Kate Chopin’s short story, “The Story of an Hour” begins with a nineteenth century wife, Louise Mallard receiving news of her husband's death. Josephine, Louise’s sister, “Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with heart trouble” took extreme measures to break the news to her as softly as possible (Chopin). Once Josephine broke the news to her, she spiralled into a brief depression filled with grief, anger, and confusion. Do to the heartbreaking news she wept to the back room and sat in a chair contemplating about her life, about what comes next. Bad things happen to good people all of the time, but it is not the events that makes a person who they are, it is the way they respond. This is the case for Louise, she is delt a bad hand but tries to make the best of it before her life turns for the worse. In doing this she finds liberation, blinds herself from reality, and freedom from her previous life. Louise is heartbroken about the news of her husband’s death at first, but soon finds liberation from the chains she was bound by. …show more content…
Women were thought of as property more than actual people during this time, because of this it was said that women could not live alone. Do to Louise living in her husband's shadow she never had a voice or freedom. Chopin states, “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.” When she received the news of her husband’s death she found liberation, because she never felt true freedom before she became overwhelmed with joy. Do to the overwhelming amount of joy and freedom she blinds herself from
“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.” Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” is the story of a woman’s reaction to the news of her husband’s passing. Mrs. Louise Mallard is a young woman most would conclude to be saddened by the passing of her husband. Yet it is in that very moment we find her true feelings.
In her narrative, “The Story of An Hour”, Kate Chopin tells the story of a wife as she deals with her husband’s sudden death. The beginning of the story starts by stating Mrs. Mallard has a heart condition, and ends with her death, which is ironically due to the heart condition. Chopin allows open interpretation by not giving much detail about the marriage life of The Mallards. From my personal interpretation of the reading, I conclude that Louise gains freedom and release with the news of her husband’s death.
“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...
In "The Story of an Hour" Kate Chopin tells the story of a woman, Mrs. Mallard whose husband is thought to be dead. Throughout the story Chopin describes the emotions Mrs. Mallard felt about the news of her husband's death. However, the strong emotions she felt were not despair or sadness, they were something else. In a way she was relieved more than she was upset, and almost rejoiced in the thought of her husband no longer living. In using different literary elements throughout the story, Chopin conveys this to us on more than one occasion.
Kate Chopin provides her reader with an enormous amount of information in just a few short pages through her short story, “The Story of an Hour.” The protagonist, Louise Mallard, realizes the many faults in romantic relationships and marriages in her epiphany. “Great care [is] taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband’s death” (Chopin 168). Little do Josephine and Richards know, the news will have a profoundly positive effect on Louise, rather than a negative one. “When she abandoned herself,” Mrs. Mallard opened her mind to a new way of life.
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.
“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.
In “The Story of an Hour,” Kate Chopin exposed the obligations and feelings of a stifled, young woman. The main character, Louise Mallard, thought she might get her freedom back, but the unexpected ending allowed the reader to understand what women experienced during this time, making the reader more connected to the characters. Additionally, readers were moved by the pathos of death, along with the imagery that was utilized by Chopin to make it easier for people to relate with. Her main purpose was to entertain but she also desired to inform the reader about women being repressed. Although this short story seemed quite straightforward, Chopin managed to pull the reader’s emotions in various directions with each new paragraph, using pathos
Why do women subordinate themselves to men? Marriage today represents happiness and love. People get married because they want to spend the rest of their lives together and form a family. Supposedly there is respect and trust inside the house of married couples. In the past, however, this was not always the case.
Louise was one of the many victims of this time period who wanted nothing to do with that, but they were trapped. In fact, the author of this story Kate Chopin had to take over her husband’s business when he died. We can infer that Chopin is expressing her point of view through
“Story of An Hour," written by Kate Chopin is a story about a woman who is not only suffering in her health but also in her marriage. The story is set in the Mallard family home. This sparseness of setting was chosen deliberately by Chopin to express the story’s key theme: a longing for personal freedom. Visitors in the Mallard home seem to demonstrate great care and respect for her medical issues but do not seem to be aware of her suffering marriage. The chief victim of this distressed way of life is the story’s protagonist, Mrs. Louise Mallard.
Kate Chopin's story, "The Story of an Hour", focuses on an 1890's young woman, Louise Mallard. She experienced a profound emotional change after she hears her husband's "death" and her life ends with her tragic discovery that he is actually alive. In this story, the author uses various techniques-settings, symbolism and irony- to demonstrate and develop the theme: Freedom is more important than love.
Kate Chopin’s “The Story of An Hour” focuses on a woman named Louise Mallard and her reaction to finding out about her husband’s death. The descriptions that the author uses in the story have significance in the plot because they foreshadow the ending.
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.
Kate Chopin’s The Story of an Hour is a brilliant short story of irony and emotion. The story demonstrates conflicts that take us through the character’s emotions as she finds out about the death of her husband. Without the well written series of conflicts and events this story, the reader would not understand the depth of Mrs. Mallard’s inner conflict and the resolution at the end of the story. The conflict allows us to follow the emotions and unfold the irony of the situation in “The Story of an Hour.”