Freedom

Thalia D’Angelo

Professor Brady

English 102

April 2014

Be Free!

Freedom is defined as “the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint.” Americans are lucky enough to be born into a country that thinks people’s freedom is the ultimate gift that all citizens should have. Freedom gives people drive and fuels them to shoot for the stars and achieve anything they can dream. In A&P by John Updike, Sammy’s a teenager with an interest in girls and one day think’s his older boss is in the wrong. In The Story of and Hour by Kate Chopin, Mrs. Mallard has no freedoms and does what she’s expected to do. That all comes crashing down when she finds out her husband was killed in a train accident and she’s faced with what to do next in life. Both Sammy and Mrs. Mallard are characters with a desire to be free from their circumstances. In pop culture, freedom is also a strong theme present I many ways, especially music. No mater what, literature or music, it is human nature to crave freedom and to want to live our own lives how we want too.

Sammy is the narrator, who’s an opinionated, sarcastic, but very observant teenager working in the supermarket, A&P. He also is dismissive of the A&P customers, seeing them as “house-slaves.” Sammy notices girls walk in and immediately takes notice of them, looks at how they walk and talk. Also how their bathing suits look, he even notices the faded colors and the textures. Sammy begins to ignore everything else going on and only focus on these girls, which shows his immaturity. His boss, Lengel, also takes notice of the girls and tells them they weren’t dressed decent, and tells them to basically leave the store. Sammy overhears this all and believes Lengel is wrong. The girls were paying customers and the bathing suits shouldn’t mater. He thought Lengel was taking away a bit of the girls’ freedom. Sammy wants his freedom from Lengel and from A&P. He thinks he has no voice at this job and was willing to upset his parents for it, ““Sammy, you don't want to do this to your Mom and Dad,” he tells me. It's true, I don't. But it seems to me that once you begin a gesture it's fatal not to go through with it” (Updike 435). This quote was said by Lengel to Sammy and it showed Sammy’s thoughts; he didn’t exactly think quitting through but in the end people have to stick with what they say and he did. He quit and left.

Mrs. Mallard in The Story of an Hour fears the new freedom she’s been given at first. Her sister tells Mrs. Mallard that Mr. Mallard was killed in a train accident she begins to cry out, and then goes to her room to think alone. Inside, she’s terrified by an unknown feeling, “She said it over and over under her breath: "free, free, free!" The vacant stare and the look of terror that had followed it went from her eyes. They stayed keen and bright. Her pulses beat fast, and the coursing blood warmed and relaxed every inch of her body” (Chopin). Even though she and her husband loved each other, and she's saddened by his death, she feels liberated and free for the first time. She looks forward to the days ahead being alone, doing what she wants and not having a man to listen too. Mrs. Mallard comes out of her room, with a newfound freedom and happiness, and goes downstairs. Just then, Mr. Mallard comes in; he actually survived the wreck and when Mrs. Mallard sees him, she has a tremendous shock and dies. The story goes to say, “When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease--of the joy that kills” (Chopin). This shows how unaware everyone was to Mrs. Mallard’s unhappiness and her lack of freedom. She was a woman wanting more in life and wanting the freedom she saw other people have. It’s terribly sad, however, that the only way of getting that freedom was to pass away.

Not only in stories and literature do people have a desire for freedom, many other types of art do too. Nelly Furtado’s song, “I’m Like a Bird,” is about a woman telling her lover in the chorus, “I'm like a bird, I'll only fly away. I don't know where my soul is, I don't know where my home is.” This line from the chorus is repeated then again and the emphasis shows the lover that she needs her freedom, much like a bird. The song then goes on to say in the second verse, “And it pains me so much to tell that you don't know me that well” (Furtado). This line shows the lover that he needs to understand her. She does love him but one day they might separate or break up because she does need space and freedom to grow. Birds are free to go anywhere they want, all they need is the drive to go which is why Furtado named her song “I’m Like A Bird.”

            Music and literature are just two places where freedom thrives. It shows the listener or reader that they aren’t wrong to desire such a strong sense of freedom; to want to be able to go and say what they believe, within reason of course. A&P by John Updike, The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin and Nelly Furtado’s “I’m Like a Bird” are all examples of people and characters, striving for a freedom that they need to go on. Freedom is a main component that makes people different form animals and even separates people amongst people. Freedom is something people are lucky and grateful to have.

Works Cited

Chopin, Kate, and Kate Chopin. The Story of an Hour. N.p.: St. Louis Life, 1895. Print.

Nelly Furtado. I'm Like a Bird. Brian West, 1999. CD.

Updike, John, and John Updike. Pigeon Feathers, and Other Stories. Greenwich, CT:

Fawcett Crest, 1965. Print.