In the literature of various genres, authors have repeatedly referred to the topic of self-awareness and self-understanding of a human being in multiple settings and contexts. Apart from an array of key philosophical themes addressed by literary works, self-understanding occupies a unique place due to the reflection of the author’s views on the interaction of a personality with the world. Indeed, as is seen from some vivid examples from poetry, short fiction, and novels, self-awareness and self-learning always occur through the perspective of one’s social interactions, identification with nature, or compliance with society’s rules. In this paper, the issue of self-understanding of the main characters in “The Story of an Hour,” “Hills Like White Elephants,” “The Lottery,” “I, Too,” and “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” will be analyzed.
A short story under the title “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin is a powerful example of feminist literature. In this work, the author depicts the very process of the main heroine’s revelation of her inner self as it unfolds in the background of the alleged death of her husband. Chopin uses the opposition of male and female social roles and their understanding of freedom and dignity in a marriage to emphasize the dramatic collision of Mrs. Mallard’s grief and happiness about the obtained freedom. The main heroines’ self-awareness is portrayed through her own words when she states, “Free! Body and soul free!” (Chopin 14). It is through the freedom from the oppressive compliance with the patriarchal society that the main heroine perceives her personality.
Similar to Mrs. Mallard, Jig, the main character of Ernest Hemingway’s short story “Hills Like White Elephants,” also experiences a revelation about her inner self on the background of the relationship with a man. Like Chopin, Hemingway interprets the main heroine’s perception of her life and personality as it is defined or influenced by men’s decisions. The abortion the couple in Hemingway’s short story discuss is the point where the man’s and the girl’s opinions differ. Their difference in opinions and worldviews is manifested through the seeing of hills like white elephants.
The girl emphasizes this similarity but changes her mind when she notices that the man does not agree. Her conformity with his opinion becomes clear when she states, “but if I do it, then it will be nice again if I say things are like white elephants, and you’ll like it?” (Hemingway 231). Jig tries to express herself and make her own decision but fails and keeps her true feelings to herself, which is evident in the last scene. Indeed, after stating several times that she did not care about herself, Jig finally fails to confront the man and states that she is fine, although she is not.
Shirley Jackson’s treatment of the main character’s self-awareness in “The Lottery” is different from Hemingway’s and Chopin’s in a way that it shifts from marriage or relationship issues to a broader social context. Although both Jig and “The Lottery’s” main heroine Tessie Hutchinson try and fail at confronting the circumstances by expressing their sincere views, Jackson’s portrayal of self-understanding is more explicit. Indeed, Tessie does not keep her opinion to herself but speaks to the others to stop the deadly lottery. However, the glimpses of self-understanding are fragmented and uncertain because although she resists the decision, she said it “as quietly as she could,” trying to be true to herself but afraid of confrontation (Jackson 6). She tries to appeal to the fairness of the procedure, repeating, “it isn’t fair, it isn’t right” while the villagers stone her (Jackson 5). The author uses the opposition of an individual and society to emphasize the difficulty of a person to maintain the uniqueness of personality when influenced by others.
A different approach to the depiction of one’s perception of oneself is taken by Hughes in the poem “I, Too.” The distinctive difference is in the confidence with which the speaker in the poem expresses the views on the unfairness of a life of a Black person in a dominant white society. The author uses first-person narration to present the main hero’s self-awareness explicitly. The poem is written using anaphora, where the first and the last lines repeat the phrase “I, too,” which represents the association of the speaker with the rest of the American society (Hughes par. 1-5). Despite being sent “to eat in the kitchen When company comes,” the speaker is confident about dignity and self-worth because the day will come when “they’ll see how beautiful I am and be ashamed” (Hughes par. 2-4). Thus, it is through power, self-esteem, and understanding of self-worth that the main character in “I, Too” expresses self-understanding, unlike characters in “Hills Like White Elephants” and “The Lottery.”
Finally, there are several similarities and differences between the analyzed works and the way Robert Frost treats the main character’s self-awareness in “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.” The key difference is in the utilization of nature as a context through which the lyrical hero identifies as a personality. Indeed, the speaker’s “stopping by woods” and observing them “fill up with snow” is a manifestation of the opposition between human’s as part of nature and as part of society. This dualism is at the center of Frost’s portrayal of the character self. The speaker says, “the woods are lovely, dark and deep. But I have promises to keep,” implying that the unity with nature is undeniable but socially irrelevant. Indeed, although the speaker is capable of admiring the beauty of nature, the issue of ownership of the woods, the accessibility of property, and other socio-economic concerns prevail.
Conclusively, the analysis of the main characters’ self-awareness portrayal, as it is depicted by authors, demonstrates the central role of the context and the perspective from which a hero is characterized. Depending on the period in the history, and social and philosophical issues relevant to the time, the authors employed various approaches to depicting the character’s self-awareness. The confrontation of female and male perspectives on life in “The Story of An Hour” and “Hills Like White Elephants” predetermine female characters’ self-perception and the dramatic outcomes of their revelations about themselves. On the other hand, the attempts to understand oneself through the perspective of society and either belongingness to it (as it is portrayed in “I, Too”) or not belongingness (as in “The Lottery) were presented by Hughes and Jackson. A unique approach used by Frost appealed to nature as a part of human self-identification, which is oppressed by the need to comply with social norms. Thus, the discussion of the examples from literature demonstrates that the issues of self-awareness and self-understanding are central to literature and are emphasized by authors as a persistent existential concern that unfolds differently in different contexts.
References
Chopin, Kate. “The Story of An Hour.” Hemingway, Ernest. “Hills Like White Elephants.” VCU, 1894. Web.
Frost, Robert. “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.” Poets. n.d. Web.
Hemingway, Ernest. “Hills Like White Elephants.” Faculty Weber. n.d. Web.
Hughes, Langstone. “I, Too.” Poets. n.d. Web.
Jackson, Shirley. “The Lottery.” HCC, 1948. Web.