‘The Story of an Hour’ and ‘Up in Michigan’ Comparison & Discussion

Have you ever loved someone so much to the point where you lose yourself or you continue finding yourself doing whatever they want even if your needs are not being fulfilled? If you said yes, you may be a lot like the two main characters in these stories. Mrs. Millard and Liz Coates are two strong women with pretty similar stories who derserved more than they received. Mrs. Millard and Liz Coates are two women, both in some kind of relationship with a man. In both of these stories, there is some kind of underlying issue or something that just isn’t quite right with their relationships. They just don’t seem completely happy although the world around them seems to depict their relationships as being quite perfect. Throughout these tales though, we start to notice patterns which allow us to understand the truth of what is really going on.

For example, in “Up in Michigan” the first half of the story describes Liz being so infatuated with Jim even saying “Liz liked Jim very much.” and “She liked it about how white his teeth were when he smiled.” This shifted greatly at the end by saying “Liz started to cry. She walked over to the edge of the dock and looked down to the water. There was a mist coming up from the bay. She was cold and miserable and everything felt gone.” As you can see, the shift in this story was a complete 180. It shows how Liz was so in love, happy and was brought to a smile just by thinking about him. While, towards the end she was brought to a tear just by looking at him because of what he put her through. Jim turned out not to be this amazing, perfect guy everyone believed him to be. Which greatly relates to how Mrs. Millard feels in “The Story of an Hour.”

Mrs. Millard is said to be a housewife to her husband, Mr. Millard and is set in an older time when women didn’t typically have jobs. When she was told her husband died after being hit by a train, her first reaction was obviously quite unstable and she didn’t really know how to cope with the news she was just given. However, after a while the narrator stated “She was beginning to recognize this thing that was approaching to possess her, and she was striving to beat it back with her will- as powerless as her two white slender hands would have been. When she abandoned herself a little whispered word escaped her slightly parted lips. She said it over and over under her breath: “Free, free, free!” This shows me that after the initial shock of the situation Mrs. Millard was really relieved and happy her husband was dead. She spent her whole marriage doing everything for him and would never be able to do what she truly wanted- to leave. Mrs. Millard hated being a wife, hated not being able to work or pursue her dreams, and hated the societal need to have a husband. Toward the end of the story, she leaves her room and is met with Mr. Mallard at the bottom of the steps, very much alive. Mrs. Millard, already with various heart problems, cannot handle the shock of her husband actually being alive and dies. This tragic ending may seem very ironic and unfortunate but it is rather very telling. This ending shows the reader that Mrs. Millard has finally found happiness and a sense of comfort through her husband’s death because her dreams will finally come true. It is not that Mr. Millard was awful but she just did not want to be with him and would rather die than be stuck as his wife any longer.

I saw many similarities in comparing these stories. Throughout “Up in Michigan”, Liz was very happy in the beginning and after the awful things that happen she is very miserable. While in “The Story of an Hour”, Mrs. Millard is sort of sad, then happy, then sad once more. These stories both show how in the end, their relationships were not all that great and they are better off without them. Also, they show how below the surface everything isn’t as it seems and there is always a deeper meaning to the situation. In the end, these women both learn similar lessons that they are more deserving than what each of these ‘men’ have given them.