Tone In Kate Chopin's The Story Of An Hour

626 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The story of an hour setting and character analysis

In The Story of an Hour, the tone shifts dramatically from desolate to hopeful and then to ironic all within a short time frame. It is created by a swift progression of events and how Louise Mallard reacts to the supposed death of her husband. As Mrs. Mallard processes the latest events, the tone shifts as she comes to a conclusion about her feelings. The final tone is set when Mr. Mallard shows up at her doorstep, unscathed. These tones are clarified and enhanced with the use of imagery and language. In the beginning of the story, the tone is tense and bleak as Josephine and Richards try to break the news to Mrs. Mallard. There is an undertone of worry which can be recognized when the narrator says, “..great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband’s death.” (158) Mrs. Mallard’s reaction is tragic as any new widow, …show more content…

Mallard comes to a revelation that shocks her, remodeling the tone of the story. This can be understood in the lines, “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 in welcome.” (159) Mrs. Mallard’s feelings are not as expected of a new widow. Rather, the tone is now elated and hopeful. Images like the patches of blue sky, the tops of trees with new life, the scent and breeze of rain in the air, and a faraway song all enhance this mood of hopefulness. When the narrator describes the atmosphere by saying, “The delicious breath of rain was in the air,” (158) it suggests that Mrs. Mallard is about to experience a new beginning, much like the season of spring. The repetition of the words “free” and “open” also contribute to this new mood. Next, the tone transitions to victorious as “There was a feverish triumph in her eyes, and she carried herself unwittingly like a goddess of Victory.” (159) Mrs. Mallard feels hopeful, then elated, and lastly triumphant with her new life ahead of

Show More
Related

  • Story Of An Hour Dialectical Journal

    850 Words  | 2 Pages

    An important detail is that Mrs. Mallard has a heart disease so Josephine, her sister, has to be very careful telling her the news. Josephine learned of Mr. Mallard’s death

    Read More

  • Character Amidst Tragedy

    875 Words  | 2 Pages

    The struggle the other characters face in telling Mrs. Mallard of the news of her husband's death is an important demonstration of their initial perception of her strength. Through careful use of diction, Mrs. Mallard is portrayed as dependent. In mentioning her "heart trouble" (12) Chopin suggests that Mrs. Mallard is fragile. Consequently, Josephine's character supports this misconception as she speaks of the accident in broken sentences, and Richards provides little in the way of benefiting the situation. In using excess caution in approaching the elderly woman, Mrs. Mallard is given little opportunity to exhibit her strength. Clearly the caution taken towards Mrs. Mallard is significant in that it shows the reader the perception others have of her. The initial description the author provides readers with creates a picture that Mrs. Mallard is on the brink of death.

    Read More

  • Marriage And A Woman's Role In The 1800s

    659 Words  | 2 Pages

    She has no uniqueness of her own; she is just a woman that belongs to her husband Mr. Mallard. After she realizes how free she is, readers begin to see her as an actual person. The spring season reflects the rebirth of Mrs. Mallard’s character. The storm clouds clearing to show blue skies is symbolic of the storm of her marriage passing. Even though Mrs. Mallard knows that she should not be happy, she cannot stop her feelings of joy: “She did not stop to ask if it were or were not a monstrous joy that held her” (151).

    Read More

  • Analysis of The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin

    805 Words  | 2 Pages

    Another example of how Mrs. Mallard was more uplifted than brought down by the news of her husband?s death is the description of the window. As Mrs. Mallard looks out Chopin explains ?she could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all a quiver with new life?. This is telling the reader about the new life that Mrs. Mallard can see in the distance that symbolizes the new life she saw that lay ahead of her now that she was free of her husband. This thought being supported by Hicks in saying "The revalation of freedom occurs in the bedroom"

    Read More

  • Symbolism and Irony in “The Story of an Hour”

    612 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the story, The Story of an Hour, Mrs. Mallard and all her actions and surroundings are used as symbolism .At the beginning of the story; Mrs. Mallard had heart conditions, so what they did to explain the tragic death of her husband to her. Was that they kept her as comfortable as they could and released the news to her little by little, and also gave her hints in order for her not to know by the harsh way, notified by the newspaper office in which the husband of her sister worked at currently.

    Read More

  • The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin

    794 Words  | 2 Pages

    When her friends and family tell Mrs. Mallard of the tragic news they try to tell her as gently as possible because they know she has a very serious heart condition. She hears that her husband has been killed, but reacts in a strange and unusual way. She does not give herself time to think upon the subject, but immediately starts sobbing because that was the reaction she thought she should give. She is grieving, but is over come with an immense sadness. Chopin writes; " she did not hear the story as many women have heard the same…she wept at once" (paragraph 3). This was not a reaction of just emotions, but also of how she thought she should react in front of her family and friends.

    Read More

  • Loss And Death In Kate Chopin's The Story Of An Hour

    1173 Words  | 3 Pages

    The story begins on a very sad note especially in the eyes of a reader. Mrs. Mallard is said to have a “heart

    Read More

  • Story Of An Hour Analysis Essay

    651 Words  | 2 Pages

    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...

    Read More

  • Chopin’s The Story of an Hour

    1355 Words  | 3 Pages

    Mrs. Mallard is an ill woman who is “afflicted with heart trouble” and had to be told very carefully by her sister and husband’s friend that her husband had died (1609). Her illness can be concluded to have been brought upon her by her marriage. She was under a great amount of stress from her unwillingness to be a part of the relationship. Before her marriage, she had a youthful glow, but now “there was a dull stare in her eyes” (1610). Being married to Mr. Mallard stifled the joy of life that she once had. When she realizes the implications of her husband’s death, she exclaims “Free! Body and soul free!” (1610). She feels as though a weight has been lifted off her shoulders and instead of grieving for him, she rejoices for herself. His death is seen as the beginn...

    Read More

  • Literary Analysis on Kate Chopin’s The Story of an Hour

    642 Words  | 2 Pages

    Chopin describes her as a fragile woman. Because she was “afflicted with a heart trouble,” when she receives notification of her husband’s passing, “great care was taken” to break the news “as gently as possible” (1). Josephine, her sister, and Richards, her husband’s friend, expect her to be devastated over this news, and they fear that the depression could kill her because of her weak heart. Richards was “in the newspaper office when the intelligence of the railroad disaster was received, with Brently Mallard’s name leading the list of killed” (1). He therefore is one of the first people to know about his death. Knowing about Mrs. Mallard’s heart, he realizes that they need to take caution in letting Mrs. Mallard know about it. Josephine told her because Richards feared “any less careful, less tender” person relaying the message to Louise Mallard (1). Because of her heart trouble, they think that if the message of her husband’s death is delivered to her the wrong way, her heart would not be able to withstand it. They also think that if someone practices caution in giving her the message, that, ...

    Read More

  • The Story of an Hour

    1193 Words  | 3 Pages

    “The Story of an Hour” is the story of Mrs. Louise Mallard who suffers of a weak heart. This being the first we know of Mr. Mallard, she is carefully being told that her husband had just passed away in a train accident. As every good wife should, Mrs. Mallard breaks out in grief. At first, the story goes, as it should. Then Mrs. Mallard goes into her room where she begins thinking, and her first thought is that she is free. Mrs. Mallard after years of being in an unhappy marriage is finally free to do what she wants, with no one to hold her back. Yet everything is against her, when she finally accepts that her life will begin now, her husband enters his home, unscathed and well, not having known that everyone thought him dead, a...

    Read More

  • Character Analysis of Mrs. Mallard in The Story of an Hour

    1047 Words  | 3 Pages

    Mrs. Mallard’s repressed married life is a secret that she keeps to herself. She is not open and honest with her sister Josephine who has shown nothing but concern. This is clearly evident in the great care that her sister and husband’s friend Richard show to break the news of her husband’s tragic death as gently as they can. They think that she is so much in love with him that hearing the news of his death would aggravate her poor heart condition and lead to death. Little do they know that she did not love him dearly at all and in fact took the news in a very positive way, opening her arms to welcome a new life without her husband. This can be seen in the fact that when she storms into her room and her focus shifts drastically from that of her husband’s death to nature that is symbolic of new life and possibilities awaiting her. Her senses came to life; they come alive to the beauty in the nature. Her eyes could reach the vastness of the sky; she could smell the delicious breath of rain in the air; and ears became attentive to a song f...

    Read More

  • “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin

    908 Words  | 2 Pages

    The story begins with the passage; “Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble, great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband's death.” The conflict of the story begins here. Mrs. Mallard must be informed of her husband’s death, but there is worry about the condition of her heart and how she will react to the news. The next passage, “It was her sister Josephine who told her, in broken sentences; veiled hints that revealed in half concealing,” explains how this initial conflict was resolved. Two people, both close to Mrs. Mallard and Brentley Mallard, came to inform Louise of the bad news. The information was released to her in broken sentences as hints. This means that they did not walk in and tell Mrs. Mallard her husband had died. They used great care to walk around the subject, to lead Mrs. Mallard to her own conclusion that her husband was now dead. (Chopin)

    Read More

  • Three Readers Response to The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin

    1192 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Oppression In Kate Chopin's The Story Of An Hour

    649 Words  | 2 Pages

    The main theme in “The Story of an Hour” is a woman’s freedom from oppression. Mrs. Mallard does not react accordingly to the news of her husband’s death; in the third paragraph it states, “she wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment.” After her initial wave of shock and sadness has passed, however, she becomes elated with the thought of finally being free of her husband. Originally, she is described as being “pressed down by a physical exhaustion that haunted her body” and having lines that “bespoke repression”; in an attempt to be a perfect wife to a man whom she did not even love, Mrs. Mallard has been masking her true self. Once she realizes that she has finally gained the freedom that she has been longing for, Mrs. Mallard begins to

    Read More

More about Tone In Kate Chopin's The Story Of An Hour

Open Document