The classic princess fairytales, such as Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, etc., involve the oh-so-romantic Prince coming to the rescue and sweeping the princess off her feet. But even the classics need alternate endings to keep up with the changing times in order to keep their appeal. For instance, the recently released Maleficent is the story of Sleeping Beauty, yet the ending now appeals to our generation of a strong female lead that does not need a man's help to fix her problems. "Story of An Hour" by Kate Chopin and "There Was Once" by Margaret Atwood are prime examples of what it means to change or reinvent the traditional "I need a man" female plot. Both stories share this new feminist approach into literature, yet they differ in how each develops the feministic qualities and the female character.

The first contrast to help us better understand the stories is the way they are told. "Story of an Hour" is a complete, traditional story with a beginning, middle and end. We, as readers, are simply reading what is already set in stone and finding out what will happen event after event. In "There Was Once," the text is in the form of an argument or dialogue. There is virtually no middle or end in this because the whole story is a conversation on how the beginning of a classic fairytale should start. The whole story criticizes how the first line of traditional fairytales start and does not continue from that point on.

Both stories also revolve around a female and her journey into realizing independence. The difference is that Mrs. Mallard ("Story of an Hour") struggles into accepting this new mindset because in her time it was considered unnatural, un-lady like, rude, etc. "She was beginning to recognize this thing that was approaching to possess her, and she was striving to beat it back with her will." This quote demonstrates the conflict Mrs. Mallard feels. She goes through emotional highs and lows and does not quite realize that what she is going through is a total feminist concept of independence; all she knows is that it is a refreshing feeling. On the other hand, in "There Was Once," the princess is gaining her own independence from the narrator as we read along and has no internal struggle. She actually has an external struggle from a listener who is challenging her development. Her chance to grow as a character is always stopped and corrected along the way. For example all the use of hyphens at the end of a phrase indicates the interruption of her development: "There was once a girl-."

Another contrast between these two feminist stories are from the characters themselves. Mrs. Mallard is already completely developed and has control of her own actions as a written character. Mrs. Mallard is already a complete process. The princess from "There Was Once" is being developed into a more independent female. We are following along the process of the princess' development "Stop right there. I think we can cut the beautiful, don't you?" We get to essentially be there for the character development for the princess.

Also both found a way to incorporate marriage into their stories. Mrs. Mallard is already married and the princess is destined to be married. Both also emphasize the negative point of view of marriage. Mrs. Mallard almost regrets the marriage and has a moment when she is happy about her new independence because her husband is dead: "What could love, the unsolved mystery, count for in the face of this possession of self-assertion which she suddenly recognized as the strongest impulse of her being!" In "There Was Once," the story is stopped from having the princess be married so we never get to that point. This is a critical factor in the feminist approach. Stopping the marriage from happening and having happiness over new found independence both exclude a male. This only supports the factors of a strong female lead.

The feminist approach between both these stories is from within the main female characters who are both portrayed as strong. Mrs. Mallard is strong in the sense that she has the ability to picture life without a husband to provide for her needs "but she saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely. And she opened and spread her arms out to them in welcome." The princess is strong in the sense that she is slowly being characterized and developed as less stereotypical.  Both female character developments highlight the modern feminist concept. Mrs. Mallard brings out this new mindset from her internal struggle. We see that it's a desire to be a strong, independent female. We see the happiness it brings to Mrs. Mallard. In "There Was Once" we get this from a third person view. We are reading into an argument of how helpless traditional fairytales makes females and how  females should be less sexualized. "But I'm so tired of negative female images!"

The strongest support that both stories bring into this feminist approach is the desire to be independent. Feminists refute the idea of having males be dominant and having males be the head of the house. Feminism desire equality for women- that includes not only the right to be independent but the ability to pursue independence without any shame. Although Mrs. Mallard struggles with accepting her independence, we know that she should not feel that way- in terms of independence and not the shame from the death of her husband.

Feminism continues to be more prevalent in our society. It has now become the subject of all types of work: movies, books, poems, art, etc. Feminism has now become its own genre that "Story of an Hour" and "There Was Once" can now be a part of.

Both Chopin and Atwood give females something to look up to. Chopin may have been more relatable in the sense that it was more realistic, but Atwood completely refutes the traditional princess stories our generation used to grow up with. You could say that Chopin was the Atwood in her day and that Atwood is the Chopin in our day.

Although "Story of an Hour" was written way before "There Was Once" and in "There Was Once" we get the modern and current vibe, "There Was Once" actually supports "Story of an Hour." "There Was Once" explains the process of changing how stories are told and "Story of an Hour" is the changed story. "There Was Once" as a whole is the process of changing the stereotype and Mrs. Mallard is the result.
