An Hour Husband's Downfall

The story of an Hour by Chopin is about Louise Mallard desire for freedom. Throughout her life Mrs. Mallard was incapable to leave her home due to a heart illness. The doctor explained how although a sudden shock could kill Louise she would be able to leave the house. Louise was beyond happy to finally be given the chance to leave her home. Brently Mallard did everything in his power to stop her from leaving by using the sickness as a justification. Mr. Mallard would only dedicate little time and affection to his wife. The newspaper had reported a railroad disaster in which Brently Mallard’s name appeared. Louise sister’s Josephine and Brently’s friend knowing of her heart condition gently broke the devastating news to her.

At the beginning of the story no one wished to tell Mrs. Mallard about the death of her husband due to her heart condition. Her heart trouble is a symbol for the way she feels crushed or hurt by her marriage. During this time period women were expected to live under the control of their husbands, so while being married to Brently, she begins to lose her identity. In the story, she is only referred to as Mrs. Mallard she isn’t referred to as Louise until after her husband’s death. She is an accessory to her husband is forced to live in the shadow of her husband and as a result of this she has lost herself over the years. Louise’s character is used as a symbol to represent the women of this time period and show the sacrifices they make for their husbands and the troubles that come along with the inequalities they experience in marriage.

Mrs. Mallard’s life has not been her own ever since she got married. When Louise marries Brently she becomes Mrs. Mallard, she loses her identity and assumes a new and strange one. “She was young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain strength. But now there was a dull stare in her eyes, whose gaze was fixed away off yonder on one of those patches of blue sky” (Chopin 2). Love, in “The story of An Hour” I believe is somewhat superficial. Mrs. Mallard tells that “And yet she had loved him – sometimes. Often she had not” (Chopin 3). The short amount of time it took her to mourn the death of her husband also helps to support the argument that there was no real love in that marriage. When she learns of her husband's death, her thoughts on what life would be like without her husband are pleasing. "Free! Body and soul free!” (Chopin 3). Mrs. Mallard wants to live without her husband. She believes freedom is hers; however, when she finds out her husband is not dead; she had shock of her losing it again causes her to have a heart attack and die. However, death is eternal freedom for her.

One of the first internal conflict Mrs. Mallard faces is she is not sure how she to act when she finds out the news of her husband’s death. During the time period of which the shirt story takes place, women supposedly owed everything to their husbands, so for Mrs. Mallard to now be a widow, the news should have been heart breaking and life shattering. Louise does not act the way women of the time are “supposed” to act. She is still is shocked by the news, “she wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister’s arms” but then rushes upstairs to lock herself in her room (Chopin 54). I think Chopin started off the story with the

In the story we find that, Louise feels overcome with satisfaction about the passing of her husband. After Louise's brief moment of sorrow for her husband, author Kate Chopin “Now her bosom rose and fell tumultuously. [...] She said it over and over under her breath: ‘free! Free! Free!’” (Chopin 630). She feels as if a great burden has been lifted. Her initial response, where she wept and had great sorrow for her loss, was appropriate to the news of the loss of her husband. However, her second reaction, in which she rejoices as if a curse has been lifted, is completely inappropriate. If she had truly loved the man, she would have continued to feel sorrow and grief, not freedom. Although her

When Louise Mallard heard the news of her husband’s alleged death, she wept initially, but as she was looking out of the window, she suddenly started feeling very joyous. The story reads, “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!"” It is unexpected for Louise to be happy right after he husband dies. This is an example of situational irony. Chopin uses this to cause the reader to stop and consider different explanations for why Louise is happy and jubilant about being free. The reader will probably immediately assume that Louise has not been happy with her marriage,

When Louise acknowledges that her husband is dead, she realizes that there will "be no powerful will bending her" (paragraph 14). There will be no husband who believes he has the "right to impose a private will upon a fellow creature" (paragraph 14). Louise knew that her husband loved her. He had only looked at Louise with love (paragraph 13). This tells the us as readers that Louise’s husband wasn’t a terrible man; he just believed that it was his right as a husband, to direct Louise in everything she did.

Throughout this short story, Louise Mallard’s personal strength becomes apparent to the reader. Mavis Chia-Chieh Tseng states, “the text indicates that Louise’s life is extremely restricted because of her domestic confinement and also suggests that she must have been secretly yearning for a life of her own” (29). This statement reveals Louise’s strength in the short story because she dealt with her husband, even though he took away much of her personal freedom. By taking away her independence, Louise’s husband, Brently, set the tone for her profound outlook on life. Kate Chopin wrote, “and yet she had loved him—sometimes. Often she had not. What did it matter! What could love, the unsolved mystery, count for in face of this possession of self-assertion which she suddenly recognized as the strongest impulse of her being” (237). This statement confirms that Mrs. Mallard became aware that her well-being should place higher than her fading love for her abusive husband.

The Story of an Hour reflects only one view of marriage. Many people are actually happy in their marriage and would grieve for years if their husband/wife were to die. But Louise is not one of them, she was unhappy in her relationship. Kate Chopin wrote about her grieving process to bring light to a time when these point of views were common, but repressed. She was just trying to highlight the problem.

Louise Mallard is a very intelligent woman and she knows exactly how a lady should act but everything she feel and think is the complete opposite. When Josephine, Mrs. Mallard sister, told Mrs. Mallard that Brently, her husband, has died she busted out in an intense cry because she knew that was how she was supposed to react. Her reaction shows that she is devastated by the news she just heard. Mrs. Mallard know she should mourn the death of her husband but in some way she feels “free”. “When she abandoned herself a little whispered word escaped her slightly parted lips. She said it over and over under the breath: "free, free, free!" The vacant stare and the look of terror that had followed it went from her eyes” (Chopin lines 30-31). Mrs. Mallard is bothered by the death of her husband but her thoughts that are portrayed says differently. “She did

Louise questioned if she loved her husband and judging by the time period this story was written I’d say many women didn’t love their husbands and felt oppressed. I didn’t think Louise would die from seeing her husband alive instead I thought she would be sad knowing nothing was going to change for her. After discussing the story in class I was reassured that Louise hadn’t died out of happiness but that her husband killed her happiness when he walked through the front

Louise starts off in the story by showing or thinking of the ways a wife would react when they find out about the death of their husband. Chopin describes Louise's’ reaction to her husband’s death by stating, “She did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance... When the storm of grief had spent itself away she went away to her room alone,” (Chopin 1). This demonstrates that Louise stepped away from the common way a woman would have felt. She felt some grief since it is the news of a death.

The Story of an Hour, written by Kate Chopin, is a short story written, referring to how the preeminent character, Mrs. Mallard, acts when she receives the news of her husband’s death. Louise Mallard locks herself in her room moreover, begins to envisage that regard to a unaccustomed life of freedom. After she comprehends about it and starts to acquire an illness. In addition, Josephine tries to pry her out of her room and head downstairs for “surprise.” Due to unanticipated circumstances, Mrs. Mallard passes away from a heart attack of disillusioned to recognize her husband is still alive before ever assimilating the opportunity to revel in her neoteric life.

In “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, has a multitude of stylistic and structural techniques that make the emphasis of the drama in this short story. This story only cover one hour of Mrs. Mallard's life, it begins at the time they make her conscious about her husband's death until the end of the story an hour later. We are able to see how women's role have been changing, Chopin explains how a woman feel like it required for them to stay home even if they aren't happy. Josephine has to tell Mrs. Mallard the news and about her husband's death and her reaction was very ironic something that the reader wasn't expecting.

At the end of the story, Brently returns home unaware that there even was a train accident, which is when Louise collapses to the floor and dies of heart disease. Chopin hints that marriage can rob people of their freedom of how they want to live their lives and men and women have to the right to live a life of happiness however they please, whether single or married.