THE AMERICAN DREAM IN SONG OF MYSELF AND THE STORY OF AN HOUR

Since the beginning, America has been considered to be a land full of promise and
opportunities; it was the land where everything was possible, the land of infinite riches
(Allen, 1969). People who were cast out of their countries found solace in this new land
where they could practice their religion freely and where economic growth was a tangible
possibility. These settlers developed values and ideals of freedom and equality that were
first documented in the Declaration of Independence: () all men are created equal, that
they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are
Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness (Jefferson, 1776).The American Dream has
been an ever-present set of ideals in the mind of Americans. Giving a single, unified
definition of this concept is not possible as many versions have developed together with the
countrys growth. This multiplicity often causes contradictory conceptions and, in some
cases, the Dream becomes a nightmare (Madden, 1970). As America grew and its identity
developed, many voices commented on and questioned the Dream. As Madden states:
American writers from the beginning have projected visions of dreams and nightmares.
()There are many American Dreams and nightmares. (Madden 1970). Walt Whitman
and Kate Chopin, two 19th-century authors take different views of the Dream in their
works. On the one hand, Song of Myself (1855) presents the Dream in a positive light.
On the other hand, The Story of an Hour (1894) shows one of the negative sides of the
Dream.
Freedom is an essential part of the American identity and as such of the Dream.
This idea is present in both texts. In Song of Myself, Whitman is striving to construct a
national identity through an epic poem. He does not follow previous conventions neither
does he follow a pattern as he uses free verse. Readerly freedom is another element in the
poem: the poet gives the reader independence to make out meanings (Larson, 2006).
Freedom is an intrinsic part, and if we consider the poem as the embodiment of America,
then it is possible to think that America is structured through freedom. In The Story of an
Hour, when Louise Mallard learns that her husband is dead, she undergoes a process of
awareness which the narrator describes in crescendo that culminates in a single word:

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! (Chopin, [1894]1976: 215).
Louise is free to be herself; she does not belong to anyone anymore:
There would be no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself.
There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and
women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature. (Chopin,
[1894]1976: 214)

However, these feelings are private; the dream of freedom is not socially accepted. Women
in the 19th-century were expected to be housewives and to devote their time to their
families. They were simply somebodys wife and they had to be content with that role.
When Louise feels free, a world of possibilities opens up for her. When she learns that she
is still someones wife freedom is suppressed and Louise cannot handle losing that
privilege, her heart gives out. Whereas the dream of freedom was possible for everyone in
Whitman, in Chopin, freedom was not an option for women.
The Story of an Hour shows a woman who has a Dream different from the one
that women were expected to have in 19th-century society. Louise hopes to be independent:
Her fancy was running riot along those days ahead of her. () all sorts of days that would
be her own. She breathed a quick prayer that life might be long. It was only yesterday she
had thought with a shudder that life might be long. (Chopin, [1894]1976: 215)

In the story, Josephine and Richard are representatives of the conventional dream and of the
social world, and that is why they believe that Louise should not be left alone due to her
condition and the news that she received. However, when Louise is alone she is free to be
who she dreams to be. In the end of the story, through the use of irony the social and the
private world clash in Louise`s death: When the doctors came they said she had died of
heart disease--of the joy that kills. (Chopin, [1894]1976: 215) From the social point of
view, she dies from a physical ailment: her intense happiness causes the death, but from the
private perspective, death is a way of escaping from being Mrs. Mallard once again. In
Song of Myself, in Section 16, the lyrical I builds himself out of different people:

I am of old and young, of the foolish as much as the wise, Regardless of others, ever
regardful of others, Maternal as well as paternal, a child as well as a man,Stuff'd with the
stuff that is coarse and stuff'd with the stuff()(Whitman, [1855]1985:925)

The lyrical I becomes diverse and dynamic, the difference gives him an identity. While in
the poem, the different voices merge and become part of the same being which makes them
equal, in the story, the two perspectives never converge remaining in opposition.
As Madden (1970) states, America was the Promised Land for the settlers: its virgin
lands provided countless possibilities for the future. Life with nature offered moral
possibilities that urban life did not. In the same way, in Whitmans Song of Myself,
nature plays an important role. Nature, represented by grass is a great equalizer and gives
the possibility of immortality to men; their future is in nature. The possibility of continuity
exists through nature:
They are alive and well somewhere, the smallest sprout shows there is really no
death,()All goes onward and outward, nothing collapses, and to die is different from what
anyone supposed, and luckier.(Whitman, [1855]1985:918)

The presence of nature is significant in The Story of an Hour as well. It represents a

hopeful future to look forward to. Louise looks out of the window and sees new spring
life, she smells the breath of rain and in these images she sees a future of independence,
a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely (Chopin,
[1894]1976: 213-214).However, while in Whitman nature is present everywhere and does
not leave anyone aside, in Chopin, nature is only accessed through a window in the privacy
of Louises bedroom. Once Louise goes out of the room, all the possibilities that had
unfolded before her disappear.
In Song of Myself, in Section 11 a woman is watching men bathe through a
window and she imagines she is with them .In The Story of an Hour, Louise looks out of
the window and sees a promising future before her .Both women are in the privacy of their
rooms: You splash in the water there, yet stay stock still in your room.(Whitman,
[1855]1985:921); When the storm of grief had spent itself she went away to her room
alone. (Chopin, [1894]1976: 213) Women who expressed desire did so in private, for, in
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the social world, the expression of sexual desire and of freedom was condemned. The
private sphere allowed both women to dream as they pleased. The woman in section 11 is
only day dreaming and this desire is not realized: she does not have physical contact with
the men. On the other hand, when Louise re-enters the social world, she is not ready to
leave her private self behind and so conflict ensues. Louise is not ready to become Mrs.
Mallard again and so she dies as herself, as Louise, her dream is so powerful that it kills
her.
Whitmans poem speaks of an American identity that is based on freedom, selfreliance, individuality, union and democracy, but one cannot help but ask whether this is
true for all Americans. Despite being inclusive, the poem did not reflect the realities of
minorities. Women could not enjoy the Dream they chose because it was not up to them to
choose: social conventions presented women in a static role. Women could not experience
freedom as their husbands did. Once Louise Mallard gets a taste of the Dream, she cannot
go back to being someones wife thus dying is the way she finds to be free. Women who
did not accept social conventions in the 19th-century were condemned to live in the
nightmare that some considered to be a dream, and Chopin uses the omniscient narrator to
make the reader understand Louises feelings in depth.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Allen, Walter (1969) The Making of Americans in: The Urgent West. New York: Dutton
Books.
Chopin, Kate ([1894]1976) The Story of an Hour. In: The Awakening and Selected
Stories. New York: Penguin.
Jefferson, Thomas (1776). The Declaration of Independence, [Online], Available:
http://www.archives.gov/ [June, 2015]
Larson, Kerry (2006) Song of Myself in: Kummings,Donald(ed.) A Companion to Walt
Whitman. USA, UK , Australia:Blackwell Publishing.
Madden, David (1970) Introduction in: D. Madden, ed. American Dreams, American
Nightmares. Carbondale and Edwardsville, USA: Southern Illinois University Press.
Whitman, Walt ([1855]1985) Song of Myself in: Mc Michael, George (ed) (1985).
Concise Anthology of American Literature. New York: MacMillan