How Is The Hour Criticism In The Story Of An Hour

The short story The Story of an Hour, by Kate Chopin, describes a woman conflicted with the death of her husband and her outlook on life after his assumed passing. Through the story, Chopin shows the transformation of Mrs. Mallard from that of an ordinary wife to that of a woman cherishing her newfound freedom. Although Mrs. Mallard is deeply saddened at the news of her husband’s passing, she finally begins to feel a sense of relief and witnesses what it means for her as a woman. Just as she begins to fully cherish her life, she is horrified at the sight of her “dead” husband’s return and proceeds to perish. Through the use of imagery and syntax, Chopin illustrates the interchanging psychoanalytic perspective of an individual following a personal loss.

Kate Chopin is known for being criticized for empowering the subject of female sexuality and independence. In Chopin’s short story, “The Story of an Hour”, it is placed in a time where men were known as being the head of the household while women were only in charge of raising the children and caring for the home. In the 1890s, women didn’t have so much power to themselves compared to today’s society where female empowerment is frequently encouraged. Chopin’s story narrates a sequence of Mrs. Mallard’s emotions that goes within the motion of the story. As she overcomes the sudden death of her husband, her emotion of grief soon turns into the sudden feeling of freedom, later on emerging into a strong independent woman.

I chose to do my analysis on the short story, “The Story Of An Hour”. The themes I see in this story is the quest for identity/coming of age, romantic/love, birth, and death. It is about a woman named Mrs. Mallard. She was an elderly lady and had a heart complications. Her sister Josephine and her husband’s friend Richards had to break the news to her that her husband, Brently Mallard, has been killed in a railroad disaster. Mrs. Mallard was sorrowful and sobbed in her sisters’ arms. After her grieving process, she wanted to be alone, so she went to her room and locked herself in. As she sat in the window, she seem to be calmer and accepted her husband’s death. She was not distressed of what had happened. She began to say the words “free” and her heart

Selina Jamil with Prince George’s Community College wrote this critical essay bringing awareness to the vast array of emotions presented throughout the story “The Story of an Hour.” The main character, Mrs. Mallard, learns of the tragic loss of her husband due to a railroad accident. Learning of the loss of her husband brought her a sense of freedom and emotions that she had never experienced before. Jamil’s essay brings to light the lack of emotions Mrs. Mallard experienced prior to her husband’s death as well as the amazing emotions that her new freedom brought about. Up to this point, Mrs. Mallard had lived a meaningless life as a submissive woman.

“The Story of an Hour” tells a tragic story about a women, who has a heart condition, and receives the news of her husband's passing. At first the woman, Louise, cannot comprehend what she is hearing. She runs up to her room and looks out her window at an image that calms her. She than begins to think of her future without her husband around. She than comes to the conclusion that she is free.

In the first writing, “The story of an Hour” is about Louise Mallard a woman in the 19’s centuries that suffer from a heart condition. One day she is informed that her husband died in a train accident, at first she gets sad and start crying while she walks to her room to be alone. She starts thinking of how life is going to be without her husband and begins to say

Kate Chopin’s The Story of an Hour reflects the time in which a woman was forced to abide by the wishes of a man. From keeping the home in order to cater to his every want and need, she was degraded of her real potential, resulting in a hatred toward her spouse, the inability to speak and think freely for herself, and the a desire of independence. Throughout the text, Louise Mallard reveals that she is living in the repressive world of male dominance through her reaction to her husband’s “death” and re-arrival, her longing to be free from her current captivity, and her excitement of her new life as her own individual. The Story of an Hour beings with the acknowledgement of Mrs. Mallard’s heart disease and the depressing news of her “deceased” husband.

In Kate Chopin’s, “The Story of an Hour,” a whirlwind of events occur in a short amount of time. The story begins with the protagonist, Louise Mallard, being told that her husband has died from a railroad disaster. She grieves for a while and then goes upstairs to her room. She stares out an open window for a while until she realizes that she is finally free. She is liberated by her newfound freedom, but unfortunately, Mrs. Mallard’s freedom is snatched away from her in the matter of moments because, surprise, Mr. Mallard was nowhere near the railroad disaster. Once Mrs. Mallard discovers that Mr. Mallard is alive, she dies from a heart attack. This dynamic short story takes place in only an hour. One may ask how could this short of a story can have such an expansive array of events occur, but the answer is simple. The plot of “The Story of an Hour” is able to unfold quickly due to Chopin’s use of irony, her heavy use of symbolism, and the time period in which she wrote.

“The Story of An Hour” focuses on sixty minutes in the life of a young nineteenth-century woman, Mrs. Mallard. Upon learning of her husband’s death, Mrs. Mallard experiences an epiphany about her future without a husband. Her life, due to heart problems, suddenly ends after she unexpectedly finds out her husband is actually alive. Mrs. Mallard’s actions cause the reader to cogitate a hidden meaning weaved into Kate‘s short story. Chopin had an idea that women felt confined in their marriages, and the idea is brought out through the protagonist’s initial reaction, excessive joy, and new perspective of the world following the upsetting news.

The Story of an Hour, makes for a very interesting literary analysis piece. In the story of “The Story of an Hour.” A woman with heart problems receives news that her husband has died in a work-related incident. At first the woman know as Mrs. Mallard is distraught about the news of her husband’s death, but as she goes away to be alone to cry, she begins to feel a creeping feeling, the feeling of joy and freeness. Mrs. Mallard later decides to return to the living room, and just then Mrs. Mallard’s thought to be dead husband walks through the door, unaware of the ordeal.

The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin is a short yet complex story, describing Mrs Mallard’s feelings. It focuses on the unfolding emotional state of Mrs Mallard after the news of her husbands death, and has overflowing symbolism and imagery. It is an impressive literary piece that touches the readers’ feelings and mind and allows the reader to have a connection to Mrs Mallard’s emotional process. Although the story is short, it is complete with each word carrying deep sense and meaning. It is written in the 19th century, a time that had highly restrictive gender roles that forbade women to live as they saw fit. Mrs Mallard experiences something not everyone during this time has the luck to have; the happiness of freedom that the reader only

Understanding the historical context of The Story of an Hour is vital to interpreting the story. The text references the telegram and railroad, setting the story in the 1800s. The culture during the 1800s was vastly different than what it is today. Women were often treated as inferior to men in society, and men were usually the ones in charge at home. Women were frequently silenced and told to “do their husbands’ biddings” without protest. For Mrs. Mallard in The Story of an Hour, the societal view of the inferiority of women was her reality. When she heard of her husband’s death, she was first overcome with grief. But within an hour, she was overcome with another emotion: freedom. For Mrs. Mallard, she had been in a relationship where she

Mrs. Mallard has a heart condition so, everyone treats her carefully. When her sister and family friend discover Mr. Mallard got killed in an accident, they take time to gently tell her that her husband has died. She seems terrified of some knowledge that's coming to her and comes to the conclusion that it's her freedom. Time and freedom are mentioned in several ways throughout the story. The author of “The Story of an Hour” conveys the theme of time, and freedom.

A Woman Far Ahead of Her Time, by Ann Bail Howard, discusses the nature of the female characters in Kate Chopin’s novel’s and short stories. Howard suggests that the women in Chopin’s stories are longing for independence and feel torn between the feminine duties of a married woman and the freedom associated with self-reliance. Howard’s view is correct to a point, but Chopin’s female characters can be viewed as more radically feminist than Howard realizes. Rather than simply being torn between independent and dependant versions of her personality, “The Story of an Hour’s” Mrs. Mallard actually rejoices in her newfound freedom, and, in the culmination of the story, the position of the woman

“The Story of an Hour” is a very short text, so the author does not have room to develop a complex plot. In the exposition, the reader learn that Mrs. Mallard has a heart problem, so the other characters wanted to be delicate while sharing the news of her husband’s death. The rising action is when Mrs. Mallard’s sister shares the news and Mrs. Mallard responds by weeping and going to her room. The climax occurs when Mrs. Mallard learns that she will be free from the restrictions the “civil law” forces on women at that time. According to the text, “When she abandoned herself a little whisper escaped her slightly parted lips. She said it over and over under her