A Short Story Of An Hour Literary Analysis

“The story of an hour” by Kate Chopin is about woman who heart problems and what happens when she learns the sudden death of her husband. She has an unknown desire to be independent, which she finally feels through her stages of grief at her husband’s reported death. Mrs. Mallard has a internal conflict because of her desire to be independent VS society’s role for women feelings of being oppressed through her marriage VS. a desire for freedom.

Kate Chopin’s short story, “The Story of An Hour,” emotionally illustrates the hour in which a young woman with a heart condition finds out her husband has been killed in a mining accident. In the beginning, she grieves over the loss of her husband, but she soon becomes relieved and joyous when she realizes that she is now free. However, her husband returns after having been far from the mines for the day and her heart problems return and she dies. Kate Chopin was an early feminist author and was well acquainted with death after losing many siblings as a child, her husband (who left her a large amount of debt), and her mother with whom she was very close. As a means of therapy, Chopin took up writing and her ideas about feminism and death are very clear. In “The Story of An Hour,” Chopin uses multiple symbols and an allusion to a Greek god to illustrate and support the idea that male oppression harms the souls and lives of women.

Setting in a story can create certain moods, influence the way we feel about a character, and change the reader's perceptions. “The Story of An Hour” by Kate Chopin is a short story about a woman named Mrs. Mallard, who learns of her husband’s death. This tragic news causes a range of emotions and internal conflict for the main character. The century, season, and room, in which the story takes place, prepares readers for the overflowing emotions and gives clarity to the character’s frame of mind. Kate Chopin uses the setting to help set the structure of the story.

The Story of an Hour," by Kate Chopin is the tragic story of a woman whose newfound position as a widow gives her strength. She develops a sense of freedom as she embraces her husband's death as an opportunity to establish her own identity. The tragedy is when her newfound identity gets stripped away as the appearance of her husband reveals that he is still alive. The disappointment from this tragedy kills her with a heart attack symbolizing the many conflicts that she faced throughout the story. The conflicts the character faces within herself and society show that the social norms for women were suppressing to their strength and individuality as human beings.

Source: CAPPELEN DAMM AS, Oslo 2008 – ''Access to English literature, VG3''. Anthony, Burgess, Mikkelsen & Sørhus. Chapter 1, page 23-24.

Each of these literary works each has a common theme throughout each one. “The Story of the Hour”, “A Raisin in the Sun”, and “Before the Birth of her Children” each have the common theme of death portrayed through each. Each story has a different perspective on death and how to handle death. The character each deal with death different and the writers shoe how different lifestyles can affect how you deal with them. Death affects everyone differently so no two situations will ever be the same.

Tabitha D. Brooks English 102 Professor Kalwa Comparison/Contrast Short Stories February 24, 2016 The Oppression of Main Characters: Examined By Chopin and Faulkner Short stories have diverse beginnings with insightful endings. The authors of short stories tend to create suspense and give readers trigger endings in just few pages of their writing. They also use ironic statements to project their characters feeling and emotion.

“The Story of an Hour” is one of the most famous works of Kate Chopin. Her works were not highly appreciated until the 1950s, where intellectuals start to praise her works. “The Story of an Hour” is a short story about a woman named Louise Mallard goes through an event that changed her mind on the view of her future. This short story depicts a theme of Love and The Quest for Identity. The theme of love is not dominant in this story; however, it still plays an important role in leading Mrs. Mallard to her quest for identity. There are many symbols that represent Mrs. Mallard changes, and opportunities of freedom that awaits her after the news of her husband.

Jennifer Monegro English 102 Prof. James Werner Summer 2014 “The Story of An Hour” written by Kate Chopin during the late nineteenth century portrays a dramatic event in which a woman finds freedom within herself after her estranged husband dies. Chopin seems to portray the position of a wife in a depressive and controlling marriage during the nineteenth century. Mrs. Mallard’s soul awakens to the essence of her freedom as she imagines how life will be without her husband, Brently Mallard. Chopin’s main point about time reflects upon the late nineteenth century when women did not have as much freedom as men. In this era, women’s duties were to take care of the family and home.

“The Story of an Hour”, Kate, Chopin, the genre is sad and then shocking. Mrs. Mallard Go this news about her husband's been dead and how her emotions change from sad to being happy and free. One day Mrs. Mallard got a message from telephone that her husband is dead. Unlikely her sister Josephine had to give that message that his husband is no more. And she was shocked to hear that, she expressed herself that her heart just broke into million pieces. Therefore she rush to go upstairs and looked herself in the room. She didn’t feel sad anymore in fact she felt that she was finally free and alive again. Her emotions changed because she wasn’t happy with her marriage and she couldn’t do anything about it. Now him being dead states that

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 emotions she felt were not overcome by despair or by 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.

​In Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” marks the narrow passage between life and death. Mrs. Mallard finds out that her husband, Brently Mallard dies. His death was confirmed by the brother-in-law. The brother-in-law finds about the tragedy through a telegram; then confirms the death by a second telegram. The looming task of telling Mrs. Mallard of her husband’s death was delivered by her sister Josephine. Josephine did not think that her sister Mrs. Mallard would take the news well. After hearing the news Mrs. Mallard was sad and wept with despair. Mrs. Mallard went to be alone and retreated to her room. In the story a comparison is made when Mrs. Mallard was in her room and the differences of the comfy chair that Mrs. Mallard sought solace in, and the physical exhaustions that hearing of death plays on opposite sides of the spectrums. In death, in the form of tragedy, there is no comfort. Often people are left with holes and what if’s. Death in the form of illness usually shows comfort. In the story, there is a conflict of comfort and exhaustion.

This story is obviously taking place in the early 1900s during which this time society had certain rules on women as they were taught that they were just to cook, clean, and raise the children.

“When she abandoned herself a little whispered word escaped her slightly parted lips. She said it over and over under her breath: “free, free, free!” (Chopin). During the late 1800’s women were obligated to give obedience to their husbands and basically be a housewife. In the “Story of an Hour” Louise Mallard was an intelligent women living in the 1800s with a very bad heart problem. So when the news struck about her husband’s death, Josephine, her sister had to inform her with great care about the tragic death. Instead of other women in her time who would be dreadful over the news was very understanding and decided to grieve in pain alone in her room where she felt a sense of freedom. Kate Chopin’s 1894 short story “The story of an Hour” displays a theme of freedom and the oppressiveness of marriage at the end of Victorian era with setting, symbols, and distinctive characters.

Short stories can share themes, motifs, symbols, consequences, and plot lines, even if there is never any intention to share a common element between the stories. The stories can be written close together or in different decades and still be linked to the one another. They can also be worlds apart with different meanings in the end, but that does not stop them from having similar ideas expressed within them. The following three stories, “Lagoon” by Joseph Conrad, “The Rocking Horse Winner” by DH Lawrence, and “The Lady in the Looking Glass” by Virginia Woolf, are three totally different stories that share common threads that make them the stories that they are.