Story Of An Hour Analysis Essay

Louise Mallard began to grief her husband’s death in Josephine’s arm. When alone in the room the sobbing had stopped. She then reveals great joy as Louise realizes

The definition of freedom, according to Dictionary.com, is the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint. In the declaration of independence, American citizens are given freedom of speech, freedom of religion, right to vote, right to a fair trial, and freedom of assembly to name a few. These rights that we have enable us to form communities and have our voices heard regarding issues that negatively impact us as a whole or prevent us from moving towards a brighter and hopeful future because that is what freedom is. It is about hope. It is about being your own person without hesitation, without judgement. “The Story of an Hour” written by Kate Chopin and “A&P” written by John Updike encounter two very

I chose to do my analysis on the short story, “The Story Of An Hour”. The themes I see in this story is the quest for identity/coming of age, romantic/love, birth, and death. It is about a woman named Mrs. Mallard. She was an elderly lady and had a heart complications. Her sister Josephine and her husband’s friend Richards had to break the news to her that her husband, Brently Mallard, has been killed in a railroad disaster. Mrs. Mallard was sorrowful and sobbed in her sisters’ arms. After her grieving process, she wanted to be alone, so she went to her room and locked herself in. As she sat in the window, she seem to be calmer and accepted her husband’s death. She was not distressed of what had happened. She began to say the words “free” and her heart

The “Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin is a short story about a woman who struggles with the oppression she experiences at the hands of her husband and her secret desire for independence. Louise Mallard didn’t realize how upset she was in her marriage until she found out about her husband’s death. She grieves for only a short period of time before mentally creating a new life for herself. This new life she envisions help her to see the silver lining in a tragic event. Chopin uses symbolism throughout the story to portray the theme of a quest for identity.

On the other hand, the open window that Mrs. Mallard looked out of was the representation of her freedom to starting a new life. She is was excited to see her freedom out the window she could smell,” the delicious breath of rain”(720). Which symbolic to the calming sensation knowing soon the sunshine will come. She officially had control of what she wanted in life so she felt as if, “Spring days, and summer days, and all sorts of days that would be her own”(721). The spring is a representation of how beautiful change is and how warm weather brings happiness. Also, is a representation of new life that also comes out during the spring time. The window is providing Mrs. Mallard with a dream of her own her road to official independence.”There would be no one to live for her during those

In Kate Chopin’s, “The Story of an Hour,” a whirlwind of events occur in a short amount of time. The story begins with the protagonist, Louise Mallard, being told that her husband has died from a railroad disaster. She grieves for a while and then goes upstairs to her room. She stares out an open window for a while until she realizes that she is finally free. She is liberated by her newfound freedom, but unfortunately, Mrs. Mallard’s freedom is snatched away from her in the matter of moments because, surprise, Mr. Mallard was nowhere near the railroad disaster. Once Mrs. Mallard discovers that Mr. Mallard is alive, she dies from a heart attack. This dynamic short story takes place in only an hour. One may ask how could this short of a story can have such an expansive array of events occur, but the answer is simple. The plot of “The Story of an Hour” is able to unfold quickly due to Chopin’s use of irony, her heavy use of symbolism, and the time period in which she wrote.

“The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, is a short story of overwhelming events that all lead up to Louise Mallard’s death. Louise Mallard, who has heart problems, is told by her sister Josephine and her husband’s friend Richard that her husband has died in a railroad accident only to soon find out that her husband is alive and did not have any involvement in the accident. Josephine and Richard both know of Louise’s heart trouble so, “great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible” the news of Mr. Mallard’s death (1). Louise spent no time being in denial with the news; she immediately sobbed into her sister’s arms. Shortly after, Louise leaves her sister and Richard to be alone with her feelings in her room.

In "Girl" by Jamaica Kincaid, an older person, who perhaps appears to be the young girl's mother, starts to demonstrate to a young girl how to do certain tasks and then later seems to be scolding the girl because she, the mother, believes that the child is growing up to be a "slut" (355). In "The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin, the author writes about how a repressed Mrs. Louise Mallard, who learns about the alleged death of her husband, finally breaks free from being controlled by him, but at the end, her husband comes back home unharmed and Louise dies along with her relinquished freedom. Both texts revolve around the loss of sense of freedom of Mrs. Louise Mallard and the girl. Although the characters come from different cultures and are

“The Story of an Hour” follows an eventful hour of a particular day in the life of Louise Mallard during the late 19th century. Over the span of an hour, Mrs. Mallard receives the news that her husband had died in a terrible railroad accident and she goes through the typical mourning stage that most people do when they find out a love one is lost. But within a few minutes of being alone Mrs. Mallard starts repeating, “Free! Body and soul free!” From this moment she begins to envision a life on her own where she does not have to live for anyone, especially not a husband, she can do what she wants and follow her dreams. She’s more confident and ecstatic about her new life and finally goes to be with her sister again but in doing that, Brently Mallard, her husband comes home and indirectly kills her.

“The Story of an Hour” written by Kate Chopin, depicts an emotionally imprisoned widow that finds freedom in her husband’s death through the use of imagery that describes the present, her future, and grief. Louise learns of her husband’s death from her sister. As she isolates herself from her family, she sees “the delicious breath of rain was in the air”. “There were patches of blue sky showing here and there through the clouds that had met and piled one above the other in the west facing her window.”

Being a woman has not always come with the freedoms like it does today. Kate Chopin portrays an image of the life of women in the nineteenth century in her famous short essay, “The Story of an Hour.” She describes the feelings of a woman after learning about the death of her husband. The woman becomes overwhelmed with emotions, she is upset but at the same time feels a sense of relief. “The Story of an Hour” is a wonderful, highly recommended essay because of how it displays the emotions that were hidden by most women during that time period.

Can Freedom Ever Be Attained? 21st century, a time where most women can make choices and not have the burden of going against social norms and being independent. Unfortunately, this was not always so, and this can be seen in the short stories “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin and “Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway. Both stories involve women handling major changes that are deeply affected by men and the loss of life, while also battling against the common theme freedom and confinement. The stories both use foreshadowing, symbolism and characterization to help enhance the central theme to grab the reader in the short glimpse of their lives and the bitter reality, never truly tasting freedom.

The late nineteenth century short story “Story of an Hour” written by Kate Chopin is an influential story about a young women with a heart condition, Mrs. Mallard who receives the news that her husband had just passed away in a train wreck. While receiving this news she soon becomes overwhelmed and excuses herself upstairs to her bedroom, where her attitude towards the death of her husband drastically changes. Though she is upset about her husband’s sudden death, she realizes she now has something to be joyful about. When she is “facing the open window, [in] a comfortable, roomy armchair” (Chopin, 1894, para. 4) she recognizes the importance of her freedom from the confinement of her husband and the future opportunities that await her. Kate Chopin uses symbols and imagery of springtime through the “open window” to express the feelings Mrs. Mallard known as Louise experiences.

In today’s society, more marriages are ending in divorce than ever before. Could this be because marriage has proven to be an oppressive institution? In Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour,” it is evident that the protagonist, Louise, feels chained to her husband Brently through marriage and yearns to be free of him. The theme that marriage is repressive and infringes upon the freedom of those restrained by it is developed throughout the story by the internal struggle Louise experiences, the way Chopin characterizes Brently, and the symbolism she uses to express Louise’s feelings.

“The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin describes an hour in the life of an oppressed woman bound by marriage in the nineteenth century. It is only when Mrs. Mallard’s husband dies in a sudden railroad accident that she realizes she is no longer tied together by the ropes of man. At first she is shocked and horrified by the tragedy, for she did say “she had loved him – sometimes” (Chopin). However, once the tears were wept, a new bountiful life of freedom was now in the eyes of Mrs. Mallard. Chopin uses imagery, third person omniscient point of view, and concepts of relief and joy in “The Story of an Hour” to convey the true feelings of Mrs. Mallard as she is freed from the strenuous and unjust oppression of women due to society’s expectation of gender roles.