Twists of Fate and Hidden Truths in Chopin’s 'The Story of an Hour' and Wharton’s 'Roman Fever'

In the short stories "A Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin and "Roman Fever" by Edith Wharton, female characters can be seen with their complex lives and difficult relationships with the people around them, often friends or partners. The stories have a similar structure in terms of these complex relationships, but both authors use different storytelling techniques and end the story with an unexpected ending that surprises the reader. Let’s look at some narrative voice and techniques, chronology of events, and endings in both stories. In Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour", the narrator takes an objective view of events. The story is presented through a third-person omniscient narrator who describes Mrs. Mallard's reactions to the news about her husband's death. This narrative voice does not reflect much of Mrs. Mallard's inner dialogues in the story, but by describing her actions and physical sensations, it shows the reader exactly what Mrs. Mallard is thinking and feeling. In this way, it can be said that Mrs. Mallard is a woman who is not happy in her marriage and is fed up with her husband and she sees his death as a relief and freedom. The narrator does not tell the story in great detail because Mrs. Mallard's reactions are enough for the reader to understand her feelings. 

In contrast, Edith Wharton's "Roman Fever" is more conversational and detailed. The third-person narrator gives a lot of details and information about the thoughts and feelings of the two main characters, Mrs. Ansley and Mrs. Slade. The narrator gives us information about their past, the city they live in, and their children, and gives us a better understanding of the main event in the story. “They have known each other off and on all their lives. Both have daughters who are presently out together with two eligible young Italian men, and the women recall their courting days, also together, also in Rome. There is a risky edge to this talk because they had both been in love with the same man and knew it at the time.” (Bowlby 37). In the story, the speaker tells the story at length. This way of narration makes Wharton's story more in-depth about the complexities of friendship and jealousy of those two characters.

"The Story of an Hour", like the title of the story, takes place in just one hour. So there is not a large period. We see events happening in the present and this compressed timeline describes Mrs. Mallard's emotional changes. The story begins with the news of her husband's death and follows her through a rapid progression of first some grief, then relief and becoming a free woman realization, and finally with the feeling of shock when she finds out that her husband is not dead. The fact that these changes of emotion take place in just one hour and that the story ends like a twist also leaves a shock effect on the reader. “Looking into Mrs. Mallard’s psychological state, we could find that the emotional change must be described as the development of an increasingly resistant barrier between the real external world and that world which is most authentic in her experience—the inner world of her fantasies.” (Xuemei 168). On the other hand, the story "Roman Fever" has a more encompassing time frame. It recounts past events to understand the current events and the context of the conversations of the two main characters. The story takes place in one afternoon, but the author constantly goes back in time to show the past of Mrs. Ansley and Mrs. Slade and adds memories to the story. “‘Roman Fever’ involves the reader in building a narrative construction that fixes the anecdote in memory. It calls for a reading of the tip of the iceberg whose submerged part drives the entire story to its crashing conclusion.” (Mortimer 188). These flashbacks are very important because they are told in detail, to understand the depth of the two characters' relationship and the secrets that have been kept for years. By weaving together the past and present, Wharton shows the complexity of the characters' interactions and the importance of their shared history of friendship.

The endings of "The Story of an Hour" and "Roman Fever" are similar in terms of shocking the reader, but evoke different emotions and consequences for the characters. "The Story of an Hour" has a very sudden and unexpected dramatic ending. Mrs. Mallard dies at the end of the story because she finds out that her husband is alive. Perhaps she was so convinced that she would no longer live under pressure that her body could not take the shock of her husband being alive and reacted. This ironic ending is therefore linked to the story's themes of freedom and imprisonment. Even in Mrs. Mallard's death, we can understand her feelings. It leaves a strong impression on the reader, emphasizing the fact that Mrs. Mallard's sense of freedom is tragically very short-lived and that she comes to a harsh realization of her previous reality, namely that she is not free. "Roman Fever" ends with an ironic turn that reshapes the reader's understanding of the characters' past and present. At the end of the story, Mrs. Ansley explains that her daughter Barbara is the result of a secret affair that Mrs. Slade had with her husband many years ago, but instead of saying it directly, she says “I had Barbara” (Wharton 4), and everyone understands what this sentence implies. This shock is caused by the revelation of a secret that has been hidden for many years in this way. This reality is shocking knowledge for Ms. Slade and us. So, we can say that Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour" and Edith Wharton's "Roman Fever" have the same narrative voices but different narrative techniques, and chronological structures, ending with themes of friendship and marital relationships, achieving personal freedom and hidden secrets. The different endings occur with Chopin's ironic conclusion formed without details, just showing the situation and character’s feelings, while Wharton's descriptive and detailed finale.

Works Cited

Bowlby, Rachel. “‘I Had Barbara’: Women’s Ties and Wharton’s ‘Roman Fever.’” Differences: A Journal of Feminist Cultural Studies, Volume 17, number 5 (2006) pp. 36-51.

Mortimer, Armine Kotin. “Romantic Fever: The Second Story as Illegitimate Daughter in Wharton’s ‘Roman Fever.’” Narrative, Volume 6, number 2 (1998) pp. 188-198.

Xuemei, Wan. “Kate Chopin’s View on Death and Freedom in The Story of an Hour.” The Canadian Center of Science and Education, Volume 2, number 4 (2009) pp.167-170.