Kate Chopin's Story of an Hour - Book Report/Review Example

Kate Chopins Story of an HourStory of an Hour is a short story by Kate Chopin that focuses on a woman in a frightfully repressive marriage. The woman, Louise Mallard, is seen to be in chains. The chains which women, in the past, were often chained to with the roles that were designated to them. She is seen to have suffered a condition of the heart that was made even more difficult with the fact that she lived in a man’s world. This is seen in the story as she is referred to as only Mrs Mallard, while the husband’s full name is given (Chopin 13).

The fact that she lives in a man’s world is seen as her sister arrives with news of her husband’s death. However, it was the husband’s close friend who arrived with the story of his death. The setting of the story is in the nineteenth century where the role of the woman is set beside the man. The chains of indignity are seen to shackle her even after her husband’s death, and this is seen in the manner in which she lives. She is still confined to the structures she adopted at the time of marriage.

These include the husband’s friends. The woman is stifled and choked by private conventions that society had forced onto her (Chopin 13). Her husband’s death comes as a relief, but somewhere in the story, the author foreshadows something terrible might happen to the woman. She becomes happier, and the dramas of her past life make her forget about her heart condition. This short story is simply about the last hour of the main character’s life. She never got to enjoy the freedom that many women today get to enjoy with the shocking return of her husband (Chopin 14).

In this short story, the author gives a reasonable account and/or picture of how many women’s lives were like. It is a short story that promises a good read.Alice Munro, the OfficePlot Summary by:The Office is a short story by Alice Munro that tells of a woman who decides to rent an office to continue writing. The problem she experiences is with her landlord who keeps interrupting her work with things she does not want. This seems to bother her as she sees that he is spying on her (Munro 58).

He seems to wonder what a proper woman would be doing at such a small space. Her attempts to tell him off are met with resistance. The landlord insinuates that the author has been using the space for parties and sex. He later accuses her of using lipstick to write some obscene words in the bathroom, which he claims his wife cannot clean due to her nature. She responds to the landlord’s rude mannerism in a manner any tenant should respond. However, her patience runs out, and the landlord feels hurt.

The relationship between the tenant and the landlord becomes increasingly hostile. She becomes uncomfortable, and a conflict is likely to ensue. She is a woman that is caught up between the pressures of life with a calling to write. The author brings out the insecurities that every woman feels in her life (Munro 60). This is what the short story tells to those who feel that they have something they need to do, but often face pressure to do them. She addresses these issues and asks women to rise above them and forget about people who tend to pressurise them.

This was the last story that she ever wrote in that office (Munro 74).Works citedMunro, A. Dance and the Happy Shades, and other Stories. Toronto: The Ryerson Press, 1998. Print. Chopin, K. The Story of an Hour: And Other Stories. New York: Macmillan, 2011. Print.