Shanice Brown Discussion 9

The theme of the poem “The Wife” by Emily Dickinson talks about what she as a woman has to sacrifice “playthings In her life” when becoming a married woman. Emily does not want to get married but has to follow society norms. In “The Story of an Hour” Mrs. Mallard was in an unhappy marriage. When her husband dies her perception of life changes she finds her true self. She realized how much freedom she has “there would be no powerful will bending hers” she felt relief knowing she could live for herself and not nobody else. Emily’s poem relates to Mrs. Mallard’s emotional state because both women are unhappy married women who had to play the role of a wife living by a man’s expectation taking away their freedom. Both stories show how women back then had to live up to society’s norm of women living up to men’s expectations.