"She knew that she would when she saw the kind, tender hands folded in death, the face that had never looked save with love upon her, fixed gray and dead. But she saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely"(Chopin 15). When a couple gets married the vows state until death do they part, but Mr. and Mrs. Mallard took those vows literally. Mrs. Mallard and her husband's marriage seemed to have more problems than others. In Kate Chopin's essay "Story of an Hour", the author introduces several symbolic references to nature to illustrate Mrs. Mallard's mixed emotions in regards to her husband's unexpected death.
On the other hand, Richards's life seemed vastly different from that of Mr. and Mrs. Mallard. Richard's is living a wonderful life without the things Mrs. Mallard is going through. Richard's has a good life because he can do anything that he wants without someone telling him what to do. He is free from the pressure and struggles that couples go through during life. Richards is a strong man physically and emotionally. During this time period the man brings home all the money to support his wife and children. The wife was not allowed to work during this time unless she had special permission to do so. In Mrs. and Mr. Mallards case it seems like Mrs. Mallard was doing all the work. It seemed like Mrs. Mallard always had a job making sure that Mr. Mallard had whatever he wanted and that's why she probably just gave up on him. Mrs. Mallard wears the pants in this household. She was always their just as Richards was. Mrs. Mallard doesn't need a man their in her life if she can take care of her self like she already is. If Mr. Mallard was more of a man I am...
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... all aquiver with the new spring life" (Chopin 15). The tops of the trees represent a new life and a better future for Ms. Mallard. Ms. Mallard can now move on to a happier life with more freedom. She can now enjoy life to the fullest until her death is brought upon her.
The four symbols present in my paper, drawn from the short essay "Story of an Hour", have a similar meaning, which is freedom. "Free! Body and soul free! She kept Whispering" (Chopin 16). Mrs. Mallard has a new life to enjoy, but is devastated and falls to her death when Mr. Mallard is standing at the door. Death seemed to be the only way out of this marriage. Mrs. Mallard died from a "joy that kills" (Chopin 16).
Works Cited
Chopin, Kate. "Story of an Hour." Meyer, Michael. The Bedford Introduction to Literature. 7th Ed. Boston MA: Bedford/Hill, 2005. 15-16.
Deneau, Daniel P. "Chopin's the Story of an Hour." The Explicator 61.4 (2003): 210-3. ProQuest. Web. 3 Apr. 2014.
Chopin, Kate. "The Story of an Hour." Heritage of American Literature. Ed. James E. Miller. Vol. 2. Austin: Harcourt Brace Jovanich, 1991. 487. Print.
Why would a married woman go out, spend the night with a man whom she barely knows, when she has a wonderful, devoted husband and child? Mrs. Mallard's cry of ultimate relief and the joy she felt when she learned of her husband's deathis intolerable.
Chopin, Kate. “The Story of an Hour(1894)”. Adapted from The Awakening . Glencoe McGraw- Hill. New York New York 1899.
The symbols and imagery used by Kate Chopin's in “The Story of an Hour” give the reader a sense of Mrs. Mallard’s new life appearing before her through her view of an “open window” (para. 4). Louise Mallard experiences what most individuals long for throughout their lives; freedom and happiness. By spending an hour in a “comfortable, roomy armchair” (para.4) in front of an open window, she undergoes a transformation that makes her understand the importance of her freedom. The author's use of Spring time imagery also creates a sense of renewal that captures the author's idea that Mrs. Mallard was set free after the news of her husband's death.
Chopin, Kate. “The Story of an Hour”. The Seagull Reader: Stories. Ed. Joseph Kelly. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc, 2001. 65 – 67.
In "The Story of an Hour" Kate Chopin tells the story of a woman, Mrs. Mallard, whose husband is thought to be dead. Throughout the story, Chopin describes the emotions Mrs. Mallard felt about the news of her husband's death. However, the strong emotions she felt were not despair or sadness, they were something else. In a way, she was relieved more than she was upset, and almost rejoiced in the thought of her husband no longer living. In using different literary elements throughout the story, Chopin conveys this to us on more than one occasion.
Chopin, Kate. "The Story of an Hour." Introduction to Literature: Reading, Analyzing, and Writing.2nd ed.
Marriage was not kind to Mrs. Mallard, her life was dull and not worth living, her face showed the years of repression. If she did love this man, why was marriage so harmful to her? Marriage was a prison for her
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.
Several symbols in Kate Chopin's "Story of an Hour" create a feeling of comfort, wellness, and wonderfulness within the reader's mind. The first symbol I will speak of is the "comfortable chair" which she sinks into after the news of her husbands' death. Then, I will speak of the open window, which she sits in front of through which she sees many symbols of things that are good. Finally, I will speak of the description of Mrs. Mallard herself and her comfortable situation, which will tie together all the symbols that create the feelings of comfort and wellness in the reader.
Chopin, Kate. "The Story of an Hour." Perrine's Literature: Structure Sound & Sense. 11th ed. Belmont: Wadsworth, 2010. 541. Print.
Chopin, Kate. "The Story of an Hour." The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature. 4th ed. Ed. Michael Meyer. Boston: St. Martins, 1997. 12-15.
In the short story, “The Story of an Hour,” author Kate Chopin presents the character of Mrs. Louis Mallard. She is an unhappy woman trapped in her discontented marriage. Unable to assert herself or extricate herself from the relationship, she endures it. The news of the presumed death of her husband comes as a great relief to her, and for a brief moment she experiences the joys of a liberated life from the repressed relationship with her husband. The relief, however, is short lived. The shock of seeing him alive is too much for her bear and she dies. The meaning of life and death take on opposite meaning for Mrs. Mallard in her marriage because she lacked the courage to stand up for herself.
Kate Chopin’s The Story of an Hour is a brilliant short story of irony and emotion. The story demonstrates conflicts that take us through the character’s emotions as she finds out about the death of her husband. Without the well written series of conflicts and events this story, the reader would not understand the depth of Mrs. Mallard’s inner conflict and the resolution at the end of the story. The conflict allows us to follow the emotions and unfold the irony of the situation in “The Story of an Hour.”