Happiness has many meanings, in this case it is the feeling of accomplishment the human mind creates after the fulfillment of its desires and wishes. As shown in “The Story of an Hour” written by Kate Chopin the main character; Louise Mallard gets the feeling of happiness when she realizes she is finally free to make her own choices. The idea of freedom overwhelms her and invigorates her entire mind and body. After a life of repression of her own opinions, she is finally given the opportunity to have a life of freewill and make decisions for herself. The events that occurred in the “Story of an Hour” demonstrate how Chopin wanted to help the reader understand to what degree the mind goes in order for the human being to feel happiness. Louise was full of joy because of the freedom she obtained at the cost of her husband’s death. Even though happiness can come at a high cost every individual has the right to happiness and to make their own decisions towards their well-being; it’s something that everyone is entitled to and should make the best out of it. The way Chopin wrote the story is amazing. Chopin allowed the narrator to have a third person omniscient point of view, which allowed the reader to know the thoughts of the characters and all the events that occurred throughout the story. At the beginning of the story the reader is told how Louise …show more content…
Women had a small amount of rights in early times of history. Chopin tried to express how most women felt about their freedom. According to Kari Meyers Skredsvig feminism took its movement around the 1960s being part of the women’s movement. Several waves of the feminism movement are recorded throughout history and have created a better acknowledgement of human rights, respect for individualism and diversity (Skredsvig). This shows the importance Chopin had in making the thoughts of many women public to the rest of the
When a marriage that has been together for a long period of time is broken, there are certain things that are seen to hold true in most of these cases. There is a renewed sense of individuality that grasps this person's life after the initial trauma of a significant other being absent. In Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour", this situation is presented as the characterization of Mrs. Mallard, whose husband has been pronounced dead, is displayed. She goes through three seperate stages in her personal grieving process. Chopin is attempting to show readers that although sadness is the initial reaction to this circumstance, Mrs. Mallard's sense of freedom brings her joy, but it is unfathomable for her to go back to the way that she used to live after she sees that her husband is still alive resulting in her death.
Kate Chopin had her share of rough times in life, but writing was her escape. She used her writing to let people know what was going on the world as far as women’s rights were concerned. The critics say that Chopin showed her rebellious attitude through her characters and the Creole influences that were apparent in her books. Kate Chopin was not a part of the women’s rights movement, but they inspired her writing in many ways. Women of this time had very few rights and what rights they had were not given up. Feminism was on the rise writers like Kate Chopin helped everyone see what women needed and deserved even though their opinions were very controversial.
To be inconsistent with traditional communities beliefs it is hard for many to accomplish. Nevertheless, writer Kate Chopin fights that conflict to deliver the readers a few of the greatest thought vexing literature that a human can get their hands on. Applying to her improvement reflections of narrative stories, such as plot control, irony, and character development, Kate is capable to take the reader towards a world of feelings that humanity would despise. Chopin shows her unbelievable literary ability in “The Story of an Hour” by joining character development and plot, with her use of thought-provoking vocabulary and narrative irony.
Chopin’s feminist point of view was not what one would consider as a dictionary term feminist; she never joined any feminist groups to seek equal rights for women. Rather “Chopin saw that the problems confronting her sex were too complicated to admit of easy solutions…… In a society where man makes the rules, woman is often kept in a state of tutelage a...
Louise could see “The tops of the trees that were all aquiver with new spring life...The notes of a distant song which someone was singing reached her faintly, and countless sparrows were twittering in the caves” (5). In this excerpt, Chopin utilizes symbolism and foreshadowing. The beautiful scene, the spring air, the leaves falling from the tree, all symbolize Louise’s coming sense of freedom and excitement in regards to end of her ties to marriage.
There was a time when women had no choice other than to get married in order to live a proper life. The conventional role of a simple housewife was more common than not in the late 1800’s. Some women were okay with that role. Other women felt more restricted, wishing for more freedom to do as they pleased. To let their thoughts be heard, a number of women in the late 19th century, early 20th century, showcased feminism and the injustices woman felt through literature. One of the first women to write openingly about these injustices is Kate Chopin. Kate Chopin, through both her literary works and her real life experiences, showcased the opposition numerous women faced.
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).
“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.
She isolates herself in her room, stares out an open window, and then involuntarily begins to feel emotions other than sadness and devastation. Feelings of joy and freedom consume her and she becomes internally conflicted. Chopin does much in the text to show that Louise is not a horrible and egotistic person for feeling happiness at the death of her husband.... ... middle of paper ...
The “Story of an Hour” essay by Kate Chopin introduces the reader to Ms. Louise Mallard, who is quite different than other women of her time. Her perception and how she handles things makes her a ‘square peg in a round hole.’ When she is told the news of her husband’s death, her reaction of hearing the news, thinking about her future, and when she finds out the ultimate truth show how different she truly is. When Ms. Mallard heard the news of her husband passing in an accident, she reacted differently in a sense that wasn’t devastating, or even fear. Upon hearing the news first reacted not with paralyzed fear, but she cried out.
In “Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, we are introduced to Mrs. Mallard, a young woman with heart problems and a recently deceased husband. The story introduces the idea of a woman being “trapped” in a relationship, which reflects on the time period of this story. While reading, you are put into the mind of a woman whose dreams both come true and fall to pieces in the course of, as the name suggests, an hour. It doesn't take too much effort to determine the theme of the story.
In the story of an hour, the flash back that used in the story was a past time memory of Mrs. Mallard that it still affected her present. She compared her past life with her father with her present life with her husband. She found she didn’t change anything. It was the same life that she lived with her father. Also, the story reveals an irony.
She believes that women should be free and not have a restriction of marriage. In this short story Louise becomes free. For example Louise says,“She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life” (Chopin 786). When Louise says she sees the open square filled with the new spring life she means that she sees hope and opportunity. Additionally, Chopin, the author uses symbolism in this quote. She shows how the new spring life is symbolic of freedom. She sees beautiful independence as being a woman. Since her husband died, she will finally be able to live a long life being independent. Louise also states,“There would be no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself” (Chopin 787). This shows that Louise is happy to finally live for herself. She can make her own decisions and not feel controlled. Louise must have felt that at the time women did not have rights so when she found out her husband passed away she felt independent. Louise’s husband was one reason she did not feel free. In the beginning of the short story the author says,” Mrs Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble”(Chopin 784). Mrs. Mallard's heart trouble was symbolic to her disappointment with her marriage. Chopin shows symbolism through this quote when she compares Louise heart to how upset she is with her marriage. She feels controlled and
The New Woman movement by Chopin fit into the ideals of the ever changing world of Modernism. Women noticed that in order to be recognized they needed to first remove themselves from male dominance. In order to engage this they began to take possession of their own bodies, instead of being sexual objects they changed it to being sexual subjects. Therefore they were in power of being active participants and agents of their own sexual desires, power, and pleasures of the world. Chopin wanted to create this world that woman had the same right and privileges as men. When Kate was writing, during that time women suffered from self-repression, low self-esteem, no individual identity and were living in oppression. At such a time when the opinion of
While Chopin's employment of irony presents a socially unaccepted concept in a more acceptable format, it is the author's use of perspective that increases the impact of her message. Chopin's point might be lost, perhaps entirely, if the reader were not informed from Louise's viewpoint. While the other characters are oblivious to her actual joy in death, although it is described as such "When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease - of joy that kills," their definition of this joy equates to her love for her husband. In contrast, because Chopin writes from the perspective of Louise, we understand that the intermittent love she feels for her husband, love itself dismissed as the "unsolved mystery," pales in comparison to the joy she feels upon the discovery that she can now live with the "possession of self-assertion which she suddenly recognized as the strongest impulse of her being."