I was asked to right my own review of the remaining short stories that my Creative Writing professor listed on our Desire to Learn (D2L) which were these.
- “The Story of the Hour” by Kate Chopin
- “Paul’s Case” by Willa Cather
- “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara
- “Soldier’s Home” by Ernest Hemingway
I chose the one titled, “The Story of the Hour” by Kate Chopin. My review will explain why I chose this one specifically and here it is:
I feel that the author of the Story of the Hour, Kate Chopin, had a much greater message than by saying, “Don’t be happy someone else is dead” even though her primary objective is to have her readers be informed in this fashion. I mean, Louise had everything she was supposed to have except freedom and happiness in which all of those factors need to be taken into account. By all respects, Mrs. Mallard appears to have a lovely life with her loving husband in their nice house. I think that the author wrote this story as a warning that a person can never really tell the truth unless that person looks beyond the surface, as if giving advice. In this story she was informing us that even though a lot of marriages appear to be happy and oftentimes they are wrought, with both oppression and sadness, and it only known to the people in the relationship or two at hand in marriage. Therefore, she includes this vivid irony not for entertainment, but to force us to completely understand how both priceless and valuable freedom is and what great power it holds. Let us get real here, we all want freedom. However, when freedom is and what denied a lot of dire consequences occur. So, how does the author’s sequencing of disclosure draw the reader to Louise’s character? The story begins with heart trouble and from then on the news of her husband’s death was given to her gently. Louise went up to her room to be left alone. Overall, this story is to teach Louise how to be an independent women and to then discover herself, as her life goes on.