Story Of An Hour Analysis Essay

Lets say Brently had died that day what was Louise going to do? Its not like she can get a job and take care of her self and theirs two reasons why. One! She was a woman and they didn’t have any rights in those times. Black men were able to vote first than white women. That tells you a lot of how things were back then. The second reason is Louise had a heart condition and one had to be very careful with her. So I guessing she couldn’t do any hard labor or be stress. That’s why I don’t understand her. It might because I am male and I cant really see it from a female point of view. Maybe that’s why I can’t really see why Louise is full of joy because of her husband death. Also another thing I wonder was if she had heart attack because she was happy or sad that Brently was alive? I also wonder if Kate wrote this because she was going through personally?

Chopin's use of language effectively conveys the intensity of the emotions that overcome Louise. Repetition of the word "free" reveals the exaltation Louise experiences in being released from possession by her husband's will. The diction aptly portrays the significance, emotionally and physically, of Louise's transformation. Tumultuously, Louise's bosom, the seat of passion, rose and fell as the "monstrous joy" possessed her. As the elixir of life "courses" through her once weak heart, Louise's "pulses beat fast." When Louise's fancy runs "riot along those days ahead of her", the reader feels the excitement Louise feels. Through the image of Louise as a winged "goddess of Victory", her inner strength from triumph over repression becomes palpable. That strength is reaffirmed in Chopin's use of words that connote potency. Louise has a "clear and exalted perception" of herself.

In the early 19th century, women were oppressed, and marriage was a social status, not a choice. Mrs. Mallard was a wife during 19th Century and her home was where she would spend most of her days. She also suffers from a heart condition. She learns of the tragic news on the first floor of her two story home. Her sister Josephine was the one to tell her “ in broken sentences, veiled hints that revealed in half concealing.”(287) The news was revealed as delicate as possible, due to Mrs. Mallard's heart condition. Mrs. Mallard heard the news, she wept, a sense of grief comes upon her. Once she removed herself from her sister Josephine's arms, she went off to her room. It reads, “ When the storm of grief had spent itself she went away to her room alone. No one to follow her”(287). During this time, women were looked down upon if they were not married. Most women were given away by their

Her husband labels her as crazy and restricts her to a single room and forbids her to do most activities. Her husband demeans and belittles his wife’s condition by dismissing the severity of her depression. The Narrator has no say or control in her relationship. She has no control over the activities she’s allowed to do while in her room so she takes control of the only thing she can, her mind. She soon begins to imagine images within her room and within her wallpaper. The Narrator says, “Life is very much more exciting now than it used to be” because every day she now looks forward to helping the women behind the wallpaper escape. Now that Louise has complete control over her mind, she is beginning to taste freedom, even if she is destroying herself. Because John thinks he’s superior to his wife, he misjudges her condition and ends up making her condition worse by repressing her even

This stereotype is negative, as if having emotions is a bad thing. However, it is the women’s emotions that alters the course of their stories. According to Jamil, Louise has been repressing her emotions for many years to avoid this stereotype and to please her husband. When she looks out the window and sees the spring weather, it causes her to feel joy for the first time in a long time. All of a sudden, a rush of emotion crashes over her, and she discovers her true self (Chopin 15). Jamil contends that emotions are an enormous part of who one is, and without them, life is far harder to endure. This is exactly what happens to Louise. When she thinks that her husband is dead, these emotions return, and she can be her true self (Chopin 15-16). However, Jamil explains that psychological health can affect physical health, and the effect of repressing herself for so long might be a direct cause of Louise’s heart troubles. When she allows herself to feel, her heart pounds strongly and surely, but when she sees her husband again, her heart troubles return. In that moment, she allows herself to succumb to her failing heart. It is a lack of emotion that kills her, not a

After hearing about her husband’s death Louise immediately breaks down and begins to sob as

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.

Louise is a lady that taught Billie Jo’s father at night school (which he had been attending to have as a backup plan in case the farm failed). Louise represents the “light at the end of a dark tunnel”, the hope, that people look for during times when all is lost— when they are in a dark tunnel. The way that Louise helps and brings hope is through her actions and deeds. Firstly, she helps the morale of the family by bringing happiness in Billie Jo’s father, which seems to boost his confidence and joy since the tragic death of Billie Jo’s mother. Secondly, she helps the farm by buying Billie Jo’s father a new mule to assist on the farm, “Daddy bought a second mule with Louise’s help.” (226) Not only Louise’s actions, but Billie Jo’s and her father’s actions are also showing that hope has been restored. Billie Jo is now starting to forgive herself and is beginning to find happiness and joy for the first time since the death of her mother, which she thinks she indirectly caused. This is a form of hope in itself, because it is once again livening the mood of the characters. She shows this by playing the piano, which she had not played since the death, “…and I stretch my fingers over the keys, and I play.” (227) Not only this, but her dad is also finishing the pond to house fish that he had been working on since Ma’s death. This

Louise's characteristics add to the theme of this story in several ways. One of her characteristics is her youth. This characteristic is important because it is symbolic of a fresh, new start at her life of freedom due to the death of her husband.

     I just accepted Louise's reaction to her husband's death, when the most unexpected happens; her husband is actually alive and he enters the room shocking everyone, and Louise especially, as she is shocked to death. The doctors say she died of joy, when the reader knows that she actually died because she had a drams of freedom and could not go back to living under her husband's will again. Then her dreams were shattered yet again due to this terrible man.

In “The Story of an Hour” there is conflict that states why Louise would want to be free; the role of the wife versus the role of the husband. For instance, Louise struggled with her feelings about her marriage for years. Louise thinks "what could love, the unsolved mystery, count for in face of this possession of self-assertion which she suddenly recognized as the strongest impulse of her being" (16). She admits that she did love her husband, but often she did not. On the other hand, the story suggests that her husband was

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.

By the repetition of the words as a reader we come to understand the meaning behind the story and how Louise actually felt towards her husband. The theme of the story is mainly the forbidden joy of independence. Due to that the story was written years ago where women were very dependent to their husbands Louise actual feelings of joy and happiness towards her husband death was forbidden by society during this

When Louise was married, it probably was the time when it was the norm to be a subservient wife to your husband. In "Girl" it was the norm to be a subservient daughter. Both of them were bound within cultural and social norms just as Chopin stated that "...men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature" (49). After learning of her husband's death, Louise later thinks to herself that finally there would be "no powerful will bending hers" which confirms that her husband does control her (49). Meanwhile, in Kincaid's "Girl", the whole text consists of oral instructions told in an assertive manner on how the girl should do certain tasks to be accepted as a proper girl in their society (355). Furthermore, Kincaid's whole text seems to be a dialogue but there are only two lines in which the girl responds: "but I don't sing benna on Sundays at all and never in Sunday school" and "but what if the baker won't let me feel the bread" (355, 356); When she did respond, she was either ignored or reprimanded. In conclusion, these two characters had a person in their lives who made them repress who they really are just so that they would be socially

“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.