Analysis Of The Story ' The Story Of An Hour ' By Kate Chopin

Mallard after her sister tells her the news of her husband is not the common reaction expected when someone suddenly dies. Her reaction quotes, “She did hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance. She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment” (Chopin 653). This quote indicates the fact that she does not react the way that a spouse would when he or she’s spouse has passed and having the utter feeling of denial. Though uncertain of her own feelings, Chopin begins to describe Mrs. Mallard’s decaying thoughts of her former lifestyle into something more

The story of an hour by Kate Chopin introduces us to Mrs. Mallard as she reacts to her husband’s death. In this short story, Chopin portrays the complexity of Mrs. Mallard’s emotions as she is saddened yet joyful of her loss. Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” argues that an individual discover their self-identity only after being freed from confinement. The story also argues that freedom is a very powerful force that affects mental or emotional state of a person. The story finally argues that only through death can one be finally freed.

When it is revealed that she has “heart trouble”, her sister uses extreme caution when breaking the news about the death of Mrs. Mallard’s husband. Chopin makes use of certain things in the short story where things can be taken literally and figuratively. Mrs. Mallard’s heart condition can be looked at literally and figuratively because Chopin incorporates it as both a physical and symbolic problem. Mrs. Mallard did have mixed feeling about her marriage and the lack of freedom that she had. When Mrs. Mallard realizes that she has this

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.

Mrs Mallard's awkward attitude after learning of her husband's death establishes an irony- somebody who is really happy in marriage will not enjoy nature in peace and have mixed emotions; the person will feel genuine grief upon hearing of the death of her husband. Here, Mrs Mallard's reaction portrays the extent to which her thirst for freedom was strong. Kate Chopin allows us to visualise the moment that Mrs Mallard is able to shed the bondage of marriage: "free, free, free!." She feels liberated through her husband's death. Much emphasis is laid on her joy upon finding freedom- "there would be no one to live for." The author also points out that "she knew that she would weep again.....folded in death." This only highlights the fact that it is not an expression of love but seems more like a duty that

Chopin begins her short story by describing the Mrs. Mallard grieving actions towards hearing the breaking news of her husband’s death. The narrator recites “Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble.” The narrator also describes “She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister’s arm.” Chopin immediately diagnoses her with heart trouble to later reflect the reasoning behind her death at the end that has not one but two meanings: her death and symbolizing the treatment in her marriage as a disease reflects not only death but personal struggle or oppression. Mrs. Mallard’s reaction toward the news illustrates the steps of grief in a woman which would usually be denial at first but Mrs. Mallards action immediately pushes towards her emotional reaction symbolizing

Kate Chopin’s ironic story “The Story of an Hour” contrasts the facts of Mrs. Mallard’s current life to Mrs. Mallard’s desirable future life as widow in quick succession, sentence by sentence, incident by incident.

Mallard dies and Mrs. Mallard cries because she is happy, not sad. While Mrs. Mallard is crying upstairs in her bedroom she has some mixed emotions. It is written and cleared up by the author stating, “She did not stop to ask if it were or were not a monstrous joy that held her. A clear and exalted perception enabled her to dismiss the suggestion as trivial... She knew that she would weep again when she saw the kind…”( Chopin 261) In this scene, Mrs. Mallard is very joyful because her husband died. In the story, she was crying in her bedroom. As it fools the reader to think she is weeping for her husband who ‘died’. She is actually crying because she is joyful from her unhappy marriage. The Mallard couple unhappy marriage is another key piece of information that leads to the situational irony in this scene. “Representative of this in both approach and language is Emily Toth's well-known characterization of the story as one of Chopin's "most radical ... an attack on marriage, on one person's dominance over another."3 Toth further elaborates this position in a later article in which she comments that "[although Louise's death is an occasion for deep irony directed at patriarchal blindness about women's thoughts, Louise dies in the world of her family where she has always sacrificed for others.”(Berkove 152) This article talks about the irony of her marriage and how her unhappy marriage is a factor of why she dies. The critic Berkove analyzes and explains what the doctors said about how Mrs. Mallard dies at the very end of the short story. Mr. Mallard and Mrs. Mallard’s marriage causes Mrs. Mallard's to react how she did to her husband's death, with joy not with

In the piece “Story of an Hour,” Kate Chopin uses symbolism and direct characterization to characterize the protagonist, Mrs. Mallard. When Chopin writes, “she could see before her...the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life” (Chopin, Kate. “The Story” 630) she uses the beginning of spring to symbolize the rebirth of independence Mrs. Mallard has just experienced after feeling so repressed throughout her marriage. Chopin uses direct characterization when she writes, “she was young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression” (Chopin, Kate. “The Story” 630). This characterizes Mrs. Mallard as repressed or unvented. Chopin also characterizes another protagonist, Edna Pontellier, in an excerpt from The Awakening,

Mallard suffers from heart troubles which is why the news was giving to her in such a soft manner, it isn’t started but her marriage could have played a role in her issues. Within the hour that Mrs. Mallard believed that Mr. Mallard is died, we see her becoming a stronger independent woman. As for the beginning of the story, it is shown that Mrs. Mallard as a weak woman who mainly does whatever her husband tell her. “There would be no powerful will bending hers” (Chopin line 39). This doesn’t mean that Mr. Mallard is a cruel, harsh man he is just the dominate factor in their relationship. Once Mrs. Mallard hears the news she begins to think about what her life will be like without Mr.

Mallard may seem like an interesting character. A reader may have a difficult time deciding whether or not her reaction to her husband's death is genuine. Mrs. Mallard is a protagonist who needs to be the center of attention. In the beginning of the story it is stated that Mr. Mallard has a heart condition, which causes Richard and Josephine to be utterly cautious to break the news of her husband's death. They treat her as if her heart will be broken when told the news. “Her two white slender hands” show us that Mrs. Mallard weak and does not do manual labor (Chopin 307). Her “slender” hands elaborates on her wanting and needing attention. Even though Mrs. Mallard has a heart condition, she is still able to do work, but puts up an act in order to receive more attention. The narrator then goes on to describe be her physical look. Mrs. Mallard is “young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain strength” (Chopin 307). Mrs. Mallard is pretty, but the lines on her head that she is masking many issues and obstacles. Although, a reader may see Mrs. Mallard as weak because of her heart condition and her “slender” hands another reader may see Mrs. Mallard as a strong women who can mask the hardships she faces. Hardships such as the lack of freedom her husband gave her, killed her at the end of the story when her assumed to be dead husband came home an hour

In this short literature piece “The Story of an Hour” is a story with internal conflict and external conflict. Kate Chopin’s use of writing in this piece has common conflicts but unusual resolutions.

Mallard's weak heart symbolizes how women were perceived as fragile. Due to this, family and doctors treat her gently with the news, and “…great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband's death” (Chopin). Others assume that her husband dying would be a traumatizing event. However, she feels quite opposite. Mrs. Mallard feels liberated, as if the window to her new life had finally opened. She was free from the restriction of marriage. However, when she realizes her husband survived the train crash, the shock kills her. Mrs. Mallard dies of disappointment, not joy, as the window to her new life free of the restraint of marriage becomes slammed shut as her husband opens the door. Chopin could have easily ended the story on her short lived moment of happiness, but chose not to, as to represent a greater meaning. An entire life cycle takes place throughout the story, represented similarly to the way an hour takes place on a clock. Ms. Mallard, caught in a restraining marriage is freed by the news of the death of her husband, welcomed into the start of her new life. However, when her husband is found to be alive, her new life has lost what it needs to continue, resulting in her death. Chopin chose to kill Louise because the brief moment of happiness and relief that Louise felt for a moment was not a reality for women in this time period. Chopin uses the death of Ms. Mallard to illustrate how desperate women felt at the time, as a happy ending was often not the

Kate Chopin is known as one of the greatest feminist authors of her time. She grew up around independent, widowed women: her great-grandmother, grandmother, and mother. With her father’s death due to a train wreck, and her husband’s death from“swamp fever,” Chopin was left alone to support her six children. According to Nina Baym, the author of Chopin’s biography, influences from strong women in Chopin’s life led to why she wrote about desires, limited aspects of women’s lives, and how women began to challenge the male-dominated culture (550). A lack of men as chief figures in Chopin’s life prevented her from experiencing a tradition of submission by women to men. Additionally, many of Chopin’s works were influenced by realism and feminism.

Kate Chopin's short story, "The Story of an Hour" is largely about the forms of repression that women were forced to endure during the epoch in which the story was written (1894) and during much of the time that preceded it. During this time period, women quite frequently had to subjugate themselves to the will of their husbands, or to some other man who had a significant amount of control over their lives. Chopin chooses to address this phenomenon in an indirect manner with this particular short story, although she does so in a thematic manner which, of course, is the ""¦idea that lies behind the story. Every story narrows a broad underlying idea, shapes it in a unique way, and makes the underlying idea concrete" (Clugston 2010, 7.1) The theme that "The Story of an Hour" is based upon is the notion of the liberation of women from the overbearing influence of men. Chopin chooses to illustrate this theme quite dramatically through literary devices of symbolism and metaphor.