The Story of Emily In the stories A Rose for Emily and The Story of an Hour, Emily Grierson and Louise Mallard are both similar women, in times similar periods, but both find themselves in completely different situations. This essay will take these two specific characters and compare and contrast them in multiple detailed ways. A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner is a third-party narration story, focusing on the main character, Emily Grierson. She is repressed by her father, life expectations, and the community's interest in her life. The reader gets the sense that Emily cracks under all the pressure and they soon realize after her death when she is in her seventies that she was actually suffering from a mental disorder. The second story in reverse is The Story of an Hour written by Kate Chopin. This short literature is about a railway worker's wife named Louise Mallard. He has underlying health issues, the narrator doesn't specify but it could more than likely be heart issues. She finally has a heart attack when she sees her husband, who she thought had died in an accident, come through the door. These two stories were written at different times, by two different authors but they are made to be in the same time. placement. The Story of an Hour was written in 1894 and A Rose for Emily in 1930. The Story of an Hour was more or less created to be a current story, in that time frame. A Rose for Emily was written retrospectively and set in the late 1890s and early 1900s. This makes the two stories similar because the reader can mentally visualize the cards and settings of both stories and notice their similarities. A detailed description of the surroundings helps the reader connect more with the story and get more......middle of paper......excitement when faced with the realization that they could have spent the rest of her life alone. By comparison, Miss Grierson was raised by a family with a known history of mental illness. Old Lady Wyatt is assumed to be her father's aunt because there is no mention of her mother in the story. All assumptions about Emily's mental health are clarified in the conclusion of the story. The writer makes it very clear that Emily is actually suffering from some sort of mental illness. The comparison and contrast between these two stories is clear. They both developed as characters in similar environments but have different situations and outcomes. They differed in their goals and how they would achieve them, and their mental health status set them apart. These stories have contrasts and similarities, but more importantly the differences outweigh the comparisons.