Social Imagination

And eventually die together as comrades. In the story of an hour the irony is whenever Mrs. Mallard neighbors find out that her husband has died they try to break the news to her softly so that she will not die from her heart condition, but it turns out that her husband never died in a train wreck, so her surprise at seeing him walk in the door alive causes her to die. “

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.

The Story of an Hour, is about Louise Mallard, a woman who has heart trouble. She is informed by her sister that Brently Mallard, her husband has died in a railroad disaster. The story first informs us that Mrs. Mallard, “wept at once

This newfound freedom is in effect a new motivation for Louise. Before experiencing such freedom, Louise was petrified of the thought of life being long; now however, she felt herself wishing, even praying for life to be long. This is evidenced with the following quote, "She breathed a quick prayer that life might be long. It was only yesterday she had thought with a shudder that life might be long." (15). This depicts an ever embracing Louise, finally liberated of the powerful institution of marriage. What is more, this quote serves to further support the idea that Louise indeed felt trapped, she was unhappy and yet, the thought of her husband dying hadn't crossed her mind, only the relief from her own passing was her wish.

While even the doctor proclaims that she died because she was overjoyed to see him alive, it was the opposite that happened. After having experienced a brief moment of what it was like to be free from an oppressed life she just could not bring herself to the thought of living another moment of that repressed life.

In “The Story of an Hour”, the main character Mrs. Mallard, gets news that her husband has been killed in an accident. Her sister delays telling her the news because she has a bad heart, but when she finally tells the news, Mrs. Mallard wants to be left alone. They think that she is very upset by her husband’s death, but

"The Story of an Hour" involves one married couple and when the wife, Mrs. Mallard, hears her husband has died in a railroad disaster she breaks down into tears. Moments after sitting in her chair weeping she begins to feel free to do as she wants now that he has passed on. As she approaches the stairs in her home the door opens and her husband stands alive and well. When the doctors arrive they say Mrs. Mallard ."..had died of a heart disease-of joy that kills." In both of these short stories the wives seem to share the foul qualities of selfishness, unfaithfulness and confusion.

The beginning of the story sets the theme for the whole story. We are told about the heart condition that inflicts Louise. This is significant throughout the story. The heart condition is a symbolic way of describing her thoughts of oppression she felt about her marriage. She was trapped and isolated by the marriage. She felt the need to hide these feelings. Women of her era were supposed to be home and under their husbands command. The story has her going through this journey privately. That is significant in the fact that now in her husband’s passing, she will be alone. She will need to work through things by herself. She will be able to go through the whole process on her own, without being judged and persuaded to feel differently.

“The Story of an Hour” main character is Louise Mallard. Louise is a young women, born during a time where women had to put themselves to the side, and their husbands before them. Though Louise has a heart problem, she finds out news of her husband sudden

Social Imagination, is a term C. Wright Mills coined in 1959, and it talks about our way of making a connection between history and biography and how it interacts with society. He said we can’t imagine our own lives without looking at history, and comparing our own personal experiences. Social imagination can be used to show how someone’s actions can be viewed by someone looking in. When people perform their daily customs or rituals, it seems like a normal thing to do. But someone from another part of the world may look at these rituals and scratch their heads. A big example of this is how some people can get so enveloped in religion and believe that everything has a predetermined outcome, and is for a greater cause. Religion can give them

The Story of an hour written by Kate Chopin is the best short-story because theme, characters, point of view, and style show the attitude that some women felt or may feel regarding marriage being repressive in their life and a longing for freedom. The story opens with Mrs. Mallard’s sister Josephine informing her that her husband has been killed. Because of Mrs. Mallard’s heart condition Josephine and Richards, who is a friend of the family and there to help deliver the news, are concerned with how the news will affect Mrs. Mallard. When Mrs. Mallard hears the news to is over taken with grief and locks herself in her room. While in her room she imagines herself in her new life that is no longer bogged down by her duties as a wife. When

In ‘The story of an hour’, it is set in a house in the 1890s, a time when women had little to no rights. Louise was the typical housewife married to the working man. She was to keep the house in order and have dinner ready when the man got home. This confinement and role Louise had to play gives her “heart trouble”. At first when Mr. Mallard is reported dead, Louise weeps suddenly then goes to her room. She spends the next several minutes looking at how free she is now that her husband is gone. The setting of the story affects the context greatly. If it had taken place in the 21st century, Louise might not

“The Story of an Hour” is a story about a woman, Mrs. Mallard, who comes to find that her beloved husband Brently Mallard was killed in a railroad incident. She mourns of his death in a different way than most would and tries to find a way to get over it. There is a drastic twist to the story when through the front door walks Brently Mallard who had actually not died. Then Mrs. Mallard drops to the floor dead, “of joy that kills”. (The Story of an Hour)

Social imagination can be described as one’s perspective of different concepts in the world. In the text You may ask yourself by Conley, sociology is defined as the “ability to see the connections between our personal experience and the larger forces of history” and proceeds to provide several examples such as religion. An example I have seen would be Christianity, some churches decided to create different branches under Christianity. This happened because they have experienced factors that didn’t make sense for them to continue in the church they were in. And other people would continue to say that these old churches were created long ago and doesn’t make sense to continue to go to them because this generation isn’t like the past generations. Everyone’s personal

“The Story of an Hour” was narrated by the third person. The main character Mrs. Mallard is a housewife and she has a heart trouble. Her Husband dies in a railroad disaster. When she heard the news, “she did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance. She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister’s arms” (Pg 93). She did not cry out immediately, she seems shocked for a while and suddenly break out. From my opinion, she isn’t shocked, she is surprised. She is not just cry for the death of Mr. Mallard, but also for the free life that she’s going to live. She has been trapped and pressed for so long. Husband’s