Essay Comparing Story Of An Hour And To Build A Fire

In To Build a Fire, written by Jack London, and The Story of an Hour, written by Kate Chopin, both contain many similarities while also being unique in their own way. Both To Build a Fire, and The Story of an Hour heavily discuss the idea of death and independence. However, there are differences in the stories that include themes of confidence, and the idea of free will. In The Story of an Hour, and To Build a Fire both go in depth discussing the theme of death using it as an ending to their story and overall showing the downfall of each character. In To Build a Fire, the main character struggles with the thought of death in his mind and how his own downfall was preventable. For example, “ [ he] entertained in his mind the conception of
However, he later acknowledges that he should have taken the advice of an old miner saying "You were right, old hoss; you were right." However, Kate Chopin takes a different approach as she portrays the main character as gaining confidence and freedom upon the death of her husband unlike Jack London who portrays the character as having confidence the entire time. At first the lady is described as a “child who cried itself to sleep.” However, she soon realizes that the death of her husband is worth her freedom as she thought “she will [now] live for herself.” Free will is also portrayed in To Build a Fire since Jack London places the character in a place that only someone could choose themselves such as the Klondike. Jack London goes to show that his character was new to his environment saying “he was a newcomer in the land, a chechaquo, and this was his first winter.” Unlike To Build a Fire, The Story of an Hour shows that the main character is completely at the will of her husband as society believes it proper for the husband to control what the wife does. Both stories play a conflicting role in free