Short stories
Through the readings, ‘Story of An Hour’ by Kate Chopin involves one of the essential narrations that I found captivating. For instance, this is because of themes within that are realized within its setting development. One of the subjects within the story that facilitated the selection for the story is seeking identity by women, together with how repressive is marriage. For instance, the reaction of Louise concerning the death of Brently, her husband, is characterized by great fear; however, this changes to joyful reception or acceptance. For instance, this illustrates the searching for selfhood and personal identity, especially in the world that has been under the dominion of male. Besides, the specific reaction of Louise concerning the situation alludes that marriage creates freedom loss and oppression exclusively for the female.
Consequently, the development of this story concerning the identified themes captivated me, especially with the demonstration of the actual nature of marriage within the society. Accordingly, this narration has transformed my thoughts regarding gender and marriage. Women are under captive of the particular bond even though love brings two couples into a union. From the story, I hold a negative thought towards marriage, especially from the paradox developed concerning love, mirage, and conformity. Moreover, reading the story has impinged my general character, especially considering male dominion within marriage. Previously, I thought that my personal view of the repressive nature of marriage was an illusion of the individual influence and life experience. But, this changed after reading the story, where a wife feels free after the death of the husband instead of the lonely feeling that is expected. Though, there is no character from the story that I was identified.
Christmas party
Through the development of a story, there is a need to create a context that captures the attention of the reader. For instance, this involves creating themes that relate to the actual setting. That is, the thoughts of the reader should never be the same before and after reading a story. ‘Christmas Party’ is a short story related to the theme of marriage and love. Through the setting, Sheila, ex-wife to Harold, remarries, but what is unexpected it that the new husband happens to the close friend to the previous husband. However, Harold did not move on and realized that the ex-wife got married to his friend.
Consequently, this situation became difficult to manage since he understood that there was nothing that could be done. Besides, from the story, Sheila adds that they had married when too young, that is with Harold, right from their high school. In response to the situation, Harold concludes that love does happen, and when it occurs, there is nothing that can be done about the situation.
For instance, this story involved one that I least liked; this is because of the themes that are presented through the story. For example, there is no relationship between getting married just after high school and that being a problem in their specific marriage. If they grew and developed together within their marriage, they could maintain that for they had already produced and ready for marriage. Furthermore, there is no way to justify that love happens from the scenario since maybe the marriage could be an act of revenge rather than love. Therefore, this story did not change any of my perceptions, and in case of selection, I would not consider this regarding the relationship between the developments of themes situations