Kylie Alexandra Fink
Mr. Broome
Honors English II
May 17, 2017
The Thought Provoking Story of Kate Chopin “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
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Another idea was that a woman should always look her best. A woman should keep her home in perfect condition for her husband. Also in magazines, art drawings were showed of women caring for all the needs of their children and husbands. (Aslan 1-3, Turner1) If Louise was so unhappy why would she not get a divorce? In the 1800’s it was socially unacceptable for women to get a divorce. Louise would lose everything if she divorced her husband. Males in the 1800’s would get everything if the couple divorced. The only way for a wife to get anything after a marriage was for a husband to die. Women did not have any rights, and feminism was not a common idea. (Though the women in those times did have it a little better than their ancestors.) After the divorce, men would get the children and his property. Since her husband died, Louise would get his property and all the money. She could now go, travel, and have all the adventures that she dreamed of without the worry of someone at home waiting for her or holding her back. Louise would not have to be suppressed by Brentley. She would not have to do chores or cater for all the needs of her husband. (Stenley 1&2) With all the thoughts of happiness in her head after her husband died one would think she would have a mental problem. If a person look close enough they would see in her psychological state she confused the barrier of between reality and
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.
When Kate Chopin, wrote "The Story of An Hour", she probably thought the stories setting should take place somewhere around the 1890s. During this time period it was probably normal for women to not have as much freedom as they do in todays society. In "The Story of An Hour" the woman protagonist, Mrs. Mallard who upon hearing about the news of her husbands death endures grief and sadness and she even starts crying and runs off to bedroom. Her sadness was really only a short amount of time because after a while of looking outside her window she
IN "The Story of an Hour," Kate Chopin tells the tale of a woman who learns of her husband's untimely death, seeks solitude in which she proceeds to reflect upon this incident and its implications, has a life-altering/-giving epiphany, and proceeds to have all of the fresh hope and elation that had accompanied this experience dashed when her supposedly dead husband appears alive and well at her door, thereby inducing her sudden death. Read in isolation, it seems as if this is merely a detailed account of one woman's reaction to the death of her husband and, on a basic and concrete level, it is. However, to grasp Chopin's intended themes and to gain a true appreciation and
I want to analyze the short story of Kate Chopin. Kate Chopin born on February 8th, 1850 in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. And she died on August 22th, 1904 in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. She was a U.S. author of short stories and novels based in Louisiana. She wrote many short stories such as The Story of an Hour, The Storm, Desiree’s Baby, and A Pair of Silk Stockings. I choose The Story of An Hour because it is very interesting story. The Story of An Hour published on December 6th, 1894.
The Story of an Hour," by Kate Chopin is the tragic story of a woman whose newfound position as a widow gives her strength. She develops a sense of freedom as she embraces her husband's death as an opportunity to establish her own identity. The tragedy is when her newfound identity gets stripped away as the appearance of her husband reveals that he is still alive. The disappointment from this tragedy kills her with a heart attack symbolizing the many conflicts that she faced throughout the story. The conflicts the character faces within herself and society show that the social norms for women were suppressing to their strength and individuality as human beings.
Kate Chopin’s The Story of an Hour is a brilliant short story of irony and emotion. The story demonstrates conflicts that take us through the character’s emotions as she finds out about the death of her husband. Without the well written series of conflicts and events this story, the reader would not understand the depth of Mrs. Mallard’s inner conflict and the resolution at the end of the story. The conflict allows us to follow the emotions and unfold the irony of the situation in “The Story of an Hour.”
This paper will examine the life of Kate Chopin along with her writing style and theme in The Story of an Hour and The Awakening. Chopin has a unique writing style that shows throughout all of her works. Her works carry similar themes that include: women in search of independence, negative views of marriage, and self-assertion. While reading Chopin’s work, the reader will conclude that Chopin’s writing is very inspiring because she incorporates obstacles that she faced throughout her life. With this technique used, it is easier for the reader to connect with Chopin on a personal level while reading her works.
When first reading Kate Chopin's "Story of an Hour," one may not typically be surprised at its ending, write it off as one of those creepy "back from the dead" horror stories and forget about it. There is more to this story than simply horror. The author is making a very strong, however subtle, statement towards humanity and women's rights. Through subtle symbolism, Kate Chopin shows how marriage is more like a confining role of servitude rather than a loving partnership.
Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” is a short story about a woman with a heart condition named Louise Mallard, who after hearing the news of her husband’s death, retreats to her bedroom to celebrate her freedom from his “…powerful will bending hers with
Everyone who reads a story will interpret things slightly different than the person who reads it before or after him or her. This idea plays out with most every story, book, song, and movie. These interpretations create conflict and allow people to discuss different ideas and opinions. Without this conflict of thought there is no one devoting time to debate the true meaning of a text. Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” tells about a woman who is informed of her husbands death, processes the emotions, and becomes content with this new status as an individual person – losing all the expectations that society expected her to live by within a marriage. This story however is written in a way that the reader has the final interpretation of the text. There are many different interpretations on not only the reason for the main character’s death, but also on the overwhelming emotions that she faces.
Kate Chopin “The Story of an Hour” is a tragic short story, the author Kate Chopin seem to have been making a very strong statement about women’s rights at that time.. Mrs.Mallard goes through so much in just one hour. She goes from being happy to sad, trapped to free and to alive and dead. The story take place in the 1800s where women didn't have the rights that they do now and Kate Chopin shows how life for some women were back than. From being trapped in house to family and friends assuming she was happy in her marriage.
Kate Chopin's The Story of an Hour is a great story that conveys an important message about life and how difficult it can be for women, particularly in previous centuries. Back in the late 1800s and early 1900s, when this story was written, women were quite often mistreated and had to live restricted lives that lacked opportunity. Generally, women weren?t liberated during the 19th century. Traditionally, women did all the hard work in the house and had no opportunities to make their own living or pursue their own personal dreams. Kate Chopin does an outstanding job of portraying a woman living in these times. The Story of an Hour is a good depiction of the unspoken repression that women faced in the past. Kate Chopin's major theme of the
Kate Chopin is the author of many short-stories and novels. Her short story, “The Story of an Hour,” is about a woman named Mrs. Louise Mallard with a fragile heart that suddenly and unexpectedly loses her husband in a train accident. Throughout the story, Mrs. Mallard learns to embrace the accident because for her it meant she finally obtained freedom from her demanding life that she has been wanting to break away from. Freedom and independence is one of the themes of “The Story of an Hour” and appears in the story when Mrs. Mallard learns that her husband is in a train accident, when she secludes herself from everyone in her room, and when she learns that her husband is actually alive.
Kate Chopin's short story, "The Story of an Hour" is largely about the forms of repression that women were forced to endure during the epoch in which the story was written (1894) and during much of the time that preceded it. During this time period, women quite frequently had to subjugate themselves to the will of their husbands, or to some other man who had a significant amount of control over their lives. Chopin chooses to address this phenomenon in an indirect manner with this particular short story, although she does so in a thematic manner which, of course, is the ""¦idea that lies behind the story. Every story narrows a broad underlying idea, shapes it in a unique way, and makes the underlying idea concrete" (Clugston 2010, 7.1) The theme that "The Story of an Hour" is based upon is the notion of the liberation of women from the overbearing influence of men. Chopin chooses to illustrate this theme quite dramatically through literary devices of symbolism and metaphor.
After reading “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin the reader can see that the text reveals a major theme about freedom with the use of a few characters, a basic setting, and plot. This text was written to address the crisis of the restricted lives women were forced to live during that time period. In the beginning of the story, the narrator is discussing how they were being careful to break the news of Louis husband’s death because she had a heart problem. In the middle of the text, we learn how the news was accepted. Finally, in the end of the text, the author adds an interesting plot twists that brings the meaning of the story together. Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour,” is the best story because it developed the theme of the loss of freedom can be detrimental through her use of plot, setting, and character.