2018 has become a monumental year for cultural, sexual, and gender acceptance. Not only have women reported sexual assaults, but genders are no longer limited to just male and female. Hollywood is also starting to show signs of change when it comes to the ethnicities or sexuality of lead roles; Netflix's To All the Boys I've Loved Before and Marvel's Black Panther are good examples. However, whether it dates back to the Victorian era or is as recent as today, many still attempt to change their identity for fear of discrimination due to physical characteristics. This is observed through several literary and artistic works. More specifically, the works of Kate Chopin, Maya Angelou, and Andrew Wyeth all share a similar theme: one may adopt public identities because of the critical and discriminatory world around them. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The first struggle with identity due to discrimination is observed in Kate Chopin's short story, "The Story of an Hour." In the story, the protagonist, Mrs. Mallard, lives in a male-favored society where women do not have much control over their lives. Mrs. Mallard's husband has recently died and she processes this news in her bedroom. “He cried immediately, with sudden, wild abandon, in his sister's arms. When the storm of pain had calmed down, she went to her room alone. She would not have wanted anyone to follow her," wrote Chopin. Chopin first describes Mrs. Mallard as a terribly troubled grieving widow. However, Chopin continues to write: “She could see in the square in front of her house the tops of the trees that they trembled with the new spring life. There were glimpses of blue sky showing here and there through the clouds that had met and piled one on top of the other in the west, opposite his window” This is a stark contrast to what Chopin previously wrote; using the literary element of visual imagery, Chopin now describes the scenery as lush, bright, and beautiful. These three adjectives are typically associated with light and the happy things in life. Death, however, is not something that “thrills with new spring life.” “In literature, film and art, death is generally seen as dark, miserable and gloomy. Chopin's use of juxtaposition shows the first change in the lady's vision Mallard on her husband's death. Mrs. Mallard even begins to question her love for her husband. “Yet she had loved him – sometimes. Often he hadn't. What did it matter?" Not only is Mrs. Mallard starting to shed the mask of a loving, dependent, and submissive woman, but she is also starting to show the identity behind it all: a free woman who exists for herself and herself alone. "'Free! Free body and soul!' he kept whispering.While Mrs. Mallard is sitting in her room, Chopin uses visual imagery to suggest the fact that she is starting to suffer from a heart attack It can be inferred that for Mrs. Mallard his death will free her from confines, come on constraints and expectations of her society. In the last paragraph of “The Story of an Hour,” Chopin writes: “When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease – of the joy that kills Mallard was his freedom, for it can no longer be suppressed. Mallard was freed from the shackles of marriage; the woman in Maya Angelou's poem, “The Mask,” however, still feels the constraints of racism that forces her to wear her “mask.” The use of juxtaposition, metaphors andonomatopoeia on Angelou's part can help the reader realize that the woman in her poem lives in a turbulent and racist world. Stanzas 1-9 are by Paul Laurence Dunbar, which is about a person who hides their pain from the world by wearing a false, satisfied mask. Angelou then begins to write her own words: "We smile but, oh my God, our tears for you come from tortured souls and we sing Oh little doll, now we sing. The clay is vile under our feet. But we let the world you think differently. We wear the mask. at first it talks about a hellish world but then it mentions singing. Singing is often seen as a carefree and healthy way, not as a way to express suffering. However, it seems that the woman in the poem sings to show the world that she is "fine", hiding behind a mask to protect herself from society's harsh criticism. Angelou goes on to write in stanzas 33-37: “They grow the fruit but eat the peel. Hmm huh! I laugh eh eh eh. Until I start crying when I think of myself, my parents and my children. “Growing the fruit but eating the peel is a metaphor for effort but also for suffering. Perhaps Angelou is mentioning African Americans' past of slavery; they toiled and bled incessantly for the South and yet they do not have a better world. They may have been emancipated, but they are still discriminated against. I think Angelou is using onomatopoeia to show how much the woman is trying to mask her pain by laughing. However, the woman begins to cry when she thinks about the world around her and how this era may not be better than it was for African Americans many years ago. Angelou wrote a metaphor about stanzas 42-45 saying, “My fathers sit on gnarled benches like broken candles, all waxed and burned deeply. They say, but darling, it was our submission that made your world go round. ” Candles are often used to illuminate rooms, but as soon as they become unsightly or used they are discarded. Perhaps the woman's "fathers" (the elderly, perhaps) have seen the cruelty of the world and have learned to give in to anyone to make things easier for the future generation. “The Story of an Hour” and “The Mask” focus on these themes of gender and race through the use of literary elements; however, Andrew Wyeth's “Christina's World” is a painting that conveys a powerful message of struggling with identity due to physical discrimination. It features a girl sitting in the tranquil setting of what one can assume is the countryside. Upon closer inspection, however, we realize that this painting may not be as peaceful as it seems, as one may begin to realize that the girl's right arm seems slightly distorted. This raises questions to the surface: What is “wrong” with her? Why is she alone in the field? With my basic knowledge, I know that “Christina's World” was painted in 1948, at the height of a polio epidemic. Perhaps the girl was repudiated due to her illness, which could explain why her left hand hesitantly reaches towards the house as if wishing to return. Wyeth used an artistic element, space, to show how far the girl is from the house: it could be a metaphor for how the inhabitants of that house pushed her away. Other artistic elements used by Wyeth are contrast and line; the field where the girl sits is darker than the fields near the house. This could represent how the girl is in a darker place due to the discrimination she faces due to her physical disability. As for the use of line, Wyeth cleverly uses tractor lines and a fence to show the boundaries between the girl and the.