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central idea in the story of an hour
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the story of an hour kate chopin analysis
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The Story of an Hour
The story of the hour is, to me, an interesting short story of the insight into the life thoughts of a woman struggling with a life that is proper and sociably acceptable and her own desires. Upon reading the opening passage “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.” (1) The reader, in this case I, would understand quickly that the main character of the story, Mrs. Mallard, must be treated with tenderness. We also learn that grave news is coming her way in a most careful manner. Reading further the actions of the main character would show shock, confusion, surprise, and other anxiety of a life without someone that is presumed to be her love as indicated by this line. “She did not hear the story as many have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance.” (3)
It was with that line I paused to consider that nevertheless, what the actions of anyone would be if informed of such news. Would it be expected for him or her would sit silent and numb as thoughts conflicted in his or her head until reaching a critical point? I recalled my own experience that would be somewhat similar and compared the two thoughts to each other. When I reached the conclusion that yes, it would be expected for someone to be in a state of shock and sit in quiet thought as the information is being processed. This line of thought was confirmed quickly with the following line “She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister’s arms.” (3) it was also this point that purposefully mislead the reader to a red herring thought that perhaps the main character was struck heavily with grief.
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...esent may have thought it of overpowering joy at no longer being a widow. With the final line drawing the close to a story that I found to be a most interesting insight into the quick thoughts of a dreaming mind “ When the doctors came they said she died of heart disease-of joy that kills.” (23) I think this line to portray a double meaning, one that the other characters in the story would say was of the joy of seeing her husband home safe, while the main character the death would have been for daring to dream hopeful and accepting without all knowledge and assurance what ultimately proved to be false.
Chopin, Kate. the Story of an Hour. Boston, MA: The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature, 2009. Print.
Works Cited
Chopin, Kate. the Story of an Hour. Boston, MA: The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature, 2009. Print.
Chopin, Kate. ?The Story of an Hour.? Making Literature Matter: An Anthology for Readers and Writers. 2nd ed. Ed. John Schlib and John Clifford. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin?s, 2003. 862-63.
Chopin, Kate. The Awakening. A Norton Critical Edition: Kate Chopin: The Awakening. Ed. Margo Culley. 2nd ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 1994. 3-109.
Chopin, Kate. "The Story of an Hour." Introduction to Literature: Reading, Analyzing, and Writing.2nd ed.
Chopin, Kate. “The Story of an Hour.” Literature: Reading Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Ed. DiYanni Robert. 6th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1986. 38-41. Print.
Chopin, Kate. "The Story of an Hour." Literature: Approaches to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Boston:
Chopin, Kate. Complete Novels and Stories. Ed. Sandra M. Gilbert. New York: Library of America, 2002. Print.
Deneau, Daniel P. "Chopin's the Story of an Hour." The Explicator 61.4 (2003): 210-3. ProQuest. Web. 3 Apr. 2014.
Chopin, Kate. "The Story of an Hour." Perrine's Literature: Structure Sound & Sense. 11th ed. Belmont: Wadsworth, 2010. 541. Print.
Chopin, Kate. The Awakening. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Nina Baym. New York: W.W. Norton, 2007. 535-625. Print.
Mrs. Mallard’s reaction to the sad news was natural, but her time spent to overcome her melancholy feelings passed too rapidly. All of a sudden she was eager to start her widowed life. Immediately after she heard the sad news of her husband’s death, "She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister’s arms" (Chopin 25). This is acceptable and understandable to me because I feel that anyone who had just lost his/her spouse would want to be comforted by a close family member. The story then reads, "When the storm of grief had spent itself she went away to her room alone. She would have no one follow her" (Chopin 25). I found it to be odd that she would just get up and head straight for her room. The t...
Chopin, Kate, and Kate Chopin. The Story of an Hour. Logan, IA: Perfection Learning, 2001. Print.
Chopin, Kate. "The Story of an Hour." Heritage of American Literature. Ed. James E. Miller. Vol. 2. Austin: Harcourt Brace Jovanich, 1991. 487. Print.
Koloski, Bernard. "Kate Chopin "The Story of an Hour"" Www.katechopin.org. Kate Chopin International Society, 08 Nov. 2013. Web. 08 Nov. 2013.
Chopin, Kate. "The Story of an Hour." The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature. 4th ed. Ed. Michael Meyer. Boston: St. Martins, 1997. 12-15.
Mrs. Mallard’s repressed married life is a secret that she keeps to herself. She is not open and honest with her sister Josephine who has shown nothing but concern. This is clearly evident in the great care that her sister and husband’s friend Richard show to break the news of her husband’s tragic death as gently as they can. They think that she is so much in love with him that hearing the news of his death would aggravate her poor heart condition and lead to death. Little do they know that she did not love him dearly at all and in fact took the news in a very positive way, opening her arms to welcome a new life without her husband. This can be seen in the fact that when she storms into her room and her focus shifts drastically from that of her husband’s death to nature that is symbolic of new life and possibilities awaiting her. Her senses came to life; they come alive to the beauty in the nature. Her eyes could reach the vastness of the sky; she could smell the delicious breath of rain in the air; and ears became attentive to a song f...