“The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin and “Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway are two short stories that I believe share the significance of change and its relation to happiness. In both stories there is a female character that is put in a serious situation where they must undergo an intense thought process.
Mrs. Mallard is a character that is told her husband has died and she is now forced into thinking about how her life will change. Despite the tragic death of her husband, Mrs. Mallard becomes psyched and ready for the single life. She is no longer under control of her husband and she is free, as well as young. She was being deprived of living a happy life simply because of the existence of her spouse. What this makes me think about is Kate Chopin’s book “The Awakening” which seems like an elongated story similar to her “The Story of an Hour”. I noticed that in both of these stories, the main female character seems to have no other option but to die because in some way or form it was her only chance at being free and happy. I think that’s a tad bit extreme.
Jig is a character that ponders upon the thought of whether or not she should have an abortion. It seems like her options were, have a baby and lose your husband, or kill your baby and live happily with your husband. The only problem I had with this was that her happiness could have come along with either option, something I believe she failed to see.
Both Jig and Mrs. Mallard encounter short moments in their life where they come close to change and it is clear that their willingness to make these changes is driven by their belief of how happy they will be in the outcome. What I believe this is saying every decision we make in life, minor or drastic, has to do with how we want it to affect our happiness. In other words, we do what we do because it makes us “happy”.
