The Hidden Desires and Dreams of Married People
Janet Vint
Ashford University
English 125
Prof. Benzon Barbin
August 19, 2013

The Hidden Thoughts of Married People
Telling a short story involves many different things. Theme, tone, irony, and plot are just a few that really make a story come alive. “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty by James Thurber (b. 1939) and “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin (b. 1894) are two short stories that are written many years apart but still convey the same struggle that many people face with being married. Both stories display individuals that are having a hard time “finding themselves” or trying to go back and imagine their independence more or less by finding ways of escaping the “trapped” feeling of marriage. Both of the stories are portraits of the struggle that men and women face during a marriage.
“The Story of an Hour” tells of a woman with a very weak heart condition that has been told that her husband has been killed in a railroad accident. While most people would have expressed great sadness (she did for a brief moment) in learning such horrible news, Mrs. Mallard felt more like she had received a whole new life, only later did she learn that she had been misinformed and that her husband was still very much alive. The same could be said in “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”. This story tells of the restrictiveness of some marriages by giving great details of the constant daydreaming of a married man, who feels like he is being held prisoner by his own lack of self-esteem and also by his wife’s overbearing nature and constant nagging.
If one truly thinks about it the life experiences of an author has a great influence over what types of subject matters that they chose as their main theme of the story that is being written. It is crucial to recognize and understand the certain circumstances that surround the actual story and the point of view that highlights the main theme. The personal background or environment of an author seems to serve as an inspiration for their stories. By giving a brief summary of the two chosen author’s lives it makes it easier to understand their stories a little better and where the ideas may have come from. Kate Chopin, born Katherine O’Flaherty in 1851 was raised mainly by the dominate females of her family. At the age of five her father was killed by a train he was riding on as it crossed a bridge that had collapsed (Thomas, 1999). Chopin was raised with the beliefs to be a responsible, intelligent, and independent woman. Subsequently, the environment she grew up in was filled with very strong social views, opinions, and beliefs of women that were socially plagued. With the exclusion of the laws and customs during this time, Chopin’s childhood was without male sexist opinions. In fact, her great-great grandmother was the very first woman in St. Louis to succeed in legal separation from her husband (Thomas, 1999). Kate was taught to think for herself and from that she became a defender for the empowerment of women. Considering the beliefs from her upbringing, Kate, then 20 years old, married a man named Oscar Chopin and then moved to Louisiana. By 29 years of age she had given birth to six children. Three years later her husband died and left her in debt, she had no choice but to move back to St. Louis with her mother. By leaving her in this situation, this could have inspired “The Story of an Hour”. The feeling of being trapped in debit and having no choice but to move back in with her mother has somewhat of a similar situation contained in the story, Louise Mallard felt trapped by her husband and could have very well caused her heart condition that she had. Two years after moving there she had an affair with Albert Sampite, a married man (Thomas, 1999).
James Thurber was born in 1894. Thurber was galvanized by his family and society with the belief that he needed to advance himself socially. He had two male siblings and a father to consistently dictate to him male views. However, it was his mother that was the dominating personality of the family. Mary Anne Fisher Thurber, Mame, as she was more commonly called, was a bountiful fountain of inspiration for her son’s literary works (Berner, 1995). James Thurber attended Ohio State University from 1913 to 1918. After returning from Paris, France as a code clerk for the U.S. Department of State he married Althea Adams. Sadly, the 12 year marriage being very troubled ended with divorce in 1935 (Berner, 1995).
“The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin and “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” by James Thurber are both notable pieces of literature. Even though these stories are well written, each one possesses a different tone. Chopin’s story is of a more serious nature and deals with tragedy and death experienced by a woman that is not very mentally or physically strong due to poor health. Chopin sets the tone within the first few sentences, “great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband’s death” (as cited in Clugston, 2010). In contrast, Thurber’s story is quite comical, conveyed through the thoughts and dreams of a somewhat unhappy man. Thurber too sets the tone from the beginning by sharing that Mitty thinks he is a commander in an 8-engine Navy Hydroplane, “We’re going through!” The Commander’s voice was like thin ice breaking. He wore his full-dress uniform, with the heavily braided white cap pulled down rakishly over one cold gray eye” (as cited in Clugston, 2010).
Within both stories there is a common bond, the negative compromise of the union of marriage. This compromise is conveyed from two totally different points of view. One is told from a woman distressed by her marriage during a time where her opinions and rights are denied. The other story is told through the imagination of a man who craves to express himself, but is repressed by his wife. These two stories were not only written from different perspectives, they were also written 45 years apart. Keeping in mind that these stories were wrote in different time periods and different beliefs existed within those periods, they still expose elements of a marriage which holds back the individuals and basically force them to adapt to certain rules and expectations by their spouses. This adaptability is so uncomfortable and perverse that it forces the characters to want a better situation, one that leads to more freedom. Seeing as this freedom is not usually accepted by society traditionally, the subjects feel they have no choice but to try and escape through other avenues. Chopin’s character’s way to escape is implanted in reality, she realizes this as she stares out the window that she is free at last, “Her fancy was running riot along those days ahead of her. Spring days, and summer days, and all sorts of days that would be her own. She breathed a quick prayer that life might be long. It was only yesterday she had though with a shudder that life might be long” (as cited in Clugston, 2010). Thurber’s character’s escape is imagined, as Mitty was driving the car his daydream is interrupted from his wife nagging him about driving too fast, “Not so fast! You’re driving too fast!” said Mrs. Mitty. “What are you driving so fast for?” (as cited in Clugston, 2010) Both of these stories main character’s needs are the same just a little different in terms of why they feel they need to escape.
In Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour”, we were introduced to the main character, Louise Mallard, and how she is “afflicted with a heart trouble” (as cited in Clugston, p. 47). The heart trouble is very symbolic and has afflicted her both emotionally and physically. Her husband Brently is away, supposedly on business. Louise is unhappy but not because she is apart from her husband but because she has become detached from herself. Being a woman in the 1900’s she had very little freedom as a female, but being a married woman she has even less freedom. Louise’s situation and her husband have imprisoned her.
On the other hand, in “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty by James Thurber, his main character, Walter Mitty, is also married and by society’s beliefs during that time, he should be the one that “wears the pants”. Ironically, Walter is experiencing the same difficult situation within a marriage that had also disheartened Louise. Walter is powerless and held forcefully under the authority of his overbearing wife. All of these elements create such a deep desire within these two characters leaving them no choice but to want to escape through alternative avenues.
In Louise’s situation, she craves to escape, but it only becomes a true reality when she learns of the supposed passing of her husband. Ironically, his supposed passing actually brings her dream of being free and independent more of a reality. On the other side of the coin, Walter can only escape through his daydreams. His submissive personality and insecurities about himself prevents him from taking a stand against his wife. Louise has some of the same restrictions, but she is a “prisoner” of prejudice. The social norms during the time she lived prevented her from leaving or divorcing her husband. Louise lived in a time when all women had little no to rights and were given no choice but to live under the authority of their husbands (Jamil, 2009). Walter lives under his wife’s authority and she tells him what to do about every issue that arises.
Living side-by-side in a marriage and sharing your lives together can sometimes be very suffocating. You lose your identity and a part of you basically has to “die”, that part being the once single person, in order for the two lives to join as one. The re-occurring theme that is present in both of these stories is marriage, but to be more specific the actual need to escape the marriage and the actions that have provoked these feelings and desires. Walter and Louise are pretty much powerless when it comes to their relationships. Both of the short stories exposes the needs and wants of escaping. Walter gets away from his situation by daydreaming and Louise escapes by actually dying. Louise and Walter truly come alive once they have been able to escape the confines of their marriages. During Walter’s daydreams, he uses his imagination to help him become a man in the spotlight and a man of great power and usefulness. When he daydreams he not only comes more to life, but he is a man in control. Upon hearing the news of her husband’s passing, Louise’s senses come alive. “Her pulses beat fast, and the coursing blood warmed and relaxed every inch of her body” (as cited in Clugston, 2010). Chopin is showing that Louise’s weak heart is finding strength from the information she had just heard. Louise begins to smell the rain in the air and can hear the sparrows singing. Her emotions get the best of her and she lets out a “free, free, free!” (as cited in Clugston, 2010).
Thurber’s portrait of Walter is very funny on the surface, but has some very sad undertones. Like Louise, Walter is repressed by his spouse. His only way of escape is to daydream. The sad part of it all is that he is so oppressed that he does not even know how to control his daydreaming due to the fact that the car engine noises appeared in three out of the four daydreams that he had during the story (thus showing how he cannot even control some things within his dreams). Thurber’s link between fantasy and reality is the sound of the car engine which symbolizes the repetitiveness and exhaustive efforts of his marriage.
Similar to “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”, “The Story of an Hour deals with daydreaming also. Originally Chopin’s story was written in April of 1894 and first published in Vogue in December of 1894 but the title was different, at that time it was published as “The Dream of an Hour”. The story was later reprinted in St. Louis Life in January of 1895 with the title it has now (Arms, 2006). This proves that Chopin viewed Louise’s time between first hearing the news of her husband’s passing and finally seeing Brently as all a dream.
It is very important to point out that how vibrant and expressive Louise and Walter were once they had “escaped”. When Louise shut herself in her room, the language that is used becomes livelier as it begins to describe her emotions:
“The Delicious breath of rain was in the air. In the street below a peddler was crying his wares. The notes of a distant song which some one was singing reached her faintly, and countless sparrows were twittering in the eaves” (as cited in Clugston, p. 47).
The same is true for Walter when it came to his language becoming fuller of action and excitability:
“Switch on No. 8 auxiliary!” he shouted. “Switch on No. 8 auxiliary!” repeated Lieutenant Berg. “Full strength in No. 3 turret!” shouted the Commander. “Full strength in No. 3 turret!” (as cited in Clugston. 2010).
This once again re-confirms the fact that Walter and Louise were unhappy in their marriage. It is evident that both of these stories address the theme of being married. They both basically state that a marriage can be stifling and constricting on one’s personality. This is truly what provoked the need for Louise and Walter to feel the need to escape the confines of each of their unions. A question that keeps appearing though is, who were Walter Mitty and Louise Mallard? Who actually defined the true identity of these poor troubled and trapped people? Starting off with Louise, as previously mentioned during the time period Louise’s story took place, a woman was defined by where they lived and to whom they were married to. Louise was repressed as Chopin stated: “She was young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain strength” (as cited in Clugston, 2010). The strength that Chopin talks about proves that Louise was not compliant, but she knew what was to be expected of her and therefore she acted so. During the 19th century America, women were ordered to be fully reliant on their husbands (Jamil, 2009). Likewise, Walter’s character was characterized by his overbearing, egotistical, pushy wife. She even dictated to him how he should drive the car, “You were up to fifty-five,” she said. “You know I don’t like to go more than forty. You were up to fifty-five (as cited in Clugston, 2010). She even told him what to wear:
“Remember to get those overshoes while I’m having my hair done,” she said. “I don’t need overshoes,” said Mitty. She put her mirror back into her bag. “We’ve been all through that,” she said, getting out of the car. “You’re not a young man any longer.” He raced the engine a little. “Why don’t you wear your gloves? Have you lost your gloves?” (as cited in Clugston, 2010).
By Mrs. Mitty being this way with Walter, explains why he always portrayed himself as a man of importance in his daydreams. This was most definitely the total opposite of his actual life. “The Story of an Hour” conveys the buried desires of the many women who were married during that time. Chopin’s adult experiences and her childhood gave the foundation for this short story. Her mother had also been a widow and also went through the sense of freedom that the majority of the women during that time longed for. This story paved the way for future stories of dealing with the same issues that Chopin wrote about. She was a beacon of light for women from her age group. James Thurber being divorced himself maybe used his failed marriage as inspiration for “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”, just with a little comic relief. It is evident that Thurber and Chopin are both making a statement about marriage through their stories. What makes these stories so personable is at some point during a marriage someone somewhere has felt manipulated by their spouse. Both authors spoke about things that only most people can quietly think about in their head. With that being said, Chopin and Thurber’s short stories successfully investigated the down-side of marriage and was able to show what happens when their significant other abuses their role. Lastly, the two authors signified the need to separate oneself through the eyes of two very different but oddly enough somewhat alike characters.

References
Arms, G. (1971). KATE CHOPIN: A Critical Biography/THE COMPLETE WORKS OF KATE CHOPIN (Book). American Literature, 43(1), 136
Berner, R., & Poindexter, P. M. (1996). Remember Laughter: A Life of James Thurber (Book). Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 73(4), 1005-1006
Clugston, R. W. (2010). Journey into literature. San Diego, California: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.
Jamil, S. S. (2009). Emotions in THE STORY OF AN HOUR. The Explicator, 67(3), 215-220.
Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/216778527?accountid=32521
Wilson, R. R. (1998). Degas in New Orleans: Encounters in the Creole World of Kate Chopin and George Washington Cable. By Christopher Benfey. New York Times Book Review, 103(4), 12
Thomas, H. K. (2000). Unveiling Kate Chopin by Emily Toth. South Atlantic Review, 65217- 219

--------------------------------------------
[ 1 ]. A figure of speech that conveys the meaning of a person that is in control of a situation or relationship.