"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.
Chopin, Kate. ?The Story of an Hour.? Making Literature Matter: An Anthology for Readers and Writers. 2nd ed. Ed. John Schlib and John Clifford. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin?s, 2003. 862-63.
Chopin, Kate. “The Story of an Hour”. The Seagull Reader: Stories. Ed. Joseph Kelly. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc, 2001. 65 – 67.
Chopin, Kate. "The Story of an Hour." Introduction to Literature: Reading, Analyzing, and Writing.2nd ed.
Right from the moment Louise Mallard hears of her husband's death, Kate Chopin dives into a her vivid use of imagery. “When the storm of grief has spent itself” introduces a weather oriented theme (para.3). This imagery depicts a violent and dark setting that denotes death and grief. Her reaction to her husband's death ideally what society would expect. Her acute reaction instantly shows that she is an emotional, demonstrative woman. Even tho...
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." Perrine's Literature: Structure Sound & Sense. 11th ed. Belmont: Wadsworth, 2010. 541. Print.
In Kate Chopin’s “Story of an Hour,” Louise Mallard, is going through a life changing event that is brought on by the news of the death of her husband’s death, grieves for a very short time and discovers that she will now be able to live for herself. The end of her last hour comes when she sees her husband walking through the door. Kate Chopin displays symbolism starting with Mrs. Mallard’s heart trouble representing her dissatisfaction with her marriage and unhappiness, the open window represents the new life and opportunities that await her, and the patches of blue sky represents freedom and a tunnel of hope to show the emotions and changes of Mrs. Mallard after hearing of the loss of her husband.
The couples share a certain amount of love for each other but the disconnection was stronger. The protagonist’s disconnection is evident because her husband treats her like a little girl instead of a wife when he takes her “ …in her arms and called [her] a blessed little goose” (p121). The Mallard’s disconnection is also evident because her husband’s “face that had never looked save with love upon her, fixed and gray and dead” (p 15). This is not the emotion a wife wants to feel from her husband.
Mostly on every story, a person, place, or even an object can be described or represented more than what it actually really is. It’s just trying explain more than what the author is trying to get across the story, but it also makes you think twice about what it’s trying to say to show through the main idea. There is all sorts of symbols like the multiply sign is used to show that they double the number of what they’re trying to solve. Colors may also be used to show symbolism like they can make you label certain things and it symbolizes the object you labeled with the color.
Chopin, Kate. "The Story of an Hour." Heritage of American Literature. Ed. James E. Miller. Vol. 2. Austin: Harcourt Brace Jovanich, 1991. 487. Print.
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.”
Through the open window she sees many other symbols furthering the feelings of goodness in the reader. She sees the tops of trees that "were all quiver with the new spring life" symbolizing a new life to come, something new happening in her life. The setting of a "delicious breath of rain" in the air refers to the calmness after a storm when the sun comes back out. Kate Chopin is using this to refer to the death of Mrs. Mallards' husband and the new joyous life she may now lead that she is free of him. Also to be heard outside are the singing of birds and the notes of a distant song someone was singing, symbolizing an oncoming feeling of wellness, a build up to her realization that she is now free of the tyrannical rule of her husband.
Chopin, Kate. "The Story of an Hour." The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature. 4th ed. Ed. Michael Meyer. Boston: St. Martins, 1997. 12-15.
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.
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.