A Literary Analysis of “The Story of an Hour”

The story of an hour is a short story written by Kate Chopin in 19th century and illustrates life in that period of time. During that time period, women were owned by their husbands, they had a little to no control over their own lives. This situation is adapted by the author into the story, how marriage in the 19th century does not allow women to feel any sense of freedom. The husband has full power in the relationship, while the wife must always bend to his will. She must 'live for' him rather than for herself. Another indication about how the writer reveals gender inequality in this story is how the narrator at the beginning of the story called the protagonist 'Mrs. Mallard', but her husband was called by his first name. The protagonist's first name is not revealed until much later in the story, she is only referred to as the wife of Brenty Mallard.

The theme of the story is about the idea of freedom. The main character imagines about how free her life would be without the existence of her husband.

The primary action of the story takes place in the Mallards' home, which is barely described. From the story, we knew that the house has more than one floor because there is a staircase inside, Mrs. Mallard's room is upstairs and there's a comfortable roomy armchair in the room facing the window. From the title of the story, we already know that everything in this little drama happens within an hour. We also notice that during that time, nobody leaves the house. Men come in, but no one goes out.

The author uses a third person omniscient narrator to tell the whole story. At the prologue, the readers know something that the protagonist does not and at the epilogue, the story continues after the protagonist died (Paragraph 20). The narrator is not simply an observer, it is obvious that the narrator know more than can be physically observed. The narrator knows, for example, that Mrs. Mallard, for the most part, did not love her husband (Paragraph 13).

The structure of the plot is chronological, the author tells the story straight from the beginning to the end. The conflict starts when Mr. Mallard's friend, Richard, get word that Mr. Mallard died. He has to break the news to Mrs. Mallard as gently as possible because Mrs. Mallard has a heart trouble. The conflict raise as Mrs. Mallard struggles with her own grief, but she also can not avoid the fact that in the bottom of her heart, she feels relieved and there's a little tiny joy coming from realization that she is free and she would live for herself from now on. Then the climax takes place when Mr. Mallard comes home, one-hundred percent alive and far from dead, Mrs. Mallard got shocked and passed away.

In 'the story of an hour', there are some symbolism that the author use, for example, metaphor is used in this sentence "No; she was drinking in a very elixir of life through that open window", we knew that she does not really 'drink' anything. I believe that the author uses it to describe the sense of freedom that she feels. The author also use personification in "But she felt it, creeping out of the sky, reaching towards her through the sounds, the scent, the color that filled the air", we all know that feelings can not physically grasp on to you, the author uses this to express the intensity of the  feelings that Mrs. Mallard will soon experiencing.

Last but not least, the last phrase of the story "of the joy that kills", is my favorite. It is so ironic because in the story we knew Richard quickly tries to get in the way of Mrs. Mallards' sight so she is not able to see her husband. I assume that Richard did it because he does not want her to see her 'dead' husband alive, which will obviously make her happy but shock as well. Richard failed, Mrs. Mallard already saw her husband and she died of shock. The witnesses say that she is died from the joy of seeing her husband again, but in fact she died of shock from the realization that the new freedom and independence that she had previously had when she believed her husband was dead, is now will be impossible.

An Analysis of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Elements of "The Necklace" by Guy de Maupassant

            The Necklace is a short story written by Guy de Maupassant in the 19th century. The story starts with the narrator introducing the main character, Mathilde, who is pretty and charming but unsatisfied with the life she has. Even though she has a husband with a steady job, living in a flat with some functional furniture, good foods, and a servant to do all the housework, she still wants more. She believes that she deserves a better life over the one she already has. One day, her husband surprise Mathilde with an invitation to a ball held by The Minister of Public Instruction, but instead of being delighted as her husband had hoped, she gets sad because she thinks she does not have a suitable gown to wear. Her husband then gives her four hundred francs from his savings to buy a new gown for the ball,  but another problem comes up because Mathilde has no jewelry to put on. Her husband suggests her to wear natural flowers as an ornament but Mathilde thinks wearing flowers will only make her look poor among other women.

            Afterward, according to her husband’s order, Mathilde decides to borrow some jewelry from her friend, Madame Forestier. She tries many pieces of jewelries and ornaments but ended up choosing a superb diamond necklace to borrow. Mathilde then attends the ball with a great confident and a big smile on her face, she feels so happy because many attaches of the cabinet wish to dance with her. She later comes home with her husband and finds out that she lost the diamond necklace. Mathilde and her husband try to search everywhere but they can not find it, so they quickly try to replace it with a new one and find a similar necklace that costs thirty-six thousand francs. They sell everything they own and file many loans at high-interest rates to pay for the necklace.

            The story ends as Mathilde meets Madame Forestier, who barely recognize her, ten years later. Mathilde then tells Madame Forestier how she works hard and lives in poverty in the past ten years because she lost the diamond necklace and replaced it with a new one. Madame Forestier then takes her hand and explains that the necklace was fake and does not worth more than five hundred francs.

Intrinsic Elements

1.      Plot

a.      Introduction

The story began with the introduction of the main character, Mathilde, and all of her personality. The narrator described her as a “pretty and charming young creature” who was unhappy with her life because she believed that she was born to “enjoy all delicacies and all luxuries”. Even though she already lived in a middle-class family and had everything she needs, she was still unsatisfied with her condition and fancying about having luxury furniture, pretty gowns, expensive jewelry, dainty dinner, and shining silverware.

b.      Raising Action

Mathilde’s personality later caused many conflicts in her life. Instead of being grateful for being invited to the ball, she grieved and cried because she did not have a proper gown to wear. After her husband gave her money to buy a new gown, another problem arose when she said:

It annoys me not to have a single piece of jewelry, not a single ornament, nothing to put on. I shall look poverty-stricken. I would almost not go at all (Maupassant, 1884).

It implies how dramatical Mathilde is, she will always find a little flaw in her life to complain about. She believed that only luxury items will make her look prettier and elegant. That is why she decided to borrow a necklace from her friend, Madame Forestier.

c.       Climax

The climax took place when Mathilde realized that “she no longer had the necklace around her neck.” She and her husband had searched everywhere but the necklace was nowhere to be found. They then decided to quickly replace the necklace with a new one. It can be seen in the quotation below:

They found, in a shop at the Palais Royal, a string of diamonds that seemed to them exactly like the one they had lost. It was worth forty thousand francs. They could have it for thirty-six (Maupassant, 1884).

Mathilde and her husband had to dismiss their servant, sell everything they own and file so many loans to pay the necklace. They spend the next ten years of their life working day and night, living in poverty to pay off their debt.

d.      Falling Action

The conflict began to solved when Mathilde and her husband finally pay off all of their debt, “they had paid everything... with the rates of usury and the accumulations of the compound interest” and all of the hard work made Mathilde looked old.

e.       Resolution

The story ended as Mathilde told Madame Forestier the truth about the necklace. She said:

“Well, I lost it.”

“What do you mean? You brought it back.”

“I brought you back another exactly like it. And it has taken us ten years to pay for it. You can understand that it was not easy for us, for us who had nothing. At last it is ended, and I am very glad” (Maupassant, 1884).

Madame Forestier took Mathilde’s hands and told her that the necklace was fake and it was worth not more than five hundred francs.

2.      Characters

a.       Mathilde Loisel, the main character who lives a middle-class lifestyle but feels unsatisfied with her life. She is obsessed to live a luxury life, including glamourous gowns, expensive jewelry, fancy furniture, and shining silverware.

b.      Monsieur Loisel, is Mathilde’s husband who works as a clerk in the Ministry of Public Instruction.

c.       Madame Forestier, she is Mathilde’s wealthy friend who lends her the diamond necklace.

3.      Setting

a.       Setting of place

In general, the story took place in Paris, France. The story is set in the Monsieur Loisel’s house, Madame Forestier’s house, The Champs Elysees, etc. It can be seen in some quotations below:

But one evening her husband reached home with a triumphant air and holding a large envelope in his hand.

The next day she went to her friend and told her of her distress.

But one Sunday, having gone to take a walk in the Champs Elysees to refresh herself after the labors of the week, she suddenly perceived a woman who was leading a child. It was Madame Forestier, still young, still beautiful, still charming (Maupassant, 1884).

b.      Setting of time

The setting of time was not stated in the story but it can be concluded that the story represents life in the 19th century because Mathilde and Madame Forestier were still communicating through a letter. It can be seen in the quotation below:

“You must write to your friend”said he, “that you have broken the clasp of her necklace and that you are having it mended. That will give us time to turn round.”

She wrote at his dictation (Maupassant, 1884).

c.       Atmosphere

The story spreads gloomy and miserable vibes to the reader. It illustrates the irony of how Mathilde and her husband decided to replace the fake diamond necklace with a real one, which later makes them have to work very hard and live in poverty for a decade before successfully paying off all of their debt. Imagine how their life would be if only Mathilde told Madame Forestier the truth; that she lost the necklace, and perhaps Mathilde and her husband would not need to suffer for ten years of their life just because of a single lie.

4.      Point of view

The author of the story uses a third-person point of view or omniscient narrator, so the narrator knows everything that is happened in the story, especially the thoughts and feelings of the main character, Mathilde.

5.      Theme

The theme of this short story is symbolized by the title, the necklace. It represents everything that Mathilde wants and does not have; all the material things of a finer life. For her, the diamond necklace is the most wonderful piece of jewelry that she has ever seen and she thinks if she wears it, the diamond necklace would give her the aura of wealth that she is always wanted, but in reality, the necklace was fake. It reflects how people should not judge something based on the looks nor by the cost of a certain thing.

Extrinsic Elements

In my perspective, this story is trying to convey a moral value about being ungrateful. Madame Mathilde Loisel believes that she deserves a better life over the one she already has; “she feels like she had really fallen from a higher station” and does not belong to this kind of lifestyle. She forgets to live her life, too busy complaining about how miserable her life is, and suffering from the fact that all of her dreams about luxurious life would not come true.

The conflict of the story also causes by her inability to be thankful for everything. She does not care about how hard, how difficult it was for her husband to get an invitation to the ball at the palace, and instead of saying “thank you”, she ended up throwing the invitation on the table and start complaining, again, about how she does not have a suitable gown. She later got the gown, but then she starts ranting about having no jewelry, no ornament to put on. She could easily buy natural flowers like her husband’s recommendation, but in her mind, everything is only valuable if it is expensive, so she finally decided to borrow a diamond necklace from her wealthy friend, Madame Forestier. A decision that made her lost a decade of her life trying to pay off a debt that was originally unneeded.

The author also implies the idea of true love in this story. Monsieur Loisel loves Mathilde enough until he is willing to go through great trouble to get an invitation to the ball, which Mathilde loves. He put his wife's will above his own as seen in the quotation below:

He was laying aside just that amount to buy a gun and treat himself to a little shooting...

But he said “Very well. I will give you four hundred francs and try to have a pretty gown” (Maupassant, 1884).

Monsieur Loisel’s knows that his wife loves fancy things and he tries his best to provide what she needs because he loves her, even if it means he has to postpone his wishes.

Another issue reflected from the story is about natural beauty. At the ball, Mathilde feels so happy and confident because she thinks that the necklace she borrows from her friend is made of real diamonds. She believes that since Madame Forestier is wealthy, she only buys the best.  Mathilde thinks all the men look at her, ask her name and “wish to waltz with her” because she looks rich. She spends so much time convincing herself that possesions only have value if they are expensive that she loses sight of the real value of things. Mathilde fails to realize that beauty is not about how much her gown costs, the price of the jewelry she wears or her social status. She still looks beautiful and attractive even though she was wearing a fake diamond necklace.

Last but not least, the most important issue that can be concluded from this short story is about honesty. Mathilde and her husband had to suffer because they lied to Madame Forestier, they told her that “[Mathilde] have broken the clasp of her necklace and that [Mathilde is] having it mended.” If only they tell Madame Forestier the truth, they would only need to pay not more than five hundreds francs, instead of thirty-six thousand francs, to replace the necklace.

An Analysis of Metaphors in "Vacation" by Rupi Kaur

            Literature has a significant influence on many aspects of human life. Dubey (2013) agrees that issues and phenomena that occur in the society are reflected through literary works in various forms. In the past, people went to libraries or bookstores to access literary works such as novels, short stories, poetry, etc. Nowadays, thanks to the rapid development of the internet and technology, people can easily access any kind of literary works using their computers, tablets, or smartphones. This digital revolution, however, affects the way authors, poets and linguists share their works. One of which is Rupi Kaur, a well-known insta-poet who consistently shares her works on social media, especially Instagram. She is acknowledged for her writing styles which include lots of rhymes, repetition and figurative languages, specifically metaphor, a writing technique that indirectly compares two things by giving the thing a name that belongs to something entirely different but has the same qualities (Aristotle, n.d., as cited in Zhang & Hu, 2009). In one of her outstanding poems untitled Vacation, Rupi Kaur uses many metaphors to deliver the intention of the poem implicitly in a deep, elegant way.

            The first metaphor that the writer could find is when the character opens the poem by saying “did you think i was a city / big enough for a weekend getaway”(1-2), she starts comparing herself to a city which is commonly visited by a lot of people who take a short break from their daily activities. This sentence illustrates that the character intended to convey that she is not someone to run to when one’s got bored with their life, she is not a place to escape to when one’s run away from something. Moreover, in the tenth line, the character says “i am not street meat i am homemade jam”, to contrast herself to street meat, which is a slang for prostitutes, who can easily be found roaming on the streets and alleys; also to emphasize that she has the same characteristics as a homemade jam which is more difficult to lay your hands on and requires a lot of processes.

Another example of metaphor can be seen when the character says “i am not the whiskey you want / i am the water you need”(20-21) as an “analogy”. The word “whiskey”(20) symbolizes one’s desire for something that one does not need, meanwhile “the water”(21) symbolizes something so essential but sometimes forgotten. By using these analogies, the character tries to declare that she is not a luxury but a necessity; she is not what you wanted but what you need. After all of these examples of metaphors, it can be concluded that the use of metaphor makes the language of a poem more appealing, make a statement less offensive and more abstract (Torgny, 1997).

In conclusion, the use of metaphors in Vacation by Rupi Kaur makes the expressions, feelings, and opinions can be conveyed subtly yet bold. Instead of telling the intended meaning literally, which is often considered impolite and might cause controversy, the character uses metaphors to avoid saying something straight forward. Even though metaphors will obviously take longer to process, it can not be denied that the use of metaphors will cause a deeper and more remarkable effect for the reader.

REFERENCES

Dubey, A. (2013). Literature and Society. Journal Of Humanities And Social Science, 9(6). Retrieved September 28, 2019, from http://iosrjournals.org/iosr-jhss/papers/Vol9-issue6/O0968485.pdf?id=6191

Hu, J., & Zhang, F. (2009). A Study of Metaphor and its Application in Language Learning and Teaching. International Education Studies, 2(2). Retrieved September 28, 2019, from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1065692.pdf

Torgny, O. (1997). Metaphor - a working concept. Contextual Design - Design in Context. Stockholm, Sweden. Retrieved September 30, 2019, from  https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/43dc/c3ab2e657592e72820263fd0d95d24d90510.pdf

A Literary Appreciation of "Imagine" Song by John Lennon

Imagine by John Lennon is a free verse poem about the concept of an ideal world that the speaker desires. This poem was written in March 1971 during the Vietnam War as a part of the anti-war movement. The word “imagine” is chosen as a title because the speaker knows that his/ her vision is a form of imagination, almost impossible to visualize and therefore, “you” in line 13 which refers to the reader or the one the speaker is talking to might disagree with the speaker’s vision and “may say [the speaker] is a dreamer.”

In the first stanza, the speaker opens the poem with controversial phrases “[i]magine there’s no heaven” and “[n]o hell below us” to bring up the issue that the existence of “heaven” and “hell” as an afterlife world motivates people to do anything “good” in their perception in order to get to heaven; without knowing that this urge is secretly used by some parties to gain benefit for their own interests. The speaker is trying to say if “there [are] no countries”, there would be no boundaries to divide people into certain groups, nothing to use as a justification to kill another human being or to die for a territory which in fact; can be shared equally. If there is “[n]o religion”, there would be nothing to war about, to separate people from one another or to hate each other for. By saying “[i]magine no possession”, the speaker indicates how possession caused inequality between the haves and have nots, how the world hunger can easily be ended if people are willing to put aside possession and sharing the world in peace.

It cannot be denied that every war occurs as a result of the seizure for territory, power, religion, and possession. Even though the speaker’s vision seems like a perfect solution to end all wars, it is preposterous to eliminate all beliefs, all boundaries, all differences and all concepts of thought which currently exist to simply reset the world for a new chapter. To achieve the speaker’s ideal world, each and every people in the world needs to think, act and treat others as one, which logically cannot be done instantly. An ideal world is a world where diversity exists and unites people, a world where there is no hunger, greed, envy and lies, a world where people feel safe, a world without worries and tears, a world in which people could express their feelings freely without getting hated for. The ideal world would only take place if people start caring, start to end all wars, save our nature, treat others equally, be kind, live for today and share the world in peace.

Male Domination in "The Yellow Wall Paper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

            The Yellow Wall Paper written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a short story about a woman who suffers from a nervous depression after giving birth to her son and being forced to have a perfect rest by her husband, John, in a huge old mansion during the summer. The woman, whose name is unstated, is not allowed to ‘work’ because her husband, a physician of high standing, thinks that tonics, exercise, air and a lot of sleep will make her get well soon. This story somehow illustrates that women have a little to no control over their own life. The husband, on the other hand, always in control about everything; even though it is as trivial as a choice of room. The woman wants one downstairs with ‘‘roses all over the windows’’, but her husband would not hear of it and choose the nursery at the top of the house instead. ‘‘[H]e... hardly lets [his wife] stir without special direction.’’  Afterward, the woman hints her dislikeness of the yellow wallpaper by saying,’’I never saw a worse paper in my life’’ and asks her husband to re-paper the room or let her go downstairs. John with all his sweet talk calls his wife ’’a blessed little goose, and [says] he would go down cellar if [he] wished’’ but yet, he still does not re-paper the room nor let her move downstairs. These events represent how dominant John’s opinions over his wife's will, he always convinces his wife that he does it for her own good, because ‘‘he is so wise’’ and ‘‘he loves [her] very dearly.’’ When in fact, he does not let his wife choose the room downstairs because there is ‘‘no near room for him’’ to work in.

The main character of this story, the woman, represent the protagonist character. Ever since the story starts, the woman wants to ‘‘work’’. She believes that ‘‘congenial work, with excitement and change, would do [her] good.’’ and ‘‘it would relieve the press of ideas and rest [her]’’, but her husband, as the antagonist, forbid her to do so. He wants her to ‘‘have perfect rest’’ and ‘‘sleep all [she] can’’ until she is well again. This prohibition makes her ‘‘work’’ secretly, she only writes when John is away, and ‘‘it does exhaust [her] a good deal— having to be so sly about it.’’ She hates to write in secret. It makes her feel tired easily and ‘‘[i]t is so discouraging not to have any advice and companionship about [her] work.’’

The woman then starts to lose her strength. She lies down a lot in her room but does not sleep. She keeps staring at the yellow wallpaper, trying to observe its patterns, colors, smells and everything. Soon, she gets obsessed with the yellow wallpaper because she spends too much time lying on the bed, with nothing to do but staring at the wallpaper. She examines how the patterns look like ‘‘strangled heads and bulbous eyes and waddling fungus growths’’ before starts to fancy that there is ‘‘a woman stooping down and creeping about behind the pattern.’’ She starts to imagine something that is more likely a reflection of what she feels in that room; trapped. As she starts to lose the line between fantasy and reality, on the last day of her stay in the mansion, she knows that this is the day where she finally will be free! ‘‘[She peels] off all the paper [she] could reach standing on the floor’’ and tells her husband that ‘‘‘[she has] got out at last,... in spite of [her husband] and [her husband's sister]! And [she has] pulled off most of the paper, so [they] can't put [her] back!’’’

The issue of male domination in a relationship can be seen in the passage by how the wife, as a narrator, repeatedly saying ‘‘John says’’ or ‘‘He said’’ in every other possible word. The husband’s perspective and opinion matter more than his wife’s wishes, although the woman already has depression, her husband still forced his will and made his wife obey his wishes. This condition caused the woman’s depression got worse and made her lose her sanity.