Kate Chopin 's The Story Of An Hour

In the “Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, is about pleasure of freedom and the oppression of marriage. Just like in Kate Chopin’s story, inside most marriages, even the ones that seem to be the happiest, one can be oppressed. Even though, one might seem to be happy deep inside they miss the pleasure of freedom and living life to the fullest. Just like, in this story Mrs. Mallard feels trapped and when she hears about her husband’s death she first feels distraught, but ultimately realizes that she has gained her freedom. This news leads her to an inner battle within herself, as she tries to keep those feelings from coming out. The story culminates when she dies of a heart attack, because she realizes that her husband is not dead and she would be returning to her old pointless existence. This story has many great literary elements that keep the story interesting throughout its plot, by using great foreshadowing and symbolism.

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

In Chopin’s short story, she demonstrates how men in the late ninetieth and early twentieth century treated their wives more as possessions than individuals, thus when the protagonist Mrs. Mallard learns her husband Brently Mallard just unexpectedly died, she feels “free, free, free!” (15). Since, Chopin published this short story in 1894; women often got married while they were quite young and typically to men much older. Likewise, divorce was never usually an option for unhappy marriages. Subsequently, Mrs. Mallard appears unhappy in her marriage, after learning about her husband’s death, she pictures how much better her life is going to be, “There would be no powerful will bending hers in that persistence with which men and women believe they have the right to impose a private will upon a

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.

“The Story of an hour” by Kate Chopin is about an a woman named Ms.Mallard. She has basically been controlled by men her whole life. In the story her husband dies and she starts to look at everything in a different way and starts to think about the future and the things she is gonna do now that her husband is not controlling her. Nothing was really wrong with there marriage Ms. Mallard was just never able to speak her mind because she was a woman. She felt like her husband was holding her back from life and she had to reach out and go her own way.

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

Looking at the early and late 19th century paintings, one can see that majority of them showed women and children in their respective roles. Motherhood was revered and something to be honored and commemorated. The women were seen only in the roles of wives, mothers and caretakers and society considered this their appropriate place. Women who were single were termed as 'spinsters ' and were not given the same status in society as married women. In the story of an hour, the author, Kate Chopin describes the emotions of a woman who is married and tied down to this oath for the rest of her life. The author uses the ways of the society during that time to construct a story that accurately reflects the feelings of majority of women of that

“Mrs. Mallard’s death is both symbolic- in one hour; her freedom has been won and lost. For Chopin, Mrs. Mallard represents numerous women who sit silently bear the feelings of being trapped in unhappy marriages,” (Harris, 2007, p. 6).

During this time, many women were dependent on their husband and Kate Chopin successfully magnifies the period of how women’s right weren’t emphasized or even worth, as they were considered a possession of men which might have caused them to lose their freedom after marriage. Mrs. Mallard feels joy widowhood grants her after the news of her husband’s death, rather than showing what would be normal from a wife, pain and grief. Kate Chopin also uses various approaches to create the image of the freedom Mrs. Mallard felt throughout the story from love to repression.

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.

After reading Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” for the first time, most readers would think Mrs. Mallard died of a broken heart upon the return of her husband, Brently Mallard. The readers would think she was just so happy to see her husband again that she collapsed and died. If this were true, why would Mrs. Mallard seem to be excited and freed from her married life after hearing the news of Brently’s death? Looking deep into Mrs. Mallard’s character, the reader should be able to see the relief she felt after the initial grief escaped her body. Once Mrs. Mallard stopped crying, she realized she would be able to live a life for herself, not a life governed by a man. In this paper, I will argue that Mrs. Mallard died from the joy of freedom

Mrs. Mallard’s initial reaction to her husband’s death is the expected reaction; “She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister’s arms” (Chopin 653). Of course she is upset upon hearing her husband died. She loved him and up until now her whole life has completely revolved around him. However, once the grief has passed, she finally has the chance, perhaps her first chance, to think about herself, ““She said it over and over under her breath: “free, free, free!”” (Chopin 654).

As i was reading “ The Story of an Hour”, I realized it was very in depth. I found the story to be deep because love and marriage could be a powerful thing. But, could also be easily dismissed. A range of emotions: feeling of grief, lost of partnership, independence, freedom.

Kate Chopin’s "The Story of an Hour" written in 1984 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. 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.

The short story, “The Story of an Hour,” written by Kate Chopin, is about a lady with a heart problem named Mrs. Mallard. In the story, Mrs. Mallard’s sister, Josephine, and her husband’s friend, Richard, have to break the news that her husband has just been killed in a train accident. After Mrs. Mallard has the news broken to her, she felt sad and abandoned. Then Mrs. Mallard starts to feel something she hadn’t felt in a while, freedom. She begins to feel a conflict with herself, as this feeling creeps up to her.