Comparing and Contrasting “The Story of an Hour” and “How I Met My Husband”. Lora Cruse Ashford University ENG125 11/20/2014

In this essay I will be comparing and contrasting two great short stories. One being “The Story of

an Hour” written by Kate Chopin in 1854 and the other being “How I Met my Husband” written by

Alice Munro in 1974. The two short stories share the theme of gender roles/marriage. That being said,,

I will be going over plot, point of view and tone. Sometimes women feel like they are

trapped in their marriage, and sometimes women cannot wait to become married.

Kate Chopin's “The Story of an Hour represents a negative view of marriage. Every
In both stories the main character is keeping a secret. They are keeping these

secrets to please others. Mrs. Mallard is keeping the secret that she is actually happy of her new found

freedom. Edie is keeping the secret that she was actually waiting by the mailbox everyday for Chris's

letters.

The use of an omniscient third person enables Chopin to tell a complete story that's not limited

to the protagonists' point of view. This is key because the opening of the story begins with us readers

knowing something Mrs. Mallard doesn't and because the story ends after Mrs. Mallard has already

died. If Mrs. Mallard were telling the story in first person, readers would be exposed to a whole

different explanation of her weak heart, and the story would end very differently-and somewhat earlier.

The use of third person omniscient narrative voice keeps Mrs. Mallard more sympathetic and

understandable. The narrator seems to be excusing her behavior and thought process, or at least

providing reasoning for it.

In contrast, “How I Met my Husband” uses a first person narrator as central character

perspective. “The use of