Many of Kate Chopin’s short stories depict the theme of freedom. In the stories “Emancipation” and “The Story of an Hour,” Chopin uses freedom as a theme to show her readers that independence isn’t always as horrifying as it may seem. Although the idea of freedom is expressed differently in each of these two stories, both still show that freedom is a vital part of having a happy life. In “The Story of an Hour,” Louise Mallard is told by her sister and husband’s good friend Richard that her husband Brently was killed in a train accident. Her initial reaction, like any other wife finding out about her husband’s death would be, was mournful; however, after sitting alone in her room, pondering about her future with no husband, Louise becomes …show more content…
Louise doesn’t think she will get sick, and Chopin describes her to be “drinking in a very elixir of life,” but she comes out of her room and goes downstairs to find her husband walking in the door (525). It is at this point in the story that Louise discovers that Brently hadn’t really been involved in the accident at all. Richard sees Louise collapse and tries to block Brently from seeing her fall. When the doctors come, they say Louise dies of heart disease and as Chopin describes it, “the joy that kills” (526). “The joy that kills,” is suggesting the fact that because Louise had been so happy about her husband’s death (because she was denied that freedom), her heart finally gave out.
“Chopin, however, warns the reader in the first sentence that the situation is not completely rosy because Louise "was afflicted with a heart trouble" (352): a physical problem” (Mayer 95). Louise Mallard’s preexisting heart trouble may have been a factor in the reason why she died of heart disease when she found out that Brently was actually alive. It can be argued that since she already had a bad heart, the shock from initially hearing the news of her husband’s death, combined with her realization that she had been set free, overworked her heart as she was switching between several different emotions and
Lets say Brently had died that day what was Louise going to do? Its not like she can get a job and take care of her self and theirs two reasons why. One! She was a woman and they didn’t have any rights in those times. Black men were able to vote first than white women. That tells you a lot of how things were back then. The second reason is Louise had a heart condition and one had to be very careful with her. So I guessing she couldn’t do any hard labor or be stress. That’s why I don’t understand her. It might because I am male and I cant really see it from a female point of view. Maybe that’s why I can’t really see why Louise is full of joy because of her husband death. Also another thing I wonder was if she had heart attack because she was happy or sad that Brently was alive? I also wonder if Kate wrote this because she was going through personally?
In my research paper I want to discuss the concept of freedom for a woman in Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour”, and how the wrong news can make the happiest person in the world and then cause her death.
Freedom should be enjoyed ,because it can be gone in a flash . Both Kate Chopin’s short story “Story Of An Hour “ and “ An Obstacle”, both story and poem discuss women's freedom and both put a message in their writings “ An Obstacle “ shows a women trying to pass but a prejudice and when she ignored it and she was free to pass. In Kate Chopin’s “The Story Of An Hour” tells the story of a woman called Mrs,Mallard learns the painful truth that her husband has died. Slowly she starts to realize that she will have gained more freedom but her husband comes back; she tragically realize that she won’t be granted her freedom. Although “ The Story Of An Hour” and “ An Obstacle “ use different metaphors, actually, both use chronological order to show the readers how fast or long their problems might last.So the story and poem of kate chopin and charlotte perkins both show a form of freedom in their writing.
Chopin employs the use of symbolism to further her theme by using Louise’s heart and its disease as key symbols. In the beginning of the short story, the author informs the audience that Louise “was afflicted with a heart trouble,” which caused her husband’s friend and her sister to try to tell her about the mining accident gently. Shockingly, after her worrying phase of initial grief, Louise becomes joyful and “her pulses beat fast, and the coursing blood warmed and relaxed every inch of her body.” Her sister was worried that she was stressing her
This stereotype is negative, as if having emotions is a bad thing. However, it is the women’s emotions that alters the course of their stories. According to Jamil, Louise has been repressing her emotions for many years to avoid this stereotype and to please her husband. When she looks out the window and sees the spring weather, it causes her to feel joy for the first time in a long time. All of a sudden, a rush of emotion crashes over her, and she discovers her true self (Chopin 15). Jamil contends that emotions are an enormous part of who one is, and without them, life is far harder to endure. This is exactly what happens to Louise. When she thinks that her husband is dead, these emotions return, and she can be her true self (Chopin 15-16). However, Jamil explains that psychological health can affect physical health, and the effect of repressing herself for so long might be a direct cause of Louise’s heart troubles. When she allows herself to feel, her heart pounds strongly and surely, but when she sees her husband again, her heart troubles return. In that moment, she allows herself to succumb to her failing heart. It is a lack of emotion that kills her, not a
An intelligent woman, Louise knows that she must conform to societal expectations and act distraught at her husband’s death. This does not mean Louise is cruel; in fact Chopin writes that “she would weep again (Chopin 57)” when she saw her husband “fixed and gray and dead (Chopin 57).” She feels emotions deeply, and while she had not always loved him, she sometimes did, and knows she would mourn him later. But now, Louise mostly feels free to live her life the way she wants to. Upon the realization that her husband lives, Louise’s shock and despair is so intense, she dies of sorrow.
I just accepted Louise's reaction to her husband's death, when the most unexpected happens; her husband is actually alive and he enters the room shocking everyone, and Louise especially, as she is shocked to death. The doctors say she died of joy, when the reader knows that she actually died because she had a drams of freedom and could not go back to living under her husband's will again. Then her dreams were shattered yet again due to this terrible man.
The beginning of the story sets the theme for the whole story. We are told about the heart condition that inflicts Louise. This is significant throughout the story. The heart condition is a symbolic way of describing her thoughts of oppression she felt about her marriage. She was trapped and isolated by the marriage. She felt the need to hide these feelings. Women of her era were supposed to be home and under their husbands command. The story has her going through this journey privately. That is significant in the fact that now in her husband’s passing, she will be alone. She will need to work through things by herself. She will be able to go through the whole process on her own, without being judged and persuaded to feel differently.
By the repetition of the words as a reader we come to understand the meaning behind the story and how Louise actually felt towards her husband. The theme of the story is mainly the forbidden joy of independence. Due to that the story was written years ago where women were very dependent to their husbands Louise actual feelings of joy and happiness towards her husband death was forbidden by society during this
After quickly recovering from the storm of grief which showered her, Louise comprehends her own independence; “‘Free, free, free!’” (202). Something of which she has not possessed before. Not to mention, Louise holds great passion for the future without her husband influencing her decisions, “...(the) long procession of years to come (...) would belong to her absolutely” (202). As the story continues, it becomes evident that Mrs. Mallard’s confidence and jubilance holds direction in her long life to come. Ironically, however, Louise only lives to see the next few minutes of her life. As the shock of seeing the living dead births a heart attack; “When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease- a joy that kills” (203). Ultimately, her gluttonous behaviour and extreme state of joy lead her to an untimely death when her eyes lay upon the presumed dead, Brently
Kate Chopin liked to write in somewhat suspense. Suspense like the quote, “But now there was a dull stare in her eyes, whose gaze was fixed around yonder on one of those patches of the blue sky. It was not a glance of reflection, but rather indicated a suspension of intelligent thought.” This quote meaning that Louise was surprised of the death of Brently’s death. In this quote it said
In the story, the label that Chopin gives to Mrs. Mallard’s problem is “heart trouble’ which involves both physical and emotional factors. Similarly, I think it’s very ironic for the writer to use the phrase “joy that kills” in the last sentence of the story because it is actual joy that Mrs. Mallard feels when she realizes her husband is dead, and pain so great that kills her when she sees her husband walking through the door. However, other characters are unaware of the transformation that has occurred in Mrs. Mallard. The dramatic irony in the end is that Louise doesn’t die because of joy as the doctor claims but actually because of loss of joy. Her husband’s death gives her a glimpse of new life and when that new life is swiftly taken away, the shock and disappointment kills her. Therefore, the main character, Mrs. Mallard
Kate Chopin is the author of many short-stories and novels. Her short story, “The Story of an Hour,” is about a woman named Mrs. Louise Mallard with a fragile heart that suddenly and unexpectedly loses her husband in a train accident. Throughout the story, Mrs. Mallard learns to embrace the accident because for her it meant she finally obtained freedom from her demanding life that she has been wanting to break away from. Freedom and independence is one of the themes of “The Story of an Hour” and appears in the story when Mrs. Mallard learns that her husband is in a train accident, when she secludes herself from everyone in her room, and when she learns that her husband is actually alive.
The biggest struggle of the turn of the century woman was the lack of freedom that they had. In marriage, for example, women were not able to pursue what they wanted freely. In marriage there were two set roles for each man and woman, for which the men were solely the providers of the family and women were to take care of the house while their husbands worked. The struggle for freedom can be shown in Chopin’s ‘The Story of an Hour,’ when Louise found out her husband died she went to her room and whilst mourning for her loss, she pondered about her future and spread her arms open, welcoming her new life. She could finally be free and repeated to herself “body and soul free!.” The author believed that both marriage and freedom were something
After reading “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin the reader can see that the text reveals a major theme about freedom with the use of a few characters, a basic setting, and plot. This text was written to address the crisis of the restricted lives women were forced to live during that time period. In the beginning of the story, the narrator is discussing how they were being careful to break the news of Louis husband’s death because she had a heart problem. In the middle of the text, we learn how the news was accepted. Finally, in the end of the text, the author adds an interesting plot twists that brings the meaning of the story together. Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour,” is the best story because it developed the theme of the loss of freedom can be detrimental through her use of plot, setting, and character.