Internal Vs. External Factors of Character Motivations in the Works of William Faulkner & Kate Chopin

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INTERNAL VS. EXTERNAL FACTORS OF CHARACTER MOTIVATIONS IN THE WORKS OF WILLIAM FAULKNER & KATE CHOPIN

        INTRODUCTION

The focus of this paper is to analyze the internal and external factors of how the main characters’ behaviors are governed in two particular texts: “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner, and “The Story of An Hour” by Kate Chopin.

This paper will be broken up into 4 sections, which will firstly direct towardsWilliam Faulkner’s contextual background information, whose writing style and voice reflect the internal and external psychological frameworks of the characters.

The next paragraph to follow will be about each of the main characters’ internal and external character motivations. These characters consist of Miss. Emily, Homer Barron, and Mr. Grierson.

The next paragraph will then direct towards Kate Chopin’s contextual background, which will progress into another paragraph about the internal and external psychological frameworks of the characters, which consist of Mrs. And Mr. Mallard.

Thereafter, the conclusion of this paper will be to show a comparison of how the characters in each text are similar to one another, despite the two very different writing styles and techniques incorporated to these classic tales.

WILLIAM FAULKNER

Born in 1897 and died in 1962, William Faulkner was a well-accomplished literary writer, the Author seems to be a man whom know his surrounding seem to be familiar with the injustices of the south and the cultural issue they presented which intern had taken him to another level of literary talent he was the first wrier is in Mississippi to make win the noble prize for literature. And he is one of the major influences in the increase of the literary works of the in the south of the USA. He is only gained recognition in the later years of his life where began publishing 1919 the beginning of his work getting recognized. The influences around Faulkner were driven by childhood injustices that he did not notice until he had started writing about them. Surprisingly enough, these works of his fictional Southern town are his best works.

“A ROSE FOR EMILY”

One of the oldest the best proclaimed short story works of the author William Faulkner. The piece “Rose for Emily” is a piece that reflects on the culture of the old south, the prestige of a woman who has had a tragic loss, a comforter who is not socially fit to do so and an old man whom left his daughter every including a void in her heart. Now the points that being across are the matters at hand in the state in terms of the social influences that govern the behaviours of our characters:

Miss. Emily is a kind woman who has just lost her life, but is well explained by the author be her passing. Seeing that the author whom originally come from the State of Mississippi where there was social and racial injustice seeing as the character is a grieving woman whom is trying her best but is socially being thrown down. This is indicated in a passage that Faulkner states:

“The one they thought she would marry her – had deserted her. An unlikely relationship with the local negro starts and everything falls apart. It starts to make things complicated as the community finds a gripe with the entire situation “Homer Barron Yankee a big dark ready man- yellow-wheeled buggy and the matched team of bays...’’.         

Mr. Homer Barron, the knight in shining armour to a woman who could not care about the ways of the south. The women take disgust at his relationship with Emily, only because, Barron had stated that

“he liked men, and it was and it was known that he drank with the younger men in the Elks' Club – that he was not a marrying man”.        

Therefore, on an internal level, Mr. Barron is possibly a homosexual and the fact that he is a Northerner, this becomes externally an issue where he is amidst Southerners, where he would be socially unaccepted as indicated on the gossipy tone of the passage mentioned about Mr. Barron.        

Mr. Grierson, the nobleman Albany, a prized man among many when his death it shook the town when it came down the influences it had on Emily, it became grief, but to an extent that only fully showed itself at the end. No one had ever thought that Mr. Grierson’s daughter would join him in the grave two years later. The tragedy was not well for seen, but in absence of Mr. Grierson took a toll on Emily.  

KATE CHOPIN

Born in 1850 and died tragically in 1904, Kate Chopin had lived a fulfilling life as a feminist writer, and undoubtedly, had been responsible for initiating feminist movements through her writings.

She had gone through a lot in her personal and professional life, which shaped her to be the most influential writer of the 20th century. Such internal and external factors included the loss of her husband and suffering from depression, not to mention from struggling financially and suffered from a disease before her untimely death in 1904.

“THE STORY OF AN HOUR”

First published in 1894, this text tells the tale of a woman named Mrs. Mallard who is informed of her husband’s death, Brently. However, she has heart trouble, so therefore:

“great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible”

about the loss of her husband.          

As an external storytelling device, it then delves into a very personal and emotional experience for Mrs. Mallard as she develops mixed emotions about Brently’s death. In some ways, it is like going through the five stages of the grieving process. Before Mrs. Mallard’s death, she noticed that:

“someone was opening the front door with a latchkey. It was Brently Mallard who entered, a little travel-stained, composedly carrying his grip-sack and umbrella”,                        

and it is here that Mrs. Mallard dies of joy as:

“the doctors came inside; they said she had died of heart disease”.

She had become “free” as this word is stated frequently in the text.

Mark Cunningham particularly highlights that:

“the story portrays the position of women in late nineteenth-century American society as so bleak that the attempt to break from the life-denying limitations of patriarchal society is itself self-destructive”.

He therefore goes to argue that

[pic 1]As a feminist and personal approach to dealing with the loss of a loved one, it is quite clear that there are internal factors at play here, which govern the behaviors of Mrs. Louise Mallard and Mr. Brently Mallard. Firstly, Mrs. Mallard on an internal basis is traumatized deeply by the unexpected death of her husband. Much like Chopin’s loss of her husband, she paints a rather deep and fragile portrait of Mrs. Mallard of grieving emotions. This is highlighted in the text since Chopin states in a passage: