Kate Chopin 's The Story Of 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

Written in 1894, “The Story of an Hour” is a story of a woman who, through the erroneously reported death of her husband, experienced true freedom. Both tragic and ironic, the story deals with the boundaries imposed on women by society in the nineteenth century. The author Kate Chopin, like the character in her story, had first-hand experience with the male-dominated society of that time and had experienced the death of her husband at a young age (Internet). The similarity between Kate Chopin and her heroine can only leave us to wonder how much of this story is fiction and how much is personal experience.

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.

“When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease-- of the joy that kills.” At the end of Kate Chopin’s short fiction“ The Story of an Hour”, the wife dies from a shock at the sight of her husband, who reported dead in a train disaster, unexpectedly return home. Throughout the story, there are many clues as to the true reason that causes Louise's death, the loss of freedom. Chopin uses irony to reflect a sharp illustration of women’s inferior position in the early century. At the same time, herself as a feminist of the nineteenth century represents women’s desire to gain autonomy and independence.

The death of the main character Louise Mallard is a commonly debated topic when discussing “The Story of an Hour.” In Mark Cunningham’s article “The Autonomous Female Self and the Death of Louise Mallard in Kate Chopin’s ‘Story of an Hour’” he makes arguments for the common interpretations of Mrs. Mallards death. He states that “it is critical commonplace” to assume that the sight of her husband alive kills her (n.p.). Even though the story never directly states that Mrs. Mallard sees her husband, it is easier for ones brain to jump to the conclusion that her

Kate Chopin begins her short essay with a man named Richards telling Josephine about the death of his dear friend, Brently Mallard, who also happened to be Josephine’s sister’s husband. Josephine was so scared to tell her sister, Mrs. Mallard, of the news about the accident her husband was involved in. Mrs. Mallard suffered from heart conditions and her sister did not know how she would take such horrible news. When she finally built up the courage to tell her sister, Mrs. Mallard fell into her sister’s arms and wept. A little while later, she went away to her room to be alone. She sat in her comfortable armchair gazing out of the open window, admiring the beauty of the outside world. As she sat there sobbing, a peculiar feeling came upon her. She began to whisper one word over and over again, “free.” She could not help but feel like she was finally able to spread her wings and fly. She did not stop to wonder if this joy were repulsive because if she did, she would feel sad all over again. She sat there happily thinking of all the years that would now belong to her, and only her. Her sister knelt beside the door and begged her come out. Mrs. Mallard walked gracefully and contentedly down the stairs with Josephine. They met Richards at the bottom of the stairs to find someone opening the front door, Brently Mallard. Mrs. Mallard then passed out at the sight of her perfectly, alive husband. The doctors, moments too late, declared she died from her heart condition- a joy that kills.

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 “The Story of an Hour”, the author Kate Chopin Presents an unusual marriage. Louise Mallard, the protagonist of this short story experiences a sense of relief and happiness when she is informed that her husband has passed away due to a train wreck. However, when she discovers that Mr. Mallard is alive she feels all chances of being free from this marriage have faded away. Learning that her husband had not passed away from the tragic train wreck that was revealed to her was so much of a disappointment it kills her. Published in the 1800’s

The Story of an Hour Over years the roles of women and their rights have drastically changed. They have been dominated, trapped and enslaved by their marriage. Womens have slowly evolved into individuals that have rights and could stand for their own. “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin might be a short story, but it showed and explained how women's felt obligated to live and be with their husbands, despite the fact that they were unhappy with them.

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.

By all accounts, this is not a typical story of a battered wife longing for freedom from her vindictive husband. A woman does not need to be have a blatantly cruel or abusive husband to feel trapped, or unhappy. She should not need the presence of violence for these feelings to be validated. Sometimes, it is simply the absence of choice. And, for Louise – the main character in Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” – it takes the untimely demise of her husband for her to realize her subconscious, intrinsic longing: freedom. True freedom and rebirth, symbolized in both setting, and surroundings, is within her grasp. For someone in Louise’s position, in her time period, freedom as we know it today is

In the short story, “The Story of an Hour," Kate Chopin addresses the sometimes sticky truths the correlate between love, marriage, and female independence with her multidimensional characterization of Louise Mallard in her final hour of life. After finding out that her husband was killed in a train wreck, Mrs. Mallard faces the clashing emotions of grief for her husband’s death and the exhilarating joy she sees for her future of freedom. The latter emotion eventually takes control of her, emotionally and physically. However the story takes a climactic turn. The news that her husband was not killed in the accident destroys Louise’s ideas about her new life of freedom and ironically leads to a devastating ending out of what appears to be a good turn of events. In the end, it is Mr. Mallard who is free of his wife, Louise, although we do not know if he endured the same clashing emotions.

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.

In Kate Chopin’s , “A Story of An Hour,” many questions can be asked with very few answers given. The first that grabs the reader's attention is the wife’s over joyfulness at her husband’s death? Was the husband abusive? Did seeing her husband still alive kill her due to being happy or the realisation that her dreams had been crushed? The author doesn’t leave the reader with many answers to these questions. This means that the reader must draw their own conclusions of what they’ve read. By taking a closer look at the text the answers to these questions can be revealed even though there isn’t a right or wrong answer.

A bird would always want to fly even from its golden cage; so does a person confined to a house and a loveless marriage. In “The Story of an Hour,” Mrs. Mallard is a woman trapped in her own golden cage. Throughout the story, the author, Kate Chopin, shows the true colors of matrimony during that time and what it meant in women’s lives. Women were the only possessions attained after marriage, designated to do house labors and take care of a husband and children. “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin illustrates that marriage is another manifestation of women’s abdication of liberty once they say “I do”.