The Norton anthology
After reading The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin, and Sympathy by Paul Laurence Dunbar, I noticed a similar theme: that of feeling imprisoned. Both writers convey a deep sense of unhappiness at being oppressed, which is understandable as Chopin was female, and Dunbar was African American. In Sympathy, Dunbar says (2013, p. 1809) “I know what the caged bird feels….I know why the caged bird beats his wings/ Till its blood is red on the cruel bars……When his wing is bruised and his bosom sore/ When he beats his bars and he would be free” – and it is quite clear he is referring to a feeling of imprisonment and oppression. Similarly, in The Story of an Hour, Chopin (2003, p. 1610) writes “She said it over and over under her breath: “free, free, free!”” , and the feeling of immense freedom doesn’t get much more clear than that. She also writes “There would be no one to live for here during those coming years; she would live for herself. There would be no powerful will bending hers…” (Chopin, 2003, p. 1610). The character feels like she is finally free of her dull and unhappy marriage. Such a feeling of imprisonment, in both samples of text, surpasses the struggles of being either a female, or an African American. It is an infringement of basic human rights. While the theme of imprisonment and oppression was clear in both texts, the difference between them was that Dunbar’s text was a steady stream of sadness, while Chopin’s text had ups and downs, which ultimately resulted in a sad ending.
(WC267)
References
Chopin, K. (2013). The story of an hour. In N. Baym, W. Franklin, P.F. Gura, J. Klinkowitz, A. Krupat, R.S. Levine … P.B. Wallace (Eds.), The Norton anthology of American literature (Shorter 8th ed.) (pp. 1609-1611). New York, NY: Norton. (Original work published 1895).
Dunbar, P. (2013). Sympathy. In N. Baym, W. Franklin, P.F. Gura, J. Klinkowitz, A. Krupat, R.S. Levine … P.B. Wallace (Eds.), The Norton anthology of American literature (Shorter 8th ed.) (p.1809). New York, NY: Norton. (Original work published 1899).
Post 4: Reply to a classmate regarding post 3; be sure to offer a new quote or idea to keep the conversation flowing! Be sure to quote, cite, and reference from the text(s) using appropriate APA format. Your post must be at least 150 words.
