Comparing A Father's Confession And The Story Of An Hour
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In “A Father’s Confession” by Guy de Maupassant and “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, the authors create two protagonists, M. Badon-Leremince and Mrs. Mallard, and depict their relationships with M. Badon-Leremince’s children and Mr. Mallard. Comparing and contrasting the similarities and differences of these relationships helps find deeper themes, point of view, and dialogue that Maupassant and Chopin draw from the two different characters and short stories. Guy de Maupassant and Kate Chopin show a close examination of the way M. Badon-Leremince’s children, the antagonists of “A Father’s Confession,” and Mrs. Mallard, the protagonist of “A Story of an Hour,” react after finding out devastating news. Both Guy de Maupassant and Kate Chopin’s…show more content… Kate Chopin does not let the story be told in the protagonist’s point of view, instead she tells the complete story. The opening of the story begins with the readers knowing something Mrs. Mallard doesn’t. If the story was told in first person, the readers would be have whole different explanation of her weak heart. Being that the short story is told in third person we get to see how sympathetic and understandable Mrs. Mallard is. The narrator explains Mrs. Mallard’s behavior and thought process. “There was something coming to her and she was waiting for it, fearfully. What was it? She did not know; it was too subtle and elusive to name. But she felt it, creeping out of the sky, reaching toward her through the sounds, the scents, the color that filled the air.” This is an example from the short story showing that Mrs. Mallard cringes away from the feeling of freedom. This makes it seem like it’s not Mrs. Mallard’s fault she has these feelings. If this story was told in first person, we might think Mrs. Mallard didn’t love her husband or is selfish. She never yells “free,” but rather whispers it though “slightly parted…show more content… “A Father’s Confession” begins with an introduction to a funeral and we learn about the father and how he is described as being an honest man in a matter of sentences. In the first sentence of the father’s will we learn that the kids’ perception of their father was wrong. Maupassant uses the words “I committed a crime.” This tells us the father was not an honest man like his kids thought he was. M. Badon-Leremince’s kids return to the house of mourning, and shut themselves into the library and open the will while their father had just been placed in the ground. The absence of their father plays a significant part in the story. His idea of waiting for his children to read his secrets while he was dead and not telling them while he was alive was to make himself appear as a victim. Holding out on his lifetime secret really showed the relationships he had with his kids. Their bond wasn’t strong enough for him to tell them before he died. “The Story of an Hour” begins with a woman finding out her husband was reportedly killed in a train accident. We know from the beginning that she is “afflicted through heart trouble.” Through dialogue we learn that the narrator describes her physically, as “young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain strength.” Mr. Mallard is out working and Mrs. Mallard is at home, due to her health