The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin Essay Example for Free

The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin Essay The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin explores the sense of liberation for social forces that holds the character down and focuses on the feminine gender’s side of such struggle. Caged in a patriarchal society, women have been rightfully fighting for a life worth living. Born in such a society, women are often aware of their right to happiness. In this story, it takes an accident, particularly her husband’s death, for Mrs. Mallard to realize her self-worth. Mrs. Mallard symbolizes women’s situation with respect to her role in society. Her husband represents the patriarchal mindset of culture and society and it is in a sense ironic, that Mrs. Mallard’s sense of awakening, her â€Å"birth,† was made possible by the death of her husband. In the same way, that her new-found freedom is cut short by her demise. Writers are known to apply aspects of their life into their writings and works. Some literary critics may view such process as insignificant, citing that any analysis of such works in literature must concentrate mainly on the work body rather than any external consideration outside the work. The mention of Mrs. Mallard’s health condition at the very onset of the short story paves the way for the consistency of the story’s ending. The simplicity of the setting indicates less the material sense of the story. For everything is much a personal sensing and contradiction of the main protagonist. In fact this particular part in the story is significant. She writes, â€Å"She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life.† Sensory images flood her being and all of a sudden the vision of the window means a lot to her. These nostalgic sensory images are an onset of Mrs. Mallard’s new sense of liberation. The vision through the open windows means a fresh perspective into her life. The husband may have treated her wife fairly as dictated by social norms of the time. Mrs. Mallard utterance of those words was not an implication of an unhealthy and brutal marriage but was more a declaration of Mrs. Mallard new found sense of independence, a sort of unbinding from the social chains of familial duty. The closing of the door and the opening of the window was very much symbolic to Mrs. Mallard’s closing of one aspect of her life, her marriage, and an advent of life of new possibilities. In a sense, it was a certain kind of freedom from a socially-imposed â€Å"prison.† As she imagines life without her husband, she embraces visions of the future. She realizes that whether or not she had loved him was less important than this possession of self-assertion she now feels. Marriage for women at those times was more of a one-sided arrangement in favor for the male species. Although one might argue that, at present, this is less prevalent. But the fact remains that gender bias is still incorporated into society in much subtle ways. This is very much how Mrs. Mallard felt towards her marriage. Her happiness was much subordinated by her sense of duty. Duty was highly regarded in Victorian view of morality. The symbolic travel is Mrs. Mallard’s personal journey of liberation paved by a sense of foreboding and tinge of sweet joy. Chopin uses parallelisms between her real life and that of her character Mrs. Mallard in the story. These are the death of her husband, the train wreck and issues on personal freedom. As recorded in her biography, the author Kate meets a Louisiana native, Oscar Chopin, a cotton broker. We see glimpses of her relationship with him by the way she follows her husband wherever he hauls their family from one place to another. At some time during their marriage, they establish a new home in New Orleans while waiting for their first child. However, her husband’s brokerage business fails in 1879 and again he decides to move north to his family plantations in Natchitoches Parish. We see Kate here, subservient as any woman of her time, following her husband wherever he summons herto follow. Author Wyatt posits that Oscar was â€Å"by all accounts, he adored his wife, admired her independence and intelligence, and allowed her unheard of freedom† (Wyatt). However, one is not sure if this was a real freedom she experiences from her husband because it is also told that â€Å"After their marriage they lived in New Orleans where she had five boys and two girls, all before she was twenty-eight.† (Wyatt). Having five children before one is twenty-eight years of age means that she bore these children practically one after another. Thus, how could a woman who possesses a freedom of her own give birth one after the other? In much the same way, The Story of an Hour tells of Mrs. Mallard as she learns of the death of her husband from people who even exercise great caution not to tell the bad news to her right on since â€Å"Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble, great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husbands death.† It is the next few scenes that give us an inkling as to how she really views this death because she retreats to her room and instead of grieving, ponders on her life now that she had all the freedom in the world. Even the train wreck is replete with vignettes from her own story. Kate has her own share of â€Å"train wrecks† in life. The deaths of her loved ones within a short period of time prove disastrous for her and derail her life. In a similar vein, for Chopin ‘s character, Mrs. Mallard, the train wreck her husband figures in signifies not so much as a tragedy but as the beginning of freedom for her. Chopin points out that Mrs. Mallard actually disdained her husband as she pens, â€Å"And yet she had loved himsometimes. Often she had not. What did it matter! What could love the unsolved mystery, count for in face of this possession of self-assertion which she suddenly recognized as the strongest impulse of her being!† The character was portrayed in an understated state of joy amidst the apparently bad news of her husband’s death. Reading Kate Chopin’s The Story of an Hour inspires driven women to write many literary pieces on the issues at that time. Change is highly valued by women today who feel that they are incorporating the best of the modern world into their lives. Open to ideas and innovation, women are receptive to those who can explain how change will benefit them, just like Louise in Kate Chopin’s work. They now walk a narrow bridge between the past and the future. They will reject visions of the future that only repeats the past. Indeed, the theme, the setting and the characters and some events of this story may well derive more from her own set of personal experiences translated poignantly in a short yet memorable story. WORKS CITED Henry, S. The Deep Divide, Why American Women Resist Equality. The Macmillan Publishing Co: New York. 1994. Kate Chopin The Story of an Hour The Norton Introduction to Literature (eight edition) Real Life: Katherine Chopin. Encyclopedia of World Biography, 2nd ed. 17 Vols. Gale Research, 1998. Wyatt, Neal. â€Å"Biography of Kate Chopin.† Retrieved March 8, 2007 at: http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/eng384/katebio.htm

The Great Depression and World War II Shaped My Grandmas Life Essay

The Great Depression and World War II Shaped My Grandma's Life My grandma, Alma Jean, was born in 1935 in Silo, Oklahoma, just outside of Durant. Her birth certificate says she was born in Durant because Silo was too small to be considered a real town. She lived there on a farm with her parents, Orval and Maggie Dale. It was the middle of the Great Depression, and they were a farming family at a time when it seemed like no one could make a living off the land. To supplement their income, Orval and his father worked for the Works Progress Administration (WPA). President Roosevelt set up the WPA the same year that my grandma was born (Divine 760). The WPA was similar to other work relief programs such as the CCC, PWA, CWA and NYA. All were established to provide jobs for the unemployed. However, the WPA was unique because it was the first program to also address the needs of artists, writers, and actors. These people were employed by the WPA to capture and portray the culture and events of the United States at that time (761). As a result of the Depression, Americans learned to be resourceful. People would make clothes out of flour sacks and homes out of cardboard and metal scraps (Conlin 686). They grew gardens and hunted for their food instead of buying it at the store. Some people even sold apples in the city streets to earn money (Current 731). One of the weirdest things about my grandma is that she likes to eat squirrel brains. But it makes sense. When she was little they didn't have money to buy meat, so her dad would go hunting all the time. He'd catch jackrabbits and squirrels and whatever else he could find, and that's what they ate. So my grandma grew up eating squirrels (and their brains). It was normal to h... ... of the war. The day the war ended she was in school. When they found out it was over, they let all the kids go home early. Everywhere she went, she said she could feel a sense of relief. Everyone was happy and excited. My grandma grew up and married Henry Fordge. They now have six grown children and a lifetime of wonderful memories. Her first memories, though, were shaped by two of the greatest events in American history: The Great Depression and World War Two. Works Cited Conlin, Joseph R. Our Land, Our Time: A History of the United States. Orlando: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc., 1991. Current, Richard N., et al. American History: A Survey. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1983. Divine, Robert A., ed. America Past and Present. Illinois: Scott, Foresman and Company, 1987. Jordan, Killian, ed. Our Finest Hour. Time Inc. Home Entertainment. 2000.

Genetically Modified Foods Essay

Genetically Modified Foods (GMO) are crops that have had changes made to their genetic material (DNA) in a way that does not occur naturally through the introduction of a gene from a different organisms. The use of genetically modified foods has been debated about for some time now. One side argues that GMO is more sustainable and economically efficient. It is also argued that GMO has not been properly tested for any negative effects on humans, other animals and the environment. GMO foods are seen as the future in agriculture by scientist as it solves so many worldwide problems. Industries claim GMO foods have been changed to make the food last longer, give the crop herbicidal tolerance, resistance to insects and different climates, taste better and the crop will produce more food. This results in more food for the rapidly growing population of the world as less crops will spoil as a result of insects, while also increasing the nutritional value of the food. Foods that previously weren’t able to grow in varying climates will now be able to, this will especially benefit countries such as Africa where their climate is very harsh. It has been argued that scientists have not done enough research and have not fully tested their products properly. This has been the concerns of many people all over the world. Do the benefits really outweigh the negatives? While GMO products may be very beneficial to society in theory very few have been properly tested for how they impact humans and other organisms in the long term. Tests have been done on rats testing the effects of GMO products on their health, in all cases rats feed GMO products were more likely to develop tumours and suffer server liver and kidney damage. Recent studies also show that despite the claims of GMO food supporters GMO crops don’t produce larger amounts of food. In addition to these problems it has been found that weeds have crossed bread with these GMO plants resulting in herbicide resistant weeds which mean stronger pesticides are needed which possess a huge threat to none GMO plants. In 2010 Germany introduced a ban on Monsanto genetically modified corn as it was considered dangerous. In 2011 Peru passed a law banning genetically modified crops for 10 years, the same year Hungary also destroyed 1000 acres of corn that was found to be grown with genetically modified seeds which are banned. If countries are going to such lengths to keep GMO foods out there must be an issue with them. The main issue with GMO is that it is big companies that are creating GMO foods. They only care about making a profit. This results in sloppy long term tests and in some cases false information being provided to the public to promote their product. In most cases the negatives clearly outweigh the positives of GMO foods although that does not rule out all GMO products. If governments got involved more and incorporated better restrictions on the production of GMO foods results will improve. With more research and tests maybe GMO foods really will be the way of the future.

My Phone Thesis - 16066 Words

I. Executive Summary Solid Group Incorporated has been in the retail industry for more than 50 years. Among Solid Group’s biggest projects to date is the introduction of My|Phone, the very first dual active SIM mobile phone. My|Phone is the first and leading Filipino mobile phone manufacturer in the Philippines and developing better phones at much affordable prices. A proposal for the Global Marketing plan for My|Phone has been made. In the most recent statistics available from the ITU World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Database in 2009, Anguilla garnered the sixth spot as one of the top twenty countries with the highest per capita cell phone use. Anguilla is the most northern of the Leeward Islands in the Lesser Antilles in the†¦show more content†¦My|Phone My|Phone – the first and only Filipino mobile phone brand that offers dual SIM mobility – grew from a favor for friends to try out a local mobile phone brand in an attempt to join the playing field of established international giants. Three years down the line, My|Phone has proven to be a definitive contender in the Philippine mobile phone landscape, consistently averaging significant sales figures. The response has driven My|Phone to continuously strive to develop better phones at much affordable prices. No doubt a revolutionary mobile handset provider, My|Phone is the first and leading Filipino mobile phone manufacturer in the Philippines and My|Phone is the first mobile phone provider with customized applications and content tagged as Pinoy Phone, a software exclusively created for My|Phone with a gamut of data such as recipes, jokes, and even prayers. MyTel and My Solid MyTel Mobility Solutions, Inc. is the exclusive authorized distributor of My|Phone products. All sales and distribution functions are handled by the company. MyTel boasts of a dynamic, competent and able Sales Team that has a nationwide coverage of mobile phone dealers. My Solid Technologies and Devices Corp., on the other hand, is the principal entity handling the My|Phone Brand. My Solid is focused on building the brand through above the line marketing methods. It is alsoShow MoreRelatedComplaint Speech1384 Words   |  6 Pagesexamples from my own experience: a) Dog-phobia; b) Bad technical support for computer products; c) Bay Area traffic. Thesis: Your central idea should be a concise statement that declares the essence of your complaint. Here are three different examples for three different topics: - Topic: Dogphobia. 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