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

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.

In “The Story of an Hour,” Kate Chopin focuses on the idea of freedom throughout the story. Mrs. Mallard is a lonely wife who suffers from heart trouble. She is told by her sister Josephine and her husband’s friend Richards that her husband has passed away in a train accident. She locks herself in a room expecting to be devastated, but instead feels freedom. Later, she exits her room and her husband walks through the door, causing her to die of a heart attack. Chopin uses this story to demonstrate that too much freedom is often dangerous.

In Kate Chopin’s short story, “The Story of an Hour,” Louise privately imagines the forbidden pleasure of independence. When Louise’s sister Josephine informs her of her husband Brently’s death, she reacts with violent grief. Once alone however, Louise realizes that she is now an independent woman and it excites her. As time passes, Louise begins to pray that this new independent lifestyle lasts forever. However, when Brently unexpectedly returns from a trip, this newfound freedom disappears and leads to Louise’s untimely death. A major theme in this short story is the idea of the forbidden joy of independence which Louise briefly experiences. Throughout several excerpts of this short story, the joy of independence possess Louise and gives

In the story of an hour, Kate Chopin has depicted a tone amongst many wives of the late nineteenth century. Women, by this time, were very far from the nineteenth amendment to the Constitution or the “Women’s Suffrage Movement.” What this explains is that women of this era are still being undermined by society, neither unequal nor independent from that of the voice of the masculine gender. This treatment towards women was a domestic one. Many betrothed women of this timeframe were unhappy in their marriages, due to a culture that shunned the idea of a free and empowered woman. The underlying meaning that Kate Chopin wanted to convey in The Story of an Hour, is that woman of the late nineteenth century were repressed, unhappy, and imprisoned in their marriages.

Mark Cunningham’s critical argument looked at Louise’s “new understanding of her marriage and her supposed sudden freedom from that marriage as well as the position of women in the late nineteenth-century” (Cunningham, 49). However, I feel it’s important to study the background surrounding why this marriage may have been so straining on Louise’s life. Chopin’s short story makes many references

Mrs. Louise Mallard, the main character from Kate Chopin’s short story “The Story of an Hour,” is not the housewife that those around her assume. Although she loves her husband, she is shocked and overwhelmed by the sense of new-found freedom that accompanies her husband’s alleged death. Mrs. Mallard represents the patriarchal control over women of her time, as well as the postulation that a woman could not maintain her independence. Chopin uses Louise Mallard’s reactions to her husband’s supposed death, her subsequent untimely death, and the speculations of those around her to personify the dependent nature that was imposed on women of the turn-of-the-century.

A woman's role in society is ever-changing. For many year's women were subjected to strict societal norms, ideals and were defined by the male figures in their lives. Gender roles and relations still make themselves apparent in society's perpetuating inequality, whether through traditional beliefs adapted over the years or societal norms embedded into all aspects of life, including literature. As time passes, women have striven to set their own standards and are now able to stand unapologetically tall in society. Many different factors have aided in allowing women to rebel and evolve against conformity, one significant element being literature. More specifically, literature that breaks barriers for women in allowing their portrayal to defy degrading roles and literature that brings the expectations of women in society to light.

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

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.

This happiness is shown in what Louise said to herself in her room after her husband’s death. “Free! Body and soul free!’ she kept whispering.”(Chopin) This shows how incredible it was to Louise that her life would be her own after having to do as her husband wished, and how excited she was to be free. In addition, when Louise was thinking about her husband’s funeral, “She saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely.” (Chopin). This quote portrayed the fact that Louise was more excited to be free than she was sad about her husband’s funeral. She was happy she was free, even though she thought her husband had just past

“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.

Imagine this: the husband you have spent a majority of your time with suddenly dies in a train crash. Everyone expects you to be devastated, to go completely insane. No one arounds you knows how to break the news that the man you love is gone. If only they knew, though, that you did not actually love him at all. This is what happened to Mrs. Mallard, the main character of ¨The Story of an Hour¨. When she found out her husband was no longer alive, she had never been more excited. She was excited to finally be free and on her own, so when she heard that he was actually unharmed, it did not sit well with her. Because the woman felt so trapped in her marriage, she died from shock and sadness by the sight of her alive husband. This surprising story deals with two types of irony: situational and dramatic, which I will be breaking down.