The Journey for Freedom

A detailed Summary of The Journey for Freedom

There can be such a thing as caring too much for someone, especially when they are ill. No matter what the situations is, when someone tries to control the lives of those who are not well, how can they expect them to get better if they don't really understand what the problem is? This is the common theme between "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and "Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin. Each of these stories deals with the suppression of two separate women, Louise and Charlotte, who must overcome their controlling husbands and begin their search for individual freedom.

We must first come to understand the situations each of the main characters are in. Louise Mallard in "A Story of an Hour" suffers from a heart condition that has afflicted her. Her husband tried to make sure that she was not exposed to anything that would affect her condition. "Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble, great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband's death." (19) Louise was restrained in the house and only let out when properly supervised. When news of her husband's possible death came, the family and their doctor tried to break the news to her as gently as they c

Irony is another major player in each of these ladies lives. The most common ironic theme between both of the stories was the control their husbands over the wives. The husbands believed that they were doing the right thing by having their wives do nothing but rest all day but it turns out to be the worst thing for their wives. Both Louise and Charlotte would eventually fall into deep depressions then mental exhaustion or worse. Louise had her heart condition. Her husband, Brently, believed that she shouldn't do anything and just rest with no stress or strain. Louise constantly asked Brently to let her get out of the house and let her visit all of the places he talked about. Louise knew that she could get better but only if she could break the control from her husband. Irony came into Louise's life when she had heard the news of her husband's death. "She was drinking in a very elixir of live though that open window." (20) She realized that she could now be "free, free, free." (20) His reign of control was over. She could do the things she wanted without him saying otherwise. "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." (20) Louise had her hour of freedom, the birth of her new life for the future, until her husband returned home, alive and unharmed. It was more than she could take. With her newfound freedom, there is no way she could let anyone take that away from her. She had died of a heart attack because she would rather be dead and free than be back in the hands of her over controlling husband.

Charlotte would have to deal with her own husband's control over her in her own way. For Charlotte it was much harder to be free because John had much more control over her. Charlotte knew as Louise knew, if she could just get out of their controlled situations that was set for them she could entertain the possibility of getting bet

Some common words found in the essay are:
Louise Charlotte, Yellow Wallpaper, Irony Louise's, Charlotte Louise, Knowing Mallard, Jane I've, , Mallard Story, Kate Chopin, yellow wallpaper, louise charlotte, husband's death, charlotte yellow wallpaper, charlotte yellow, break gently, heart condition, minute day, john control, free free,

Approximate Word count = 1337
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English