In “The Story of an Hour,” author Kate Chopin presents exactly that, the story of an hour in Louise Mallard’s life. In this particular hour, Louise confronts her husband's death. Louise has heart problems and must be informed of her husband's death in the lightest way. Weeping immediately, Louise mourns in her sister's arms and then moves to her room once her tears are momentarily exhausted. As she sits in her room and peers out of the window, Louise isn't indifferent to the death of her husband. She knows she will cry at the funeral, but she is set in her new independence. However, this independence is cut short, when Brently, Louise Mallard’s husband arrives unscathed by the train that was sure to have killed him. Only moments later, Louise is pronounced dead “of joy” (Lostracco 353). Chopin’s central idea expresses something universal, a longing for independence or personal freedom.
An important element of language that contributes to “The Story of an Hour” is irony. The reader knows all too
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Chopin uses both literal and figurative imagery to elaborate on Louise’s emotions and describe the setting of the story. Louise reacted unlike most women would, weeping “at once, with sudden, wild abandonment and in a “storm of grief” (Lostracco 351) Chopin defines Louise's emotion in such a way that it comes alive. Her emotions are personified in that they “haunt her body” and “reach into her soul” (Lostracco 351) The open window in the bedroom is a place of solace for Louise. A “delicious breath of rain” and “patches of blue sky”, and “a distant song” help create a lighter and free tone (Lostracco 351). Watching the world from her window “inspire[s] joy and hope” in Louise which can be seen in the light springy imagery used to illustrate the setting (Jamil 217). All of the imagery in this story helps describe Louise and her surroundings while preparing the reader for dramatic and ironic
A Roller Coaster of Emotions in A Story of An Hour In the short story “A Story of An Hour” by Kate Chopin, the whole range. of emotions are felt by the main charter, Louise Mallard. Upon learning of her husband's death, she is immediately overcome by sadness. However, once she is.
This is a story of a series of events that happen within an hour to a woman named Louise Mallard. Louise is a housewife who learns her husband has died in a train accident. Feeling joy about being free she starts seeing life in a different way. That is until at the end of the story she sees her husband well and alive. She cries at the sight of him and dies. The story ends with a doctor saying “she had died of a heart disease—of the joy that kills” (Chopin). Even though the story doesn’t describe Louise doing chores at the house like in The Storm we know that she was a good wife because of the way she reacts when she learns that her husband is dead. Louise gets described as “young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain strength” (Chopin). From this line we get a bit of insight into her marriage and herself. We get the idea that she wasn’t happy being married to her husband but still remained with him and did her duties as she was supposed to. In reality her being a good wife was all an act to fit in society’s expectations of a woman being domestic and submissive. As she spend more time in her room alone thinking about her dead husband she realizes life would finally be different for her. She knows that “there would be no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself” (Chopin) For a long time in
(Chopin 338). Unexpectedly, joy and happiness consume her with the epiphany she is “free, free, free!” (Chopin 338). Louise becomes more alive with the realization she will no longer be oppressed by the marriage as many women of her day were, and hopes for a long life when only the day prior, “.she had thought with a shudder that life may be long” (Chopin 338).... ...
Throughout the whole short story “The Story of an Hour” the reader sees’ irony but the best usage of irony occurs toward the end of the story in the last few paragraphs. As the reader reads the story they notice that Mrs. Mallard’s husband Brently Mallard died in a railroad disaster. The reader also finds out that Mrs. Mallard has a heart trouble, and great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband’s death. (157) There ar...
The story tells how death gave a woman a taste of the freedom she desired, but also helped her escape from someone who was going to rip it away from her. During the time this story takes place, women had no choice but to listen to what men had to say, and Louise Mallard was never happy with that. The death of her husband gave her a taste of what the freedom she so desired was like. Her death also showed that she valued her freedom more than being with her husband. Chopin used death to show that freedom was what Mrs. Mallard truly needed to be happy and that her marriage restricted her and held her
By using figurative language, Chopin gives the readers a hint regard of the inequality where men hold all the power. During her awakening, Louise fancies of all the “years to come that would belong to her absolutely” where she doesn’t have to live with her husband, her family but for herself (Chopin 90). By using figurative language, Chopin emphasizes that Louise has been devoting to her husband all her life as the society expects a wife to be. Louise has no choice but to satisfy her husband needs both physically and mentally. Therefore, Louise is shocked and overwhelmed with joy where she realizes that she is no longer under control of her husband or the “powerful” which “bending her in that blind persistence” (Chopin 90).
For instance, the news of Mr. Mallard's death reach Loise in her living room and "She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister's arms" (Chopin, 524). Here Chopin uses the term "wild abandonment" and other descriptive words to create a picture in the reader's mind of Louise's life which also represents the public's expectation of a woman's reaction to news of her husbands' death. The narrator states, “She said over and over under her free: “free, free, free!” (Chopin, 525).
Imagery was demonstrated through Chopin’s descriptions of the scenes of Louise’s husband’s death, the room Louise was locked in, and the view from the
In Kate Chopin’s The Story of an Hour, the main character, Louise Mallard, goes through a drastic change in emotion. When presented with the news of her husband’s death at the beginning of the story, her immediate reaction is naturally to grieve, as most do in such an event. However, as the plot progresses, she begins to feel another emotion overcoming her, one that is initially “too subtle and elusive to name.” Eventually, she is able to recognize this feeling as relief.
As the title puts it, “The Story of an Hour” takes place in the span of an hour. The title of the story also shows the possibility of occurrences within a single hour. This story is mostly centered around one woman, Louis Mallard. In conventional circumstances, death brings sorrow, grief, seclusion, guilt, regrets, along with other feeling depending on the cause of death. In “The Story of an Hour”, sorrow and grief are a product of the recent happenings, however, these feelings are coupled with joy and independence. Kate Chopin uses this story to convey death as a joyful circumstance whereas conventionally it is portrayed as sorrowful.
Ego is the fall of many. In critical analysis, “Fatal Self-Assertion in Kate Chopin’s ‘Story of an Hour’”, Lawrence L. Berkove displays his view of Louise. It is evident in his article that he pays close attention to Chopin’s details of emotion. The article describes how the story forecasts the fatal ending with suspension and clues. He believes that the key to the story is “recognizing this deeper ironic level” (Berkove). Kate Chopin leaves the story up for interpretation concerning theme and the true reason for her death. Berkove, in his article, states that the theme of the story is extreme self-assertion and that feminism shines through the story.
Kate Chopin’s short story, “The Story of an Hour”, is about a woman, named Louise Mallard, in the late 1800s who is told that her husband, Brently, has died in a railroad accident. Initially, Louise is surprised, distressed, and drowned in sorrow. After mourning the loss, the woman realizes that she is finally free and independent, and that the only person she has to live for is herself. She becomes overwhelmed with joy about her new discovery of freedom, and dreams of all of the wonderful events in life that lie ahead of her. Louise’s sister finally convinces her to leave her room and come back into reality. While Louise is walking down her steps, her husband surprisingly enters through the door because he was actually not killed in the accident. At the same moment, Louise collapses and dies, supposedly from “heart disease-of joy that kills” (Chopin 706).
Louise is capable of regarding possibilities that are competent of letting her enjoy them in midst of grief. Unfortunately, Louise passes away once discovering that she is not able to achieve her desired lifestyle. Yearning to continue living life in glory, Mrs. Mallard desires to live longer, as, “she was drinking in a very elixir of life through that open window” (Chopin 2). Providing her a clear view of the plentiful delights in which awaits, the open window establishes an innate desire within Mrs.
The entire action happens in the "spring" (Chopin 69) of a year in the 1890's. Spring means hope. But woman are restricted by the society in 1890's. The two time settings create a conflict between Louise's expectation and reality. Secondly, the author uses a lot of place setting.
The descriptions in the story foreshadow the tragedy that ends the story. The author believed unexpected things happen often. In the case of this story, Louise Mallard believed her husband to be dead, having been told this by her sister, Josephine. However, when it is revealed that her husband had been alive the whole time, she is unhappy to see him and suffers a fatal heart attack. While she did have heart trouble, Richards and Josephine thought that the news of her husband’s death, not her seeing him again would be detrimental to her health, possibly even fatal. Chopin succeeded in getting this message across.