text: Ernest Hemingway’s ‘Cat in the Rain.’ Working with Structuralism: Essays and Reviews on Nineteenth and twentieth-century literature, 17-36.
