Free Body and Soul
Marriage ties two persons for life. Imagine to be with someone you don’t love for life. My grandmother says “A la fuerza, ni los zapatos entran.” If one of the partner’s uncertainty love each other, not get engaged. My two grandparents, from my father side, have 57 years married. They had 9 sons, and nowadays they enjoy their old age in calm. The story of an hour by Kate Chopin illustrates the social life and the standards of a married women in the late nineteenth century. Kate Chopin shows how the woman had to face the problems of being oppressed or marry a person that they didn’t love. Years back, people died at 50, and did their life faster. They get married at 15 and had sons at 16, and sometimes married somebody because
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At the start of the story, the first thing that Chopin let the reader know, is that Louise has heart problems. Kate Chopin states that Louise faces heart problems and Josephine did not want to gave big surprises to her, “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.” At the start is shown Louise’s heart problems, and symbolism gives a completely different meaning to her heart problems. Hearts are frequently used to symbolize love in the culture. Is well know that the heart does not feel love, but love is represented with a heart. Here, Louise’s heart problems represents marriage and unhappiness with her lack of freedom. She says that sometimes love Mr. Mallard, but most of the times not, she wishes her freedom more than anything. Meaning that Mrs. Mallard was unsatisfied with her marriage. Maybe she married Mr. Mallard by an economic reason, or for a social reason. Years back, many woman married high class man to be part of the high class society, and the love passed for a second term. We don’t know for what reasons Louise was married with Mr. Mallard, but one thing is for sure, she was unhappy, and her heart was unhealthy, like her marriage with Mr. …show more content…
When Josephine told to Louise that Mr. Mallard was dead, she felt something that could not describe. First, she was unsure of what she was feeling. She did not know if joy was what she was feeling. After knowing that Mr. Mallard died, Louise encountered mixed feelings, “She did not stop to ask if it were or were not a monstrous joy that held her. A clear and exalted perception enabled her to dismiss the suggestion as trivial. She knew that she would weep again when she saw the kind, tender hands folded in death,” She was confused because when somebody dies, the normal feeling about death is sadness, and not happiness. Louise has a feeling conflict in her head between be sad for Mr. Mallard death, or be happy for her freedom. Later, she realize that she was happy for Mr. Mallard death, she realized that would be free. After knowing that Mr. Mallard died, Josephine encountered mixed feelings, “She did not stop to ask if it were or were not a monstrous joy that held her. A clear and exalted perception enabled her to dismiss the suggestion as trivial. She knew that she would weep again when she saw the kind, tender hands folded in death,” Here, Josephine has a feeling conflict in her head between be sad for Mr. Mallard death, or be happy for her freedom. She was sad for a moment, but she understand that the sadness would be temporary, because she gained her freedom, and
Louise had a heart condition that left her sister, Josephine, wary of breaking the news of her husband’s death to her in fear that it could cause her problems. To the reader’s surprise however, Louise had the opposite reaction. While weeping and showing glimpses of sadness, she is suddenly overwhelmed by a calming presence. “Her pulses beat fast, and the coursing blood warmed and relaxed every inch of her body.” [11] When first reading this part, I visualized an evil woman who hated her husband.
Mallard had died in it. Obviously, after hearing the news of her husband's death Louise was grieving, and she cried uncontrollably. But, then something changed in her mind. She thought to herself, now that he is dead, she can truly be free from the oppression that he gave her. After hearing this she began thinking about freedom, and she whispered to herself “free, free, free” (
Louise, the unfortunate spouse of Brently Mallard dies of a supposed “heart disease.” Upon the doctor’s diagnosis, it is the death of a “joy that kills.” This is a paradox of happiness resulting into a dreadful ending. Nevertheless, in reality it is actually the other way around. Of which, is the irony of Louise dying due to her suffering from a massive amount of depression knowing her husband is not dead, but alive. This is the prime example to show how women are unfairly treated. If it is logical enough for a wife to be this jovial about her husband’s mournful state of life then she must be in a marriage of never-ending nightmares. This shows how terribly the wife is being exploited due her gender in the relationship. As a result of a female being treated or perceived in such a manner, she will often times lose herself like the “girl
Louise Mallard has not yet heard the news of her husband’s death. As the news is revealed to her she went into a state of unhappiness, and she had a hard time “accepting the significance” (463). She “wept at once” with “wild abandonment” and the “storm of grief” (463), passed over and she went alone to her bedroom with no one to follow her. The author describes in the previous sentence that the storm of grief has passed over her,
In conclusion, “The story of an hour” is a clear depiction that women status in the society determines the choices they make about their lives. In this work, Chopin depicts a woman as a lesser being without identity or voices of their own. They are expected to remain in oppressive marriages and submit to their husbands without question.
In Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour”, it talks about marriage and a woman’s life in the 1800’s. This story illustrates the stifling nature of a woman’s role during this time through Mrs. Mallard’s reaction to her husband’s death. When Mrs. Mallard obtains news that her husband is dead, she is hurt after a brief moment and then she is delighted with the thought of freedom. This story shows how life was in the mid 1800’s and how women were treated around that time.
Mrs. Louise Mallard has a "weak" heart. In Louise 's case, a reader also can see the disenfranchised woman who was not able to guide her own life due to the social constraints of a male-dominated society. Louise 's reaction to her husband 's death was shocking even to herself. As she is told the news, Louise goes to her room to be alone. The fact that "she would have no one follow her" could possible symbolize the beginning of her acceptance and understanding that "she would live for herself." She wanted to be alone in order to allow her emotions to react freely to the news of her husband 's death. This clearly shows that the protagonist can’t allow herself to show her emotions in public. She’s scared of being
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.
We read “A story of an hour” written by Kate Chopin. It is about a young married woman, Louise Mallard, who has a heart condition and a shock can kill her immediately. Her sister, Josephine, was careful not to upset Louise that her husband, Brently Mallard, died in a train accident. Louise cried and went to her room. However, Louise felt happy even though the situation was tragic. In addition, she realized that she gained freedom from a depressing marriage and from her dominating husband. Brently opens the door at the end of the story, and Louise was surprised to her husband alive. She was shocked and died because of a heart attack. Ironically, the doctor declares “she had died of heart disease--of the joy that kills” (Chopin). In the movie we saw, it was different. Louise was kept in the house because Brently is afraid that she might die or because he is afraid that seeing the world could give her an idea to rebel against him. Brently showed her many pictures, including their picture in Paris, and she always begs him to take to the gardens of Paris but he always refuses. Louise was made dependent to his father and Brently to take care of her.
She has now found a new desire for life. However, without warning, the tone abruptly reverts back to its grief stricken “ horror.” As Mr. Mallard walks in the door, her thoughts, dreams, and aspirations, quickly fade away. Louise’s heart, so weak, simply stops and all bliss transfers into extreme heartache. The drastic changes of tone reveals that freedom can be given and taken from someone in a heartbeat and the heartache will always remain.
She would not have grieved over someone she did not love. Even in the heat of her passion, she thinks about her lost love. She knew that she would weep again when she saw the kind, tender hands folded in death; the face that had never looked safe with love upon her, fixed and gray and dead. Her love may not have been the greatest love of all time, but it was still love. Marriage was not kind to Mrs. Mallard, her life was dull and not worth living, her face showed the years of repression.
...els. When Mrs. Mallard sees her husband, the chains of bondage are thrown back onto her. The reviving and refreshing experience she has just had in her room is put out, and she dies. The doctors say that Mrs. Mallard dies "of joy that kills." Actually, her soul cannot handle the oppression after it has felt such freedom. Josephine's and Mrs. Mallard's differences are reflected in their reactions to Mr. Mallard's coming home.
Upon seeing her husband alive and well Louise realizes that the life she has imagined is not to be. The return of Brently signals a return of the patriarchal oppression in her life, and after imagining herself as an individual and then to be denied the chance to live freely is a punishment far worse than the crime. Louise loses her identity and once again becomes "his wife." Richards once more tries to protect her, a helpless woman, by attempting to block her view from her husband, because of the fragile state of her heart. Mrs. Mallard's strengths are gone, never to be acknowledged by the men in her life. For one, brief hour she was an individual. Now she finds herself bound by masculine oppression with no end in sight, and the result is death.
Mrs. Mallard who says her husband was loving and nice, still feels a sense of joy and freedom when she thinks he has died. Louise feeling this way suggests that all marriages are oppressive in some way and take away independence from those in them. Louise is introduced as “Mrs. Mallard” at the beginning of the story and referred to as “she” up until she becomes “free” after her husbands death. This lasts until the reader figures out Brently is not dead and her status as a wife is reestablished. The very last sentence in the book, “When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease-of joy that kills” (Chopin 301) .The fact that the doctors, who happen to be men, had the last say in Mrs. Mallard’s life is another example of men dictating the way she lives. Chopin makes the setting confined to one hospital room to illustrate the confinements Mrs. Mallard is living in due to her marriage. She finally escapes from that room at the very end of the story but only for seconds before discovering her husband is still alive and it destroys everything she was looking forward
" The strength conveyed in the image of Louise carrying "herself unwittingly like a goddess of Victory" is unmistakable. However, the irony that her husband lives, and therefore, she cannot, conveys the limited options socially acceptable for women. Once Louise Mallard recognizes her desire to "live for herself," and the impossibility of doing so within the bounds of her marriage, her heart will not allow her to turn back.