In the short story, by Kate Chopin “The Story of An Hour”, the reader is transported into an era of 19th century American South”; furthermore, they see into a life of a women who is ensnared. As the story reads, the theme of repression becomes ever so obvious in the marriage between Mrs. Mallard and Brentley Mallard.
"A Joy That Kills"
"The story of an hour" leads to a sequence of shocking events through Kate Chopin' s main character Louise Mallard. In this short story poem, Chopin reveals an unsaid view of marriage in the late 1800s that many women may have felt. Learning the death of her husband's death, Mrs. Mallard experiences an overwhelming joy that overtakes her. Mrs. Mallard is a caged bird that is finally let free to fly into her own death, such as women are today.
“The Story of an Hour” is a short story that mainly talks about the main character not liking her role in society and how she was very unhappy with her marriage. It shows that often women are not always happy in their marriage or the roles they play in the marriage. She finds out that her husband had died in a railroad accident, and at first feels sadness, but then feels that she is free.
The Story of An Hour was published in Vogue on December 6, 1894. This was a time in history when the roles of men and women were well defined. The men ruled their wives and the marriage; women did not have their own identity or freedom. Kate Chopin was writing from experience. Her husband died when she was in her early 30’s, thus giving her the freedom and independent identity she longed for. After the death of her husband, Chopin raised their six children and never remarried. Chopin portrays Mrs. Mallard as the typical nineteenth-century woman who changes into a joyful freed soul when she is mistakenly told her husband died in a railroad accident. Mrs. Mallard quickly embraces the idea of being free and unlocks herself from her room when her sister calls her by her first name. Louise Mallard gains her own identity, no longer constrained by the bounds of marriage. Chopin makes certain to inform the reader that Louise now carried herself like “a goddess of Victory” because she was no longer married. Chopin’s narrator reflects on all of the wonderful and positive aspects of single life for Louise. Yet, Mrs. Mallard gives little thought or praise for the institution of
Kate Chopin's The Story of an Hour
Question #1 Compare and contrast women's roles and marriage in "The Story of an Hour" and "The Yellow Wallpaper."
Mrs. Mallard had heart trouble and is very sick. After the news of her husbands death she locked herself in her room and all she could think was she was finally free. She knew she would weep again when she saw her husband with his hands folded in death, but all she could think as she sat in the room all alone was of the many years she would have ahead of her to only live for herself: " But she saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely" (Danticat 138).
Written in 1894, “The Story of an Hour” is a story of a woman who, through the erroneously reported death of her husband, experienced true freedom. Both tragic and ironic, the story deals with the boundaries imposed on women by society in the nineteenth century. The author Kate Chopin, like the character in her story, had first-hand experience with the male-dominated society of that time and had experienced the death of her husband at a young age (Internet). The similarity between Kate Chopin and her heroine can only leave us to wonder how much of this story is fiction and how much is personal experience.
The story “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, written in 1894, is about a woman gaining independence and experiencing a new freedom, due to the death of her husband. The topic of the story was rather scandalous at the end of the 19th century. Women had no control over their property and weren’t allowed to request a divorce.
...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
Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” is about a woman with heart troubles, was informed that her husband has been killed in a railroad accident and after she heared that news she became hysterically upset. She locks herself in a room, sits in a chair looking out the window where what she was seeing outside seemed to be trying to get into her or overwhelm her. She panicked at first, but then began to feel a deep peace with herself after she accepts the fact of her husband’s death. Her sister begs her to come out of the room because she’s worried about her, when she does they go to leave when her husband supposable he was dead came in the door. Turns out he was never dead in the first place, but then ironically after she saw him she dies of heart disease.
Kate Chopin wrote a short piece called “The Story of an Hour” about a woman’s dynamic emotional shift who believes she has just learned her husband has died. The theme of Chopin’s piece is essentially a longing for more freedom for women.