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Compare the endings of Joyce’s ‘Araby’ and Chopin’s ‘The story of an hour’. How do these endings inform both narrative and character?
‘The story of an hour’ and ‘Araby’ have different story lines and characters, but carry a similar theme of repression and frustration by society. The main characters are oppressed by the expectations that their society and their environment impose on them. In ‘The story of an hour’, Mrs. Millard’s husband did not allow her freedom, she had thought she was happily married but upon her husband’s supposed death, she realizes that she would be better off without him. The narrator in ‘Araby’, is frustrated by life as a Dubliner, he refers to it as being ‘indeed sterile’. The Dublin culture represses him, makes his life monotonous and dull. The idea of the ‘Araby’ bazaar and a relationship with Mangan’s sister give him hope for freedom, but eventually his environment hinders him from attaining that freedom. This paper is going to compare the endings of these stories in terms of their impact on the narrative and main characters.
‘The story of an hour’ is the story of an hour in Mrs. Millard’s life, she suffers from a condition of the heart, therefore when her husband passes away in a train accident, her sister Josephine and her husband’s friend Richard decide that it would be best to break this news to her as gently as possible. Her reaction is very different from what they had expected, she breaks down at once, then goes into her room, mourns for a short while and it dawns on her that she is now free, she whispers, “Free! Body and soul free!”.(Chopin, 2000). She feels young and free, since she will now live only for herself and not for her husband. He had made her feel as though she did not have freedom to live as she wanted. She is happy and even when she looks out of her bedroom window everything looks different and better. Eventually she comes out ‘carrying herself unwittingly like a goddess of Victory.’ (Chopin, 2000) However, her happiness is to be short-lived because her husband arrives even before the hour is over. She collapses and dies. The doctors say that her death has been caused by a heart disease. The book ends with the doctors saying that she died of ‘a joy that kills’.(Chopin, 2000)
‘‘Araby’’ is the story told by an unnamed narrator who is infatuated with his friend Mangan’s sister. Although they do not speak a lot to each other, Mangan’s sister is always in his thoughts even when he is doing food shopping with his aunt on Saturday and when he is alone in the back room of his house and he even follows her quietly as she leaves her house. The narrator dreams of being able to talk to her about his feelings one day. There is a bazaar called Araby that is about to be held in the town, and Mangan’s sister tells the boy that she will not be able to attend because she will be attending a school retreat. The boy then tells her that he will be able to go and since she cannot come, he will buy something for her, Mangan’s sister agrees. This conversation excites the boy, because it has brought up prospects of him being able to talk to her again and perhaps even charm her with a gift. On the day of the bazaar, the narrator’s uncle fails to come early to give him train fare as they had agreed. He watches restlessly as the hours pass and even guests come but the uncle does not arrive. Finally, at 9 pm the uncle returns and does not seem too concerned that he disappointed his nephew. The narrator rushes out of the house as his uncle is asking him whether he knows the poem “The Arabs farewell to his steed”.(Joyce, 1993) He arrives at the bazaar just before 10 pm and finds the stalls closing. He is dismayed by this and approaches one stall but does not buy anything since he feels the woman selling the goods is unwelcoming towards him, he says, “The tone of her voice was not encouraging; she seemed to have spoken to me out of a sense of duty.”(Joyce, 2000). The story ends with him not buying anything for Mangan’s sister and he stands at the bazaar grounds angry at this outcome.
These two stories bear similarities in the way they end. In both stories the characters are happy that they finally find the moment they had been waiting for, but their hopes are shattered when what could have ended on a high note ends tragically with acceptance of defeat in ‘Araby’ and with death in ‘The story of an hour.’
The endings are also similar in that they contradict the expected sequence of events. In ‘Araby’ the character is elated that he has finally had the chance to talk to Mangan’s sister and this makes the reader anxious to know what the narrator will buy for her and what her reaction will be. However, none of this happens; he does not buy her a gift nor do we see her reacting to it. In ‘The story of an hour’, Mrs. Millard is excited at the prospect of beginning her life afresh, she anticipates the rest of her life whereas the day before she had wished her life would end. The reader expects to see her living her new life and enjoying the newly found freedom. However, this is not to be, as her husband returns almost immediately she leaves her room to go downstairs. The shock and dismay she feels is so much that her heart gives in and she dies.(Chopin, 2000). Both of these stories end with an anticlimax, the characters hopes are shattered.
There is also a noticeable similarity in the reaction of the two characters to their fate in both endings. The manner in which they react to their situations is what gives the story a tragic twist. They give up and resign to their fates. For instance immediately Mrs. Millard sees her husband, she falls down and dies of shock and disappointment. She had already seen and imagined how lovely her life would be without her husband and her death seems to be her reaction to the fact that she would now not be able to see the fruition of her dream. In ‘Araby’, the narrator also gives up, we see the story ending with him disappointed, and angry that he will now not be able to give a gift to the girl he has admired for so long.
In both stories the characters are happy that they finally find the moment they had been waiting for, but their hopes are shattered when what could have ended on a high note ends tragically with acceptance of defeat in ‘Araby’ and with death in ‘The story of an hour’. Both endings tell us that the characters desired something so much that when the desired outcome did not present itself to them in the end, they were extremely heartbroken, hence their despair. They both strongly emphasize the immenseness of the frustration that the characters felt on learning that they could not get what they had longed for. In ‘The story of an hour’ Mrs. Millard was ecstatic that she could now ‘live free’, the possibilities of the future were now so alluring and she cannot wait to start her new life. But her husband comes back and all her dreams are broken, and she dies as a result. In ‘Araby’, the narrator had finally found the opportunity to express his feelings to the girl he loved and was looking forward to going to the bazaar and buying her a gift that she would like and perhaps also make her like him. The thoughts of this were a pleasant interruption to his monotonous life throughout the week, therefore when his expectations were thwarted, his reaction is dramatic; he gives up altogether, even after he had anticipated that moment for so long.
Reference
Chopin, K., the Story of an Hour, Perfection Learning, Illinois, US: 2000
Joyce, J., Dubliners Penguin Classics, Illinois,USA: 1993
Compare the endings of Joyce’s ‘Araby’ and Chopin’s ‘The story of an hour’. How do these endings inform both narrative and character?
‘The story of an hour’ and ‘Araby’ have different story lines and characters, but carry a similar theme of repression and frustration by society. The main characters are oppressed by the expectations that their society and their environment impose on them. In ‘The story of an hour’, Mrs. Millard’s husband did not allow her freedom, she had thought she was happily married but upon her husband’s supposed death, she realizes that she would be better off without him. The narrator in ‘Araby’, is frustrated by life as a Dubliner, he refers to it as being ‘indeed sterile’. The Dublin culture represses him, makes his life monotonous and dull. The idea of the ‘Araby’ bazaar and a relationship with Mangan’s sister give him hope for freedom, but eventually his environment hinders him from attaining that freedom. This paper is going to compare the endings of these stories in terms of their impact on the narrative and main characters.
‘The story of an hour’ is the story of an hour in Mrs. Millard’s life, she suffers from a condition of the heart, therefore when her husband passes away in a train accident, her sister Josephine and her husband’s friend Richard decide that it would be best to break this news to her as gently as possible. Her reaction is very different from what they had expected, she breaks down at once, then goes into her room, mourns for a short while and it dawns on her that she is now free, she whispers, “Free! Body and soul free!”.(Chopin, 2000). She feels young and free, since she will now live only for herself and not for her husband. He had made her feel as though she did not have freedom to live as she wanted. She is happy and even when she looks out of her bedroom window everything looks different and better. Eventually she comes out ‘carrying herself unwittingly like a goddess of Victory.’ (Chopin, 2000) However, her happiness is to be short-lived because her husband arrives even before the hour is over. She collapses and dies. The doctors say that her death has been caused by a heart disease. The book ends with the doctors saying that she died of ‘a joy that kills’.(Chopin, 2000)
‘‘Araby’’ is the story told by an unnamed narrator who is infatuated with his friend Mangan’s sister. Although they do not speak a lot to each other, Mangan’s sister is always in his thoughts even when he is doing food shopping with his aunt on Saturday and when he is alone in the back room of his house and he even follows her quietly as she leaves her house. The narrator dreams of being able to talk to her about his feelings one day. There is a bazaar called Araby that is about to be held in the town, and Mangan’s sister tells the boy that she will not be able to attend because she will be attending a school retreat. The boy then tells her that he will be able to go and since she cannot come, he will buy something for her, Mangan’s sister agrees. This conversation excites the boy, because it has brought up prospects of him being able to talk to her again and perhaps even charm her with a gift. On the day of the bazaar, the narrator’s uncle fails to come early to give him train fare as they had agreed. He watches restlessly as the hours pass and even guests come but the uncle does not arrive. Finally, at 9 pm the uncle returns and does not seem too concerned that he disappointed his nephew. The narrator rushes out of the house as his uncle is asking him whether he knows the poem “The Arabs farewell to his steed”.(Joyce, 1993) He arrives at the bazaar just before 10 pm and finds the stalls closing. He is dismayed by this and approaches one stall but does not buy anything since he feels the woman selling the goods is unwelcoming towards him, he says, “The tone of her voice was not encouraging; she seemed to have spoken to me out of a sense of duty.”(Joyce, 2000). The story ends with him not buying anything for Mangan’s sister and he stands at the bazaar grounds angry at this outcome.
These two stories bear similarities in the way they end. In both stories the characters are happy that they finally find the moment they had been waiting for, but their hopes are shattered when what could have ended on a high note ends tragically with acceptance of defeat in ‘Araby’ and with death in ‘The story of an hour.’
The endings are also similar in that they contradict the expected sequence of events. In ‘Araby’ the character is elated that he has finally had the chance to talk to Mangan’s sister and this makes the reader anxious to know what the narrator will buy for her and what her reaction will be. However, none of this happens; he does not buy her a gift nor do we see her reacting to it. In ‘The story of an hour’, Mrs. Millard is excited at the prospect of beginning her life afresh, she anticipates the rest of her life whereas the day before she had wished her life would end. The reader expects to see her living her new life and enjoying the newly found freedom. However, this is not to be, as her husband returns almost immediately she leaves her room to go downstairs. The shock and dismay she feels is so much that her heart gives in and she dies.(Chopin, 2000). Both of these stories end with an anticlimax, the characters hopes are shattered.
There is also a noticeable similarity in the reaction of the two characters to their fate in both endings. The manner in which they react to their situations is what gives the story a tragic twist. They give up and resign to their fates. For instance immediately Mrs. Millard sees her husband, she falls down and dies of shock and disappointment. She had already seen and imagined how lovely her life would be without her husband and her death seems to be her reaction to the fact that she would now not be able to see the fruition of her dream. In ‘Araby’, the narrator also gives up, we see the story ending with him disappointed, and angry that he will now not be able to give a gift to the girl he has admired for so long.
In both stories the characters are happy that they finally find the moment they had been waiting for, but their hopes are shattered when what could have ended on a high note ends tragically with acceptance of defeat in ‘Araby’ and with death in ‘The story of an hour’. Both endings tell us that the characters desired something so much that when the desired outcome did not present itself to them in the end, they were extremely heartbroken, hence their despair. They both strongly emphasize the immenseness of the frustration that the characters felt on learning that they could not get what they had longed for. In ‘The story of an hour’ Mrs. Millard was ecstatic that she could now ‘live free’, the possibilities of the future were now so alluring and she cannot wait to start her new life. But her husband comes back and all her dreams are broken, and she dies as a result. In ‘Araby’, the narrator had finally found the opportunity to express his feelings to the girl he loved and was looking forward to going to the bazaar and buying her a gift that she would like and perhaps also make her like him. The thoughts of this were a pleasant interruption to his monotonous life throughout the week, therefore when his expectations were thwarted, his reaction is dramatic; he gives up altogether, even after he had anticipated that moment for so long.
Reference
Chopin, K., the Story of an Hour, Perfection Learning, Illinois, US: 2000
Joyce, J., Dubliners Penguin Classics, Illinois,USA: 1993
