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

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.

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

“The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin makes one ask themselves “why”. The story is a very thought provoking. It is about a woman, Louise, whose husband “died” in a train accident. When she finds out, she thinks of herself as free. Why would she be so happy when she just found out that her husband, Brentley, had died? She then finds out that her husband did not die. She then dies after seeing him. Why would she die after seeing him and seeing that he is alive? One would think, why would Kate Chopin write a story so different? In those days, those types of stories were very frowned upon. The real question is, where did she get

“ A story in which an unhappy wife is suddenly widowed, becomes rich, and lives unhappily ever after.” (“Q and A”) This means that women's back then had no freedom and couldn't do anything. But the author created a character in the story that lived under her husband’s rules, that finally got her happy life, she finally retrieved her freedom and her rights back, after her husband’s death. “she said it over and over under her breath: “ ”Free, Free, free!.”

The story is interesting in the fact that it all happens in the time frame of one hour. Being told in third person we go on an emotional rollercoaster ride all within one hour. This story changes how some people view death. Death normally evokes a sense of sorrow and grief; Kate Chopin shows how death symbolizes joy and independence. In this story, Mrs. Mallard is dealing with various things that people cope with in everyday life. She has heart trouble and seemingly some other health issues as well as dealing with her husband’s demise. Josephine saw the need to make sure that the news was broken to her gently.

There was something coming to her and she was waiting for it, fearfully. What was it? She didn’t know; it was too subtle and elusive to name. But she felt it, creeping out of the sky, reaching toward her through the sounds, the scents, the color that filled the air. Now her bosom rose and fell tumultuously. She was beginning to recognize this thing that was approaching to possess her, and she was striving to beat it back with her will—as powerless as her two white slender hands would have been.

Death is a common concept with common reactions. Society expects the response to the death of a spouse to be one of tears, depression, and years of mourning. However, the first time someone feels relief or happiness at the news of his or her spouse’s death is suddenly viewed as inappropriate, so it must be kept on the inside. The problem is that the reason behind the happiness is often forgotten to be analyzed. What was happening behind closed doors? What was the marriage representing? Mrs. Mallard is an important example of this in Kate Chopin’s The Story of an Hour. She just received the news of her husband’s death and is obliged to weep at once. Nevertheless, once she gets away from the pressure of the onlookers, she finds more happiness than sadness in which she cannot fully express outside of her room. Therefore, the main conflict originates with the gender issues shown throughout the text. These issues include a married woman’s identity loss, entrapment, and feeling of being unloved.

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.

“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

The process of conveying meaningful messages consists of not only seeking the courage and effort to do so, but also the pursuit of attracting audiences through different and creative approaches. For Kate Chopin, the famous author of “The Awakening” and “The Story of an Hour”, her most successful approach was to provide audiences with short stories that proposed meaningful and strong messages. However, Kate Chopin’s powerful feminist images that were present throughout her writing has mostly flaunted Chopin as only a “pioneering feminist writer,” which has led to other messages Chopin incorporated in her writing into being overlooked. In Kate Chopin’s, “The Story of an Hour”, the short story describes the diverse emotions Louise Mallard undergoes after hearing of her husband’s railroad death. The protagonist, Mrs. Mallard, embodies feelings of liberation and freedom as she said, “Free! Body and Soul free!!” (Chopin) Yet, when she discovers her husband was still alive as he stood in the doorway of her house that same day, her shock overwhelms her and Louise suddenly dies of a heart attack. For the most part, this story has been taught solely from a feministic outlook, but if profoundly analyzed, Chopin’s story reveals that the story itself proposes indirect and subtle themes that reflect the social impacts that the developments of technology and time brought upon society during Chopin’s time.

Mrs. Mallard had a different reaction then most. She had a bigger conflict she had to hide. She was “Free, free, free.” Going up into her bed room alone, Mrs. Mallard stared out the window whispering that to herself, “free.” She didn't want any one else to hear her. In the society all woman did was cook,

The story of an Hour” by Katie Chopin, describes the series of emotions Mrs. Mallard undergo. The emotions she felt were not depress or sad, they were something else.

My thought or opinion about the theme of this story would be that Mrs. Mallard didn’t really love her husband and she would be happy to move on since she felt that she was free the reason I think about it like this is because when Mrs. Mallard gets the news from her sister Josephine, She was shocked when she told her about the death of her husband she went to her room and thought about what happened.

The story, “The Story of An Hour” was written by Kate Chopin. She was born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1850. She wrote several stories for kids and adults. The story took place in Mr. Louis’ and Mrs. Mallard’s home in nineteen century. The major characters of the story were Mr. Louis the husband of Mrs. Mallard, Josephine, Mrs. Mallard’s sister and Mr. Richards, Mr. Louis’ friend. The conflicts were between Mrs. Mallard and her husband Mr. Louis.