The Story Of An Hour/Mother Savage Essay Example For Students

The Story Of An Hour/Mother Savage Essay In the short story of Mother Savage by Guy de Maupassant, we learn of what life was like for a widowed mother whose only son goes off to war, the setting taking place in Virelogne, France during the Franco-Prussian war. Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893) lived during this time and participated in the war himself. Through Historical, Biographical, and New Historical critical analysis of the author, and the time period, we will see that the effects of the war and how it greatly influenced this piece of literature. Formally known as Guy de (Henri Rene Albert) Maupassant, he was a French novelist and short-story writer. He is deemed one of the modern masters of the art of the short story and has influenced practitioners of that genre from his time to the present. (Guy de Maupassant Encarta Encyclopedia 2001. CD-ROM. Microsoft Electronic Publishing, 2001) Maupassant did not grow up a natural writer; In fact he did not consider a literacy career until he was almost thirty years old. Before this, he studied law in Paris, but the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871, which destroyed his familys fortune and forced Maupassant to find work as a government office clerk, interrupted his studies. To divert himself from the office work he found tedious, he swam, boated, pursued feminine company at fashionable places, and began to write. His parents separated when he was 11 years old. Maupassant grew up in his native Normandy. In 1869 Maupassant started to study law in Paris, but soon, at age 20, he volunteered to serve in the army during Franco-Prussian War. (http://www. online-literature. com/maupassant/ Literature Network) This comes into play when in the text it says: When the war broke out, Mother Savages son, who was then thirty three years old, volunteered, leaving his mother all alone. However, no one felt sorry for the old woman because everybody knew she had money. The author himself also volunteered to fight with the French army. There is not mention if his mother was widowed, but his familys fortune was destroyed by the outbreak of the war. Could this possibly been what Maupassant desired for his own family that they had money? The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, 1870-71, a conflict between France and Prussia that signaled the rise of German military power and imperialism. (Franco-Prussian War Encarta Encyclopedia 2001. CD-ROM. Microsoft Electronic Publishing, 2001) We enter further into the story as the Prussians arrived, and they were billeted with the people of the area, according to their wealth and resources of each family. Because Mother Savage was known to have money- she would be assigned four Prussian soldiers to come into her home. These soldiers would help out around the house, and could be seen cleaning up the kitchen, washing dishes, chopping wood, peeling potatoes, washing linen-in short, doing all the chores like four good boys working for their own mother. (Fiction A Pocket Anthology R. S. Gwyn Page 65 paragraph 3) These soldiers appeared to be like second sons to Mother Savage, doing what her son would be doing if he were there. The author inserts an interesting thought She liked them well enough, too, those four enemies of hers; for country people do not feel patriotic hatred-those feelings are reserved for the upper classes. (Fiction A Pocket Anthology R. S. Gwyn page 66 paragraph 1) She liked the four soldiers as sons of her own as well, yet she saw them also as the enemy. It wasnt until she received information of her sons death that her behavior changed dramatically. At first it describes her as being overwhelmed by the news. No real emotion at first, as if she is letting reality set in, and then her emotions take over and she begins to cry as she tries to visualize her sons death She then hears the voices of the four Prussian soldiers coming and she quickly hides the letter in her pocket and met them very calmly. As she was preparing dinner, the soldiers were able to bring back a rabbit so they could have something good to eat for dinner. When it came time to kill the rabbit for dinner she did not have the heart to do it; this was not the first rabbit she has ever had to kill. One of the soldiers hit the rabbit over the head and she proceeded to prepare the rabbit for dinner and the sight and warmth of the blood made her think about her son who had just been killed in battle by the Prussians. After dinner she asks the soldiers that after a whole month of being together she didnt even know their names. They understood, with some difficulty what she wanted and gave her their names; she insisted they write it down on a piece of paper along with their addresses of their families. then she folded up the paper and put it into her pocket, next to the letter which had told her about the death of her son. (Fiction A Pocket Anthology R. S. Gwyn page 67 paragraph 6) Pur carum EssayShe was raised in a culture where many people were holding onto society and values the way they were, and yet many others were feeling there was need for change, that change being the Womens Rights Movement. It is unknown how Kates mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother felt about this fight for womens rights, but one can assume that being the strong women they were, most likely they had very strong beliefs in womens rights as well. They had, after all, already been widowed and had been the man and the woman in the house for years. The OFlaherty women had strong souls and they knew how to take care of themselves. Safely said, Kate Chopin had a strong desire to be her own woman. She would make her own rules. Having been raised and graduated from a very prestigious Catholic school, Kate was taught very strict values and guidelines. She doesnt seem to use those values when living her life, as one would see by her many affairs after her husbands death, one with a married man. Kate appears to be a woman filled with passion and desires; she went after what she wanted and she said what she thought, even when it was scandalous. Kate does not restrict herself to a certain way of acting, living, or writing, as is seen in the content of her stories and novels. In a time that it was not acceptable for women to speak out about sexuality and independence, Kate screams it in her writing. Her stories brought on many controversies and was not widely appreciated or accepted until many years after Kates death. Kate Chopin leaves a legacy behind, though. Along with many very popular stories, her unacceptable literatures have now been published and are considered masterpieces. Chopin wrote of a time in the future where women had the freedom to write what they felt, but she did it in a time when it was unacceptable. Through her writing, Kate told a story of womens rights in their own. She fought this battle alone and it was Kate Chopins boldness and courage, which left her to stand out among all others. Mrs. Mallard is known at the beginning of the story to have a heart condition. What kind of a heart condition, we do not know. As Mrs. Mallard learns of her husbands death She did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance. (Fiction A Pocket Anthology R. S. Gwyn page 71 paragraph 2) She is demonstrating that she is not remorseful and that the institution of marriage was more of a prison to her than anything else. She then asks to be left alone as she goes to her room, and this is where the thoughts start churning in her mind as to what she is going to do next with a metaphorical chain that has now been loosed from her. Now that she was a widow, she had the social status that was acceptable by society. There would be no powerful will bending her in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow creature. (Fiction A Pocket Anthology R. S. Gwyn page 72 paragraph 4) In 1855 on November 1, being one of the founders of the Pacific Railroad, her father was aboard the train on its inaugural journey over the Gasconade Bridge, which collapsed, killing many of its passengers. After only two months into her term at Sacred Heart, Kate came home and was to be educated by her great-grandmother. Eliza Faris OFlaherty, Kates mother, was a member of the prominent French-Creole community and a member of an exclusive social circle. Eliza was only 27 years old when she heard of her 50-year-old husbands death. She may have been depressed, yet liberated by the news, or so Kate Chopins Story of an Hour suggests: a wife, hearing of her husbands death in a train accident, delights in thoughts of freedom. As we can see by this family tragedy, Kate Chopin wrote this story as an expression of how she felt about women and womens rights. She was also sharing what her grandmother felt as she lost her husband in a railroad disaster. Could this be a re-creation of her grandmothers situation? It us unknown to us whether or not Kates grandmother had a heart condition or not, or how she died, but Mrs. Mallard was overwhelmed once again at the knowledge of her husbands state of being alive that she died of heart disease-of joy that kills. Once again we can see that stories from peoples lives influence what we write. This was evident in the life of Kate Chopin. She was known as A Woman Ahead of Her Time- in that she stepped out of the traditional role of a woman of her time, and made it known the feelings of women however controversial it may be, she made it known to all.