“The Desire to be Undesirable”
EN151 – Perspectives on Literature
By Ellen Batty
In this literary analysis of “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, I explore the tension between marriage and individual freedom for women in the nineteenth century. Through the protagonists’s brief but impactful awakening, I argue that women were forced to choose between self-fulfillment and love in a society structured to deny them both. Drawing on historical documents, the Napoleonic Code, and another short story: “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins-Gilman, this paper examines how cultural, medical, and legal systems reinforced women’s loss of identity within marriage. Ultimately, the essay positions Chopin’s story as both a critique of nineteenth-century gender roles and a lasting reminder that one’s own liberty should never be the price of love.
“When Beauties Despise the Beasts”
EN121 – Academic Writing and Research
By Ellen Batty
In this academic essay, I explore the cultural roots of the modern “male loneliness epidemic” and its connection to misogynistic media. Drawing from various academic sources, feminist philosophy, and media studies, I argue that online movements such as the “Manosphere” and the normalization of an anti-woman outlook on society has discouraged healthy relationships (romantic and platonic) between men and women.
Ellen Batty 