Literature and its Significance

As such, literature may imply all the mechanisms that a society uses to maintain its social and cultural heritage without necessarily using material artefacts or tools. Aspects of literature therefore involve storytelling, poetry, songs, tongue twisters, legends, myths, puns and proverbs. As such literature is the aspect of social living that entails the recorded or reproduced human experience through a skillfully expressed approaches; usually written or spoken. The rationale is that it is otherwise impossible to be able to depict certain social issues or outstanding but existing contexts that are worth communicating to the world with literature in absentia. We for instance learn about Sumerian cultures and early civilizations through the existence not only of artefacts and tools but also through the availability of literatures that depict the Sumerian perspective of life.

When discussing marriage and family, it is important to note that marriage forms a significant stage of human development. The marriage institution brings together various stakeholders thereby influencing not only the social organization but also bearing economic and legal implications. Principally, there has been a concern for the place of women in the society. Over the years, women have used political demonstrations supported by literature to bring gender issues into the public discourse (Goodman). The theme is therefore important in exploring the manner in which fictional authors have contributed in engaging the public with discussions on the experience of women in the society and how marriage and family affects women. Gale explains Mrs. Mallard’s grieving process and how the death of her husband weighs down on her. Indeed, the wife takes the death to be a serious loss.

In fact, the story explains how Mrs. Mallard passionately cries at the loss of her husband. Although her idea of liberty is not explained, it is evident that the character may have not completely appreciated her role as a wife. The story differs in the sense that Mrs. Mallard is actually a tragic hero who is unable to control the turn of events that lead to her death. Although a victim of circumstances, Mrs. Mallard’s personality keeping her obsessions secret make her unable to withstand the fact that she is about to be free. In fact, the woman forms the narrator of the story where the author attempts to offer a picture of the woman’s mental experience while living with her husband. From the beginning, it is almost obvious that there is something peculiar about the relationship between John the husband with his wife.

Gilman describes her husband’s point of view explaining that John thought her condition to be caused by hysteria and that the vacation was his idea for her convalescence. The narrator explains that her husband is also a doctor and that he recommended the vacation establishing several rules that barred her not only from getting the hotel room she desired but also caused stopped her from engaging in her passion of writing. While the narrator is indeed suffering from a mental condition, the prescriptions by her husband don’t seem to be working. She breaks into insanity creeping away with the piece of art and thinking that there were many other women creeping out of confined places as she saw in the image. The story ends with John shocked out of consciousness and the narrator having to creep over him every time.

Connections The two stories therefore deal with the experience of marriage and the extent to which societal values concerning marriage have led to the subjugation of women. In both stories, the authors seem to acknowledge that even women are imperfect as they are human but manage to express the aspects of subjugation that surround marriage. In The Story of an Hour, Annie does not know it but her yearning for freedom becomes the cause of her demise. Oct 1st). “Is Marriage Worth the Trouble For Women?” Psychology Today. st Oct 2015. psychologytoday. com/us/blog/insight-therapy/201510/is-marriage-worth-the-trouble-women Accessed on 13th Dec 2018.  Study Guide for Kate Chopin's "story of an Hour. Detroit: Gale, Cengage Learning, n. d. Print. Allen, Judith A.