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Stylistic essays on the use of metaphors
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Stylistic essays on the use of metaphors
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The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin, published in the late eighteen hundred describes the marriage of the early nineteenth century. It shows the life of Mrs. Louise Mallard, a woman who experiences pain, joy and freedom for “a short time”. Chopin’s uses the interplay of the symbols, Mrs. Mallard’s heart trouble, the comfortable chair in her room and the front door of the house to represent all that happens to Mrs. Mallard. This story begins with the narrator telling the reader that Mrs. Mallard has “heart trouble” (Chopin 1). Hearts are mostly used as a symbol of love Mrs. Mallard’s heart trouble is viewed deeper than its surface meaning as her being love sick and depressed, this is shown when the narrator explains that Mrs. Mallard, for the most part, did not love her husband (Chopin 13). Although, Mr. Mallard loved her as it is said of him that his face never looked save with love upon her (Chopin 11), he loved her in the way he knew how to, but Mrs. Mallard wanted more. She seeks something. …show more content…
Mallard after receiving the news of Mr. Mallard’s death goes to her room to put herself together. There stood, facing the widow, a comfortable chair (Chopin 4). As she sinks into the chair, she begins to reflect on herself. She sees things from a different view than she did before, she sees spring. The comfortable chair symbolizes change, from it she can see a lot of changes, a lot of possibilities; She could see freedom. The adjective “comfortable” used to describe the chair represented the warmth she felt from her room, her chair, her world. She did not want anyone in there and so she locks herself in (Chopin 2). Although, change was all new to her and she is scared of what is to come (Chopin 9), the narrator explains that she sees past her fear as she whispers “free, free, free” (Chopin
When she abandoned herself, a little whispered word escaped her slightly parted lips. She said it over and over under her breath: "free, free, free! (Chopin 260) It is after this reawakening that Mrs. Mallard realizes that she can now live her life the way she wants, instead of the current situation where her life is dictated by her husband.
“Story of an Hour”, Kate Chopin unveils a widow named Mrs. Louise Mallard in which gets the news of her husband’s death yet, the audience would think she would feel sorrowful, depressed, and dispirited in the outcome her reaction is totally unusual. Meanwhile, day after day as time has gone by Mrs. Mallard slowly comes to a strange realization which alters a new outlook over her husband's death. "And yet she had loved him- sometimes. Often she had not. What did it matter! What could love the unsolved mystery, count for in the face of this possession of self-assertion which she suddenly recognized as the strongest impulse of her being!" (Chopin, 2). The actuality that she finds a slight bit of happiness upon the death of a person who particularly is so close to her is completely unraveling w...
Chopin describes her joy as “monstrous” to indicate that Mrs. Mallard knows she should not be happy, but she cannot help it as it is her first taste of freedom in her entire
In the third paragraph of the story, Chopin describes Mrs. Mallard as she goes into her room and sits on an armchair. Chopin describes how Mallard ?sank pressed down by a physical exhaustion that haunted the body and seemed to reach into her soul?. In this point of the story Chopin uses symbolism connecting Mrs. Mallard and the chair, the chair representing the death of her husband and her feelings about it. How it was ?a comfortable roomy chair?, she is showing us how Mrs. Mallard was ?comfortable? with her husband?s death and now felt she had room to exist freely. This is supported by the lines ?she would live for herself now. There would be no powerful will bending her in the blind?? This demonstrating to the reader that she felt controlled by her husband, and that she would no longer bet tied down to the ways of the time, which were men control women. This also supported by Jennifer Hicks in her overview of the story which states " Later, when we see Mrs. Mallard "warm and relaxed", we realize that problem with her heart is that her marriage has not allowed her to "live for herself"."
First, through Chopin’s choice of diction, she creates empathy, which helps develop the theme. In the story, Chopin writes, “There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon
Chopin reflects her rejection of the “postures of femininity” through her character’s descriptions. She describes her as “young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression.” Describing her as young and calm are what men looked for in a wife in the 19th century. They wanted a submissive woman to tend to their needs as Chopin’s description suggests. Furthermore, Chopin says of her character Mrs. Mallard, “she would live for herself.” Her character believes she will now be free of her marriage, and won’t be “repressed” as aforementioned any longer by her husband. Wives had a natural servitude towards their husbands as husbands worked and went about their lives. All in all, Chopin displays her character as having a joyous moment after the death of her husband because she is let go of being forced into her “femininity.”
Kate Chopin’s story, "The Story of an Hour," may seem to be about Mrs. Mallard’s unexpected and ironic reactions to the news of her husband’s untimely death due to a railroad disaster. At least that’s what I thought when I read the story. It seemed to me that she led a normal life with a normal marriage. She had a stable home life with a kind, loving husband who cared for her. She seemed to love him, sometimes. She had some kind of "heart trouble" (Chopin 25) that didn’t really affect her physically, until the very end. I thought Mrs. Mallard would have been saddened and filled with grief for an adequate period of time after her spouse died, but her grief passed quickly, and she embraced a new life that she seemed to be content with. Therefore I believe there is good evidence that Mrs. Mallard was an ungrateful woman who did not appreciate her husband or his love for her. That evidence is found in her selfish behavior after the death of her husband, Brently Mallard.
“The Story of the Hour” by Kate Chopin portrays an opposing perspective of marriage by presenting the reader with a woman who is somewhat untroubled by her husbands death. The main character, Mrs. Louise Mallard encounters the sense of freedom rather than sorrow after she got knowledge of her husbands death. After she learns that her husband, Brently, is still alive, it caused her to have a heart attack and die. Even though “The Story of the Hour” was published in the eighteen hundreds, the views of marriage in the story could coincide with this era as well.
...Mallard’s death up to the reader’s own interpretation, but it seems that she is trying to secretly prove that women do not have to be dependent upon men. Chopin demonstrates throughout the literary work that women can possess joy without having a man by their side, which contradicts the beliefs of the 1800’s society. Chopin’s use of an ambiguous death and irony successfully create an entertaining story that courageously takes a stand for women’s freedom.
... This woman suffers a tremendous amount from the commitment of her marriage, and the death of her husband does not affect her for long. A marriage such as this seems so unbelievable, yet a reader can see the realistic elements incorporated into the story. This begs the question of how undesirable marriage was during Chopin’s life. The unhappiness felt by Mrs. Mallard seems to be very extreme, but Chopin creates a beautiful story that reflects upon the idea of marriage as an undesired relationship and bond to some women in the nineteenth century.
“There is no perfect relationship. The idea that there is gets us into so much trouble.”-Maggie Reyes. Kate Chopin reacts to this certain idea that relationships in a marriage during the late 1800’s were a prison for women. Through the main protagonist of her story, Mrs. Mallard, the audience clearly exemplifies with what feelings she had during the process of her husbands assumed death. Chopin demonstrates in “The Story of an Hour” the oppression that women faced in marriage through the understandings of: forbidden joy of independence, the inherent burdens of marriage between men and women and how these two points help the audience to further understand the norms of this time.
One of the most obvious cases of this is when Mrs. Mallard comprehends that her husband has just passed away and goes into her room with no one to follow her. Chopin uses the physical description of the armchair with adjectives “comfortable” and “roomy” to show that at a time when one might expect her to feel instability and apprehension, her realization of freedom has brought her a sense of calm and ease at discovering her new self. She no longer feels trapped and oppressed by her marriage and her wifely
In her story “The Story of an Hour,” Kate Chopin (1894) uses imagery and descriptive detail to contrast the rich possibilities for which Mrs. Mallard yearns, given the drab reality of her everyday life. Chopin utilizes explicit words to provide the reader a background on Mrs. Mallard’s position. Chopin uses “She wept at once,” to describe Mrs. Mallard’s emotional reaction once she was told her husband had been “Killed.” Mrs. Mallard cared for and loved her husband; being married was the only way of life that she knew.
Mallard. Her self-assertion surpassed the years they were married and the love she had for him. She is beginning to realize she can now live for and focus on herself. The text insists “There would be no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself. There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature.” (Chopin 477.) Finally she can live freely and no longer worry about being confined in her marriage and inside her own home. She has come to realization that she is now independent and can think freely and achieves happiness and freedom. She is no longer held down or back by her marriage. She will no longer be someone’s possession she will be free and respected. Her husband Brently returns and he is alive the happiness and freedom she once possessed briefly with the mere image of her deceased husband were quickly torn away. “When the doctors came they said she died of heart disease of joy that kills” (Chopin 477). She was free but still confined without the knowledge of her husband who wasn’t dead. Chopin illustrates at the end that she was free because joy killed her. She was joyous because she was finally set free but she is now once again confined by the grief knowing her husband was not killed
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.