Sunday, February 13, 2011

Realism in Chopin's "The Awakening" and "Story of an Hour"

This short excerpt from a story in the genre of Realism entitled, "The Awakening," certainly does demonstrate Realism well as the short story "Story of an Hour" does as well. Both stories' author Kate Chopin does a great job of portraying Realism as what Abby Werlock describes to be, "the attempt to depict life as it actually exists, not as the author wants it to be in the present or the future, or imagines it was in the past." In her excerpt of "The Awakening," she depicts a woman crying, but the reader does not know the cause. Chopin describes her being in her room, in her arm chair, weeping (Chopin "The Awakening" 491). She exhibits human nature in this story as well as simplicity and figurative language. Similarly, "Story of an Hour" depicts a woman who receives the news of her husband's death and is actually not too sad about it (Chopin "The Story of an Hour" 554-555). Human nature really becomes a factor here because the reader must attempt to understand Mrs. Mallard's whole thought process. Each of these works attributes some traits of Realism by similar means.

In "The Awakening," the reader sees Chopin's simple yet informative description of this woman, Mrs. Pontellier, "holding the back of her chair with one hand; her loose sleeve had slipped almost to the shoulder of her uplifted arm. Turning, she thrust her face, steaming and wet, into the bend of her arm, and she went on crying there, not caring any longer to dry her face, her eyes, her arms" (Chopin "The Awakening" 491). Classic human nature as told by Realism is in effect here because, like in the real world, Mrs. Pontellier is weeping over something obviously very sad. Chopin simply tells it like it is when she describes the overall setting as a normal night after midnight in a lit village with many cottages (Chopin "The Awakening" 491). Again, this description is rather short, but it gets the point across which almost seems to be the goal of Realism. However, as seen in each of these stories, this trait does not make the stories of Realism simple. For example, in "The Awakening," nobody knows what exactly Mrs. Pontellier is crying over, it could be something very serious or complex, but we do know that from this short excerpt, there is much potential information and plot to be known. In "Story of an Hour," a very similar action occurs, except this time, we know what the cause of grief was. Mrs. Mallard's husband has died, and it is essentially the story of her taking it all in (Chopin "Story of an Hour" 554-555). This is yet another example of Chopin attempting to convey basic human nature through unfortunate everyday events, the unofficial goal of Realism.

Chopin uses cases of figurative language to amplify the possible emotional complexity of these stories. As seen in "The Awakening," Chopin says, "An indescribable oppression, which seemed to generate in some unfamiliar part of her consciousness, filled her whole being with a vague anguish, it was like a shadow, like a mist passing across her soul's summer day" (Chopin "The Awakening" 491). This use of simile enhances the emotional detail of the story without any unnecessary wordiness although all it is really doing is describing a little of the emotion felt by Mrs. Pontellier. Overall, Chopin's writing in each of these stories is an attempt to exhibit the sadness, or maybe happiness, felt by humans in a true or real sense rather than covering it up.


Chopin, Kate. "The Awakening." Glencoe Literature. Comp. Jeffrey Wilhelm. American Literature ed. Columbus; McGraw-Hill, 2010. 491. Print.

Chopin, Kate. "The Story of an Hour." Glencoe Literature. Comp. Jeffrey Wilhelm. American Literature ed. Columbus; McGraw-Hill, 2010. 554-555. Print.

Werlock, Abby H. P. "realism." The Facts On File Companion to the American Short Story, Second Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2009. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. Feb 13, 2011.

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