Girl by kincaid
In The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin the character Louise Mallard has to be gently told that her husband has died tragically. Her sister Josephine tells her that her husband Bentley died in a railroad accident. Louise Mallard cries and mourns her husbands death but in the back of her mind, she is thinking she will finally be free. Although Bentley was always good to her, she can now have a life of her own without feeling oppressed. She feels that men and women oppress each other even if they do it out of kindness. She fantasizes about how her life will be without her husband and hopes that she will live a long life. Suddenly the door opens and Bentley walks in. He is alive and was not in the accident. Louise mallard dies of a heart attack the doctors say it was from happiness. Both Kincaid and Chopin wrote from their own experiences to portray a theme of feminism and women breaking away from stereotypes from their time periods. The Story of an Hour is the storyof a womans excitement for freedom from her husbands control. This story criticizes the sacrifices made by women to pleasethe stereotypes society had set, and that it attacks marriages where one personcontrols the relationship. Mrs. Mallards death at the end ofthe story is said to be brought on by the pain Mrs. Mallard felt when the shelost the joy and individuality she gained from her husbands death and not from happiness and relief of seeing her husband alive. Mrs. Mallards excitement for freedom illustrates how women of the timefelt about their male-dominated society. The women were ready to break free andexperience a more equalized society. Jamaica Kincaids Girl is based on therough relationship she had with her own mother. The short story shows the way amothers attitude and language can affect her daughter. The storyalso shows how the way a child is treated shapes their future. In Girl,Kincaid shows the world how she remembers being treated while she was growing upand how much it affected her.