Story of an Hour

I believe that "The Story of an Hour" is similar to "The Awakening" in a lot of ways. When Mr. Mallard dies, Mrs. Mallard is extremely happy and rejoicing about how she is finally free. The parallel to the awakening is when Edna's husband leaves on a trip and Edna expresses her freedom. The difference is that Edna's awakening happens over the course of weeks while Mrs. Mallards happens over the course of minutes: the indication that she was not previously hoping for and anticipating the elation that she would feel when her husband finally died was the fact that "there was something coming to her and she was waiting for it, fearfully" . She had never experienced this relief and freedom in the past- just as Edna in the Awakening had never realized her naïvety until meeting Robert. The final similarity is the death at the end. There are a few differences; Edna commits suicide while Mrs. Mallard dies of heart troubles, but they both die of the inability to live with the possibilities of their freedom. Edna cannot live with the conflicting interests of wanting Robert, freedom, and good standing, while Mrs. Mallard cannot live with the sudden realization that she is free from all she has been bound by. However, the two pieces of literature both correspond to the idea of freedom and liberation from oppression, but the unfeasibility of it.