Miss Emily and Miss Millard.
In the short story “The story of an hour” the main character finds out her husband has passed, and her response in front of company is that of grief but when she is left alone she yells freedom over and over again. She has found this freedom she has never been allowed to have as a married woman. In the other story we read, “A Rose for Emily” the main character never married, but she did live with her father for many years until he passed, and then she was freed too. Emily never did marry, despite that being what everyone expected, she was a young woman in a wealthy family, society says that you need a family to carry on the family name. Her father wouldn't allow her to marry, so when he dies she goes looking for a husband. She really does want to be a wife, and she finds a suitor, but he turns her down. Ultimately she kills him and sleeps next to his corpse. Which is definitely not what society expects, woman or not. I found the second story to be much more interesting, perhaps because it is longer is it able to make a more complete story or maybe its because of the murder. I certainly found that is applied to our question “how do women defy societal expectations?” much better. She was a crazy old lady who was widely respected because of her father and grandfathers actions, and because of that she got away with a lot.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorCaity Cattolica Tittle Archives
January 2019
Categories |