Kate Chopin 's An Hour

In the past many decades the definition of what a marriage means changed dramatically in some areas. For the author of both stories, Kate Chopin, she wanted the reader to get something out of the story. She likes to explore all types of themes in her stories such as, racism, the roles of women, and adultery. With these themes and messages she struggled to have most of her stories published. In many of her stories she passed along these messages through the manner of a marriage. In her short stories “The Story of an Hour” and “Desiree 's Baby” she showed just how different marriages could be as well as how similar they can be. Chopin portrays the lives of the main characters, Louise Mallard from “The Story of An Hour” and Desiree Aubigny

Foster’s How to Read Literature Like a Professor discusses many topics and insights that can be found in literature. Foster explains how each are used and the purposes they serve while providing numerous examples. Many of Foster’s insights can be found in Kate Chopin’s “The Story of An Hour” which was written during a time in history when women were often restricted by society and marriage. The story speaks of a woman who felt freed from the burden of marriage when she thought her husband died, only to die the moment she realized he was actually alive. Foster’s insights about weather, heart disease, and flight that are evident in “The Story of An Hour” greatly influence the story’s interpretation in several ways.

Mrs. Mallard’s heart trouble is symbolic of her broken relationship with her husband, Brently. Of all the possible health issues that Mrs. Mallard could have been battling, it is heart trouble that she if faced with. It is noted that Josephine speaks “in broken sentences; veiled hints” (Chopin, “The Story”), so that the news of Brently’s death is revealed to Mrs. Mallard as carefully as possible. However, the news of her husband’s death actually brings a new life to Mrs. Mallard: “Her pulses beat fast, and the coursing blood warmed and relaxed every inch of her body” (Chopin, “The Story”). Mrs. Mallard’s marriage has confined her to her home and has caused the loss of her freedom, which is represented by her heart trouble. Her death is not caused by the joy of seeing her husband like the doctors thought, but rather due to a loss of joy, as she loses her newly found independence upon seeing Brently walk through the front door. Chopin shares: “When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease – of joy that kills” (“The Story”). The window in Mrs. Mallard’s bedroom also serves as an important symbol in the story, representing Mrs. Mallard’s freedom. Upon seeing the beauty throughout the streets as she looks out her window, Mrs. Mallard is finally able to realize that the rest of her life is full of countless possibilities (Rosenblum,

Kate Chopin’s “The Story of An Hour” was published in 1894 in Vogue, during a time when women do not have any legal rights. They have low education level and have no opportunity to work; what they can do is stay at home and manage the family. All their lives, they rely on their husband. Women at that time do not think about why they should be treated this way; they were being silenced by society. Kate Chopin uses the character Mrs. Mallard as the representative of all women who wants freedom at that time, and she criticizes the way society treats them, yet the difference of Mrs. Mallard’s values compared to society’s makes her become egotistic and her death end up not changing people’s mind of how to treat women properly.

When we think about marriage, we think it is happy moments with loved ones. It is knowing that someone has your back. Also, it is wishing you were the one having the operation or the ill. Not him. It is hard work that not all people can handle. Marriage is hard work that needs to be made from love. Wife needs to be the person that keeps the house in good look and supports her husband. As for husband he needs to be the head of the family that helps his wife to keep their marriage. Marriage is built on love, understanding and support of each other. In the marriage, it is important to keep each other happy. If the love and happiness disappear from marriage, it is hard to keep the family together. In those two short stories there is love, but

Chopin’s story shows the reader that repression has a detrimental effect on an individual’s physical, emotional, and psychological health through the use of symbolism, irony, point of view and metaphor. The opening scene of this story is of Ms. Mallard’s sister, Josephine, and Mr. Richards (Mr. Mallard’s friend) giving news of the presumed death of Mr. Mallard to his wife. This will be the central focus to why Ms. Mallard reacts the way she does throughout the story. In the beginning of the story, she is stated to have a heart condition.

Mallard leaves her room at the insistence of her sister, still ecstatic over being liberated from her husband, but doing well to hide her true feelings (2). However, as they make their way down the stairs, Chopin integrated a twist in the story by having the door open to reveal Mr. Mallard, alive (2). Chopin concluded the story with a final sentence, “When the doctors came they said [Mrs. Mallard] had died of heart disease¬¬¬¬--of the joy that kills” (3).

The author has to choose the gender of their main character, and by Kate Chopin choosing a woman it set a completely different mood to the story rather than it being a man. The time this story was written were women were suppose to be submissive and loyal to their husbands, caring and nurturing for their children, and well-bred, catering hostesses. If a woman were to overstep such boundaries, she would be considered unladylike, scandalous, or even immoral. Society looks differently upon a person depending on their gender. Sexism develops and stereotypes are labeled. Different situations receive different judgment depending on gender. “The Story of an Hour” is a passive aggressive call out against society. “What could love, the unsolved mystery, count for in face of this possession of self-assertion...” The most impactful word throughout the story is “she” and it changes the personal depiction of the reader. Subconsciously a person can associate characteristics of people by using one word. The content and impact of individual words used throughout the story plays a tremendous role in how the story is interpreted. The specification of gender ties into the word “she” which is the most important word throughout the story. For this reason, the analysis of the specific and nitpicked vocabulary for this story was vital to the social influence and comprehension of the reality for gender differences.

When an author uses humanistic elements in his or her writing, such as emotion, those works tend to hold more meaning to the reader. Emotion can serve as the catalyst within literature in order to give the audience something to empathize upon. This technique allows the author to make a direct connection with the reader since he or she probably has an understanding of how various emotions can effect an individual; this is a consequence of being human. The broad variety of different emotions that Kate Chopin fit into “The Story of an Hour” presents the story with a perspective that is very intelligible. While some readers may not understand what it is like to live a sheltered life due to marital convention, Chopin laid out the emotional path that the protagonist takes and simplified it into individual, coherent feelings that a woman in the late nineteenth-century might have went through under these circumstances; she did an efficient job at telling the story of shock, suspense, and surprise during this poor lady’s last hour.

When Kate Chopin’s short story, “The Story of an Hour,” was written in 1894, Kate Chopin was living with her family in Louisiana and was a very independent woman. Throughout the world during this time, women were known to be considered their husband’s property and had to live for their husbands and not themselves. In this story, Chopin seems to explain the feelings wives had about their husbands. Based on this, the character of Mrs. Mallard may have been married to her husband but didn’t actually enjoy being with him. So, when he dies, she feels free to finally live for herself. The open window helps to express the feelings of a new life Mrs. Mallard sees in her future. Throughout Chopin’s story, the symbolic representation of the open window plays a major role in illustrating the freedom Mrs. Mallard began to feel in the story

In Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” she had a lead female character who, at this time, was considered to be controversial. In America at this time, women were not to have a voice of their own and for the lead character to have her own voice and who defies the male dominance of the 19th century. It was uncommon for a women of the 19th century to find joy in finding out that her husband was suddenly killed. The lines “Free! Body and soul free!” (Paragraph 14) suggest that she felt trapped being with her husband and now that he’s dead she’s finally free. This is something that I’m sure many American women in this time period felt.

The point of view being used in Kate Chopin’s Story of an Hour is a non-participating omniscient third-person narrator. By using this kind of narration, Chopin is not limited to just one characters point of view. Being an unidentified outsider can be very beneficial to the reader because we know something that the main character doesn’t and that can cause great anticipation, which usually increases the reader’s interest. Since Chopin decided to use this technique, it is much easier to go into great detail about what the widow, Mrs. Mallard is thinking. In this case, the author is revealing Mrs. Mallard’s unexpected happiness that came with knowing that her husband has passed.

The shift in women's roles was one of the most significant changes to American culture in the late nineteenth century. For most American women, the home was no longer a place that could be considered as sacred. They were not being appreciated for maintaining their roles anymore. Many women still fulfilled their "responsibilities", but a large number of women responded that it is defining and limiting their roles in the society. “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin is presenting the reader with a woman who is clearly overjoyed that her husband has died. Louise's emotions hesitate between numbness and joy at her newly discovered freedom.

“The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, is a short novel about Louise Mallard accepting that her husband had recently suffered a life ending tragedy. She quickly gets over the devastating news and begins to look forward to what the future has on hold for her. When she goes downstairs to meet up with Richard she sees her husband, Brently Mallard, in the front door alive and she ends up dying.

“The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin is a short story about an hour in time. In that hour we find out that the main character Louise Mallard’s husband has been killed in a railroad disaster. The husband Brently Mallard’s friend is the one who finds the news but realizes that Louise needs to be told with great delicacy due to her heart condition. Upon hearing the news Louise like most grieves immediately. But as she contemplates what has happen and her future she realizes she if finally free the confines of marriage. Even though she loved her husband most of the time she looks at this disaster not as a terrible tragedy but as a new lease on life. Then the unthinkable happens, her husband walks through the door. Instead of relinquishing