The Bartleby the Scrivener by Herman Melville and the Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin both demonstrates the theme of freedom. In Bartleby the Scrivener, Melville shows that Bartleby is protesting against the authority and refuses to perform duties. On the other hand, in the Story of an Hour, Chopin shows that Ms. Mallard is grieving over her husband death and realization that she is free from the restraints of marriage. Both authors use theme, symbolism, and character to convey the meaning of the stories. Some symbolism in the stories such as open window and brick wall and some characters are Ms Mallard, Mr Mallard, and Bartleby. Although both authors use these elements of fiction such as theme, symbolism, and character, however, Kate Chopin uses these more effectively than Melville because her literature is more comprehensible and transparent. In Story of an Hour, Kate Chopin uses symbolism to show the theme of freedom. The open window in Ms. Mallard room she gazes so much symbolism the freedom that awaits her. After she discovered her husband's death, she locked herself into her room and realized that she is freed from the restraints of marriage. From the window, Ms Mallard sees “...the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life” (60). Spring is considered a time of renewal and rebirth. As Louise is witnessing all this, she is beginning to sense her newfound freedom, like she is becoming a new person.Also, she sees blue sky, and fluffy clouds. instead of mourning over her husband's death she sees new life where she is freed from everything. Everything that she experiences through her senses suggests joy and spring—new life. As she indulges in this excitement, she feels that the open window is providing her with life itself and freedom. During that time period, women had very less freedom and men were to make all the decisions since they are the breadwinner. Women were expected to be just houswife which means Ms. Mallard could not enjoy her life the way she wanted. After realizing her husband passed away she sees the new life and freedom awaits her through the open window. The open window provides a bright future in distance of Ms Mallard which is no longer be controlled by the demands of another person. In “Bartleby the Scrivener,” Melville use symbolism to show Bartleby feeling about not having freedom.
…show more content…
The open window in this story symbolizes freedom just like in the “Story of an Hour.” Bartleby is given job and his desk is in the corner of the office where a window is located. Through the open window only thing that Bartleby could see is nothing but a brick wall. The brick wall outside the office window symbolize Bartleby has no freedom at all. Even though the open window symbolizes freedom but the brick wall shows that he has no freedom in the working places and for workers during the capitalism. At first he appeared to be the typical hard working employee, but when requested to examine the copies Bartleby simply stated, “I would prefer not to” (297). This shocked the lawyer and other employees as he would go against the boss. He started to stop doing any tasks as Melville says “The next day I noticed that Bartleby did nothing but stand at his window in his dead- wall revery”(37). This shows that he is fighting to get his freedom by not doing any task given by the boss. However, this pattern only repeated itself on several occasions with the same simple response. It seems as though Bartleby set himself free from the trapped world of a typical working man by refusing to participate in anything. Bartleby did only what he wanted and didn’t even regard his own boss. However, he still does not Kate Chopin uses the main character of the story, Louise Mallard, to show how death of her husband evolved her into a stronger and independent person with seeking freedom. Louise Mallard is a weak hearted and submissive person as mention by Chopin “Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble, great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the new of her husband’s death” (169). It give way to the idea that
The open window in this story symbolizes freedom just like in the “Story of an Hour.” Bartleby is given job and his desk is in the corner of the office where a window is located. Through the open window only thing that Bartleby could see is nothing but a brick wall. The brick wall outside the office window symbolize Bartleby has no freedom at all. Even though the open window symbolizes freedom but the brick wall shows that he has no freedom in the working places and for workers during the capitalism. At first he appeared to be the typical hard working employee, but when requested to examine the copies Bartleby simply stated, “I would prefer not to” (297). This shocked the lawyer and other employees as he would go against the boss. He started to stop doing any tasks as Melville says “The next day I noticed that Bartleby did nothing but stand at his window in his dead- wall revery”(37). This shows that he is fighting to get his freedom by not doing any task given by the boss. However, this pattern only repeated itself on several occasions with the same simple response. It seems as though Bartleby set himself free from the trapped world of a typical working man by refusing to participate in anything. Bartleby did only what he wanted and didn’t even regard his own boss. However, he still does not Kate Chopin uses the main character of the story, Louise Mallard, to show how death of her husband evolved her into a stronger and independent person with seeking freedom. Louise Mallard is a weak hearted and submissive person as mention by Chopin “Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble, great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the new of her husband’s death” (169). It give way to the idea that