Kernel’s and Satellites
Kate Chopin’s story, “The Story of an Hour” is an ironic short story of a wife in the late 1800’s. The story is only a few pages long and in doing so Chopin writes a story filled with kernel’s (events that have important causal chronological coherence) with very few satellite’s (events not logically essential to the narrative action). There were no satellites that I could find while reading the text; I found every word written essential to the narrative, the progression and the conclusion of the story.
Freytag’s Pyramid and Function’s
Upon examining Freytag’s pyramid, I can see that the narrative does follow this diagrammatic representation of the story structure. From the inciting moment (Mrs. Mallard’s heart trouble, and Mr. Mallards “death”) to the climax (Mrs. Mallards becoming of a free independent person) to the catastrophe (Mrs. Mallard’s death) we can follow Freytag’s design. The most interesting element to the story, following Freytag’s pyramid, is the reversal; Chopin surprises us in Mrs. Mallard’s reaction to her husband’s death. The reversal is Mrs. Mallard’s joyful acceptance of his death, her realization of freedom; the narrative twists the story to the exact opposite of what the reader was expecting. The reversal of the readers expectation is a much more effective way for Chopin to express her message. The element in the reversal also has the role of a function (an act defined by its significance for the course of action in which it appears). A death would usually be thought of as a tragedy, but once we start to gain insight on Mrs. Mallard’s character we can see why she responds with the opposite reaction. Another function within the story is the “joy that kills” it makes sense in this story, but in most you would see an immense joy at Mr. Mallard’s return, these circumstances would not often see a wife dying from, what I assume is, a miserable shock.
Acts and Happenings
Once examining the story I found an interesting insight on Mrs. Mallard in terms of acts and happenings; the happenings (a change of state not brought about by an agent and manifested in the discourse in the act of happen) are events out of Mrs. Mallards control, and the acts (a change of state brought about by an agent) are Mrs. Mallards emotional realizations and her change of outlook on life and death rather than physical actions: Mr.
In the modern era we recognize pacifism from its great figures on non-violent resistance. Ghandi, and Martin Luther King, Jr. stand as the most recognizable and prominent figures of the ideology. However, these figures do not provide a complete picture of pacifist thought. Pacifism has a long and distinguished history stretching from the origins of Christianity to the modern day. This review will evaluate and compare the ideological characteristics of early 20th century pacifism from two distinct angles: 1.) pacifism based on Judeo-Christian tradition, using Leo Tolstoy as an example; and 2.) pacifism as a secular belief, with a focus on the writings of intellectuals Bertrand Russel and Albert Einstein. While they share the same basic ideological
In Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” allows one to explore many ironic instances throughout the story, the main one in which a woman unpredictably feels free after her husband’s assumed death. Chopin uses Mrs. Mallard’s bizarre story to illustrate the struggles of reaching personal freedom and trying to be true to yourself to reach self-assertion while being a part of something else, like a marriage. In “The Story of an Hour” the main character, Mrs. Mallard, celebrates the death of her husband, yet Chopin uses several ironic situations and certain symbols to criticize the behavior of Mrs. Mallard during the time of her “loving” husband’s assumed death.
Chopin, Kate. “The Story of an Hour.” Approaching Literature: Reading + Writing + Thinking, Third Edition. Ed. Schakel, Peter J, and Jack Ridl. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martins, 2012. 233-234. Print.
Hepburn had two half-brothers, Ian and Alex Quales van Ufford from her mother’s first marriage. When she was 6-years-old, her father left their family and she was devastated. She later described the event as the most traumatic moment of her life. During World War II, Hepburn, her mother, and her two half-brothers relocated to the Netherlands. Hepburn’s mother thought that they would be safe from any German attacks, but she was wrong. The German’s raided the Dutch’s food and fuel supplies leaving the people hungry and cold. Hepburn suffered from malnutrition and developed anemia and respiratory problems. Her half-brother Ian was soon sent to a German labor camp and her other half-brother Alex left to escape it. To avoid punishment for having ...
There is a considerable debate about the precise meaning of nonviolence. Some people believe that nonviolence is a philosophy and strategy for social change that rejects the use of violence. In other words, nonviolence is a method for resolving a conflict without the use of physical power nor enmity towards opponents. Instead, it emphasizes you to look beyond convictions and one’s urge for victory, it is the motto behind the saying “hate the sin and not the sinner”. For others it is a way of living and an essential part of their values and norms, for those people, nonviolence is the road which will lead them towards attaining inner piece and moral satisfaction. “Learn and teach nonviolence as a way of life; reflect it in attitude, speech and action” say’s Gerber in his article The Road to Nonviolence. Thus making nonviolence the ultimate behavior towards achieving truthful, spiritual, loving life. Mahatma Gandhi, the nonviolence guru, defines nonviolence as “a power which can be wielded equally by all-children, young men and women or grown-up people, provided they have a living faith in the God of Love and have therefore equal love for all mankind”. (mkgandhi.org) Therefore we understand that nonviolence has some terms and conditions to be met; living faith in God, truthfulness, humility, tolerance, loving kindness, honesty and the willingness to sacrifice. ...
Kate Chopin is a phenomenal writer, with two published novels and over one hundred short stories, not only does her writing style keep the reader intrigued, but also the setting, dialect, and history behind her work tell a story all its own. Chopin uses contrast in her writing "The Story of an Hour" through the hints about the quality of Mr. And Mrs. Mallard 's marriage, Mrs. Mallards emotions toward her husband 's death, and Mrs. Mallards death to emphasize her theme of gender roles in a time when women had no rights.
At the end, Mrs. Mallard was in sudden shock about her husband not being dead killing her with joy. The ironic part about the story was that she was relieved to be free from the thought husband deaf. And later knowing about his falsify death an hour of meditating gave her a heart attack of “joy” freeing her still of her marriage from over thinking about no longer seeing her
...ndreds, women were not allowed to be persons of their own, but were looked up as a shadow of their husbands. In those days, they were to be stay at home mothers and to abide by the rules that were set by their husbands. The writer brought out the truth of what married women were expected to abide by in the late eighteen hundreds. Despite their true feelings or circumstances, divorce was extremely rare, so in those days there was nothing they could do but to stay married. “The story of an Hour” can be read as the story of Chopin’s mother, Eliza
Most women in Mrs Mallard’s situation were expected to be upset at the news of her husbands death, and they would worry more about her heart trouble, since the news could worsen her condition. However, her reaction is very different. At first she gets emotional and cries in front of her sister and her husbands friend, Richard. A little after, Mrs. Mallard finally sees an opportunity of freedom from her husbands death. She is crying in her bedroom, but then she starts to think of the freedom that she now has in her hands. “When she abandoned herse...
seldom used nonviolence to address issues at hand. Pacifism is a tricky subject to deal with
Pacifism holds that all violence and war are morally wrong, and that Christians should not participate in warfare in any way. Pacifists literally take the “turn-the-other-cheek” and “love your enemies” (Matthew 5). They must be ready to accept violence without resistance or retaliation. Christians must never use force, even in personal self-defense. Pacifists believe that Christians who condone violence and warfare do so by relying on philosophical arguments, not on biblical text and that they have become corrupted by values that are a part of the secular world. Having a new identity in Christ and being a part of the Kingdom of God (2 Cor 5:20 and Philippians 3:20), Christians must not become entangled in this world’s affairs. Pacifists make the point that one’s loyalties and obligations are to God and when there is a conflict between obeying God or obeying one’s government, “we must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29). Discussion: Have participants read 2 Cor 5:20, Phil 3:20, Acts 5:29) Ask: Is it possible for someone to love their enemies if they are killing
The mysteries of love, hate, and compassion are all part of marriage. The mysteries of the heart are felt in the short story, The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin (Clugston, 2010, sec 2.1). This story pulls you in with the suspense of Mrs. Mallard’s heart condition and the idea of her husband’s death. When you first begin to read this story you get a feeling of compassion for Mrs. Mallard having a heart condition. As the reader you receive sadness within you to know the revealing of her husband’s death may harm her in some way, only to find out that love isn’t that simple and maybe it was the news of her husband being alive that killed her.
The first reader has a guided perspective of the text that one would expect from a person who has never studied the short story; however the reader makes some valid points which enhance what is thought to be a guided knowledge of the text. The author describes Mrs. Mallard as a woman who seems to be the "victim" of an overbearing but occasionally loving husband. Being told of her husband's death, "She did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance." (This shows that she is not totally locked into marriage as most women in her time). Although "she had loved him--sometimes," she automatically does not want to accept, blindly, the situation of being controlled by her husband. The reader identified Mrs. Mallard as not being a "one-dimensional, clone-like woman having a predictable, adequate emotional response for every life condition." In fact the reader believed that Mrs. Mallard had the exact opposite response to the death her husband because finally, she recognizes the freedom she has desired for a long time and it overcomes her sorrow. "Free! Body and soul free! She kept whispering." We can see that the reader got this idea form this particular phrase in the story because it illuminates the idea of her sorrow tuning to happiness.
What is food security? Why is food security important, and how is it measured? In contrast, what is food sovereignty and how might it differ from food security? What are some contradictions and dilemmas inherent to these two concepts? In what ways might they be seen as contradictory to one another?