Critical Analysis of “The Story of an Hour” “The Story of an Hour” was a story set in a time dominated by men. During this time women were dependent on men, but they always dreamed of freedom. Most people still think that men should be dominant and in control. They think that without men, women can’t do anything and that they can’t be happy. Well this story has a twist. The main character in this story, Louise Mallard shows us her dream of freedom and proves these people wrong when her husband, Brently Mallard, dies. Louise’s husband was on a list of people that died in a railroad disaster. They tell her carefully since she has a heart condition. She starts crying, but afterwards she begins to think of all the positive things that come from his death. Her sister, Josephine goes upstairs to make sure she is okay,and once she finds out she is they come down. As they walk down the stairs she sees the door being opened and her husband comes in. Having her heart condition, she dies. The doctors thought “she had died from heart disease-of joy that kills.” However, she didn't die from the joy of getting to see her living husband but from losing her future filled with freedom. 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... ... middle of paper ... ...dition, so the doctor thought that this weakness was the reason she died.What really killed her was being put back into the role that was forced and expected of her. When her husband walked in, all of her feminine freedom vanished. Women weren’t given the same rights as men. No one ever considered their opinions, or heard their desires and feelings. However, in “Story of an Hour” one of the major themes is freedom. Once Mrs. Mallard receives the bad news of her husbands death she is upset, but that doesn't last. She becomes a woman free from male dominance. In the end she discovered that Mr. Mallard isn’t dead, and she dies of what the doctor says was her heart disease and joy. I see this story as a female struggle.Women were never superior to men back then, and Mrs. Mallard shows us that when she dies because even her short fantasies of freedom weren’t real.
The short story, "The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopkins begins by telling the reader about Mrs. Mallards heart condition and that she needed to be told very lightly that her husband passed. Throughout the short story we are able to see a lot of irony taking place. Mrs. Mallard dies from heart failure due to her condition when her supposed to be dead husband walks through the front door. "the joy that kills" (paragraph 21) They believe she died from joy, when in fact she died from disappointment.
“The Story of an Hour” reflects many of the historical conditions of its time. A couple examples are the railroad and the telegraph. Traveling by railroad was the most modern form of transportation during the nineteenth century (when the story takes place). The fact that Brently Mallard was traveling by train suggests how American society at this time was evolving rapidly under the forces of industrialization. Referring to the telegram shows that this was the latest form of communication at the time (Evans 1).
The short story “The Story of an Hour” was written by a 19th century feminist named Kate Chopin. The definition of a feminist in the urban dictionary is a person who believes that men and women are equal, and should be entitled to equal rights, equal treatment, and equal opportunity. Kate Chopin shows a little glimpse of what it was like for married women in the 19th century and how women had no rights and weren’t treated equally to men. A woman’s reputation and status were very important at the time and they had to complete their roles as obedient housewives and caretakers. The story reflects a woman who lost her husband and finally had a taste of freedom and later died when her freedom was taken from her. There are great differences between
Freedom is what motivates Mrs. Mallard to be happy with her husband’s death. She is fighting her feeling for her freedom because she has not had freedom at all, rather she was suffering from emotional and physical abuse. However, it was a false rumor htat her husband was dead and as soon as she sees him as she was stepping down the stairs, she passed away. This is because she knows that her freedom and her joyful future is being take naway. Mrs. Mallard’s craving or freedom shows that she was abused in her
Unfortunately, her hope for long years and many beautiful spring days was abruptly ended in an ironic twist. Unbeknownst to herself and her company, Mr. Mallard had survived, and within an hour the promises of a bright future for Mrs. Mallard had both began and came to an end. Her grievous death was misconstrued as joy to the others: "they said she had died of heart disease-of joy that kills" (Chopin 471). This statement embodies the distorted misconception that a woman lives only for her man. The audience, in fact, sees just the opposite. To Louise her life was elongated at the news of her husband's death, not cut short. Throughout the story, one hopes Louise will gain her freedom. Ironically, she is granted freedom, but only in death.
At the end, Mrs. Mallard was in sudden shock about her husband not being dead killing her with joy. The ironic part about the story was that she was relieved to be free from the thought husband deaf. And later knowing about his falsify death an hour of meditating gave her a heart attack of “joy” freeing her still of her marriage from over thinking about no longer seeing her
The time period in which this story was written was during the late eighteen hundred’s, early nineteen hundred’s. This time period is known for the men being the head of the household. In fact, women had zero civil rights during this time. As young girls, their fathers made decisions for them, up until the point in which they were married off. From here, their husbands would take over in making decisions. A women’s job during this time was to simply cook, clean, and have babies. This was the case for Mrs. Mallard, so much that she begins to whisper to herself “free, free, free” after discovering that her husband had been killed in a railway accident. She was so overcoming with joy, that when her husband walked into the room after being presumed
In the story, the main character, Louise Mallard, is a woman who is described as a submissive wife who endures the oppressions of marriage to fit in with the societal norms. Louise Mallard, who suffers from heart trouble, is told the news of her husband's death in a railway accident by her sister, Josephine. Her reaction to the tragic news would be considered as appropriate as she openly grieves for him. When
It is interesting to note that even in the story's opening, before Mrs. Mallard's response has run it's full course, her reaction to the news of the accident which is presumed to have killed her husband is already being contrasted to the one which society would deem appropriate. It is mentioned that "She did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance"(pg 275, P3). Though upon discussion of the story I found that this sentence had placed a kernel of suspicion in the minds of some as to the authenticity of Mrs. Mallard's display of emotion, I had taken once, with sudden, wild abandonment"(pg 275, P3) endeared her to me all the more because I felt that it meant she was very much in touch with the workings of her heart andimmediately at their mercy, and this made her reacti...
In "The Story of an Hour," I can relate to so many different things that go on in this short tragic story. After reading the story I almost felt like Louise Mallard and I were living the same life with different events and a different outcome. Everything about the two of us comes down to being always misunderstood and just wanting to be free.
...t the end of the story shows that liberation of women in a society ruled by a patriarchal mindset is doomed to fail (Wan 169). According to Wan, the story of an hour is a true depiction of representation of women in the nineteenth century when movements against oppression of women began to emerge (170). Although the outcomes were not as tragic as depicted in the story, it was obviously a journey filled with many challenges, and the fact that a viable resolve is yet to be achieved to date shows the issue of gender equality is grim.
“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...
Mrs. Mallard was at first overjoyed with freedom because her husband was supposedly “dead,” yet at the end of the story, Mrs. Mallard comes face to face with Mr. Mallard. A whole new wave of emotions overcame Mrs. Mallard as she laid eyes on her husband instantly killing her from “a heart disease-of joy that kills.” It is ironic how Mrs. Mallard is overjoyed about her husband’s death, and she ended up dying because she found out he was alive instead. Her joy literally was killed, killing her on the inside as
Chopin, Kate. “The Story of an Hour.” Backpack Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. Eds. X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. 3rd ed. New York: Pearson, 2010. 261-263. Print.
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