Story Of An Hour Analytical Essay

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

Kate Chopin’s short story, “The Story of An Hour,” emotionally illustrates the hour in which a young woman with a heart condition finds out her husband has been killed in a mining accident. In the beginning, she grieves over the loss of her husband, but she soon becomes relieved and joyous when she realizes that she is now free. However, her husband returns after having been far from the mines for the day and her heart problems return and she dies. Kate Chopin was an early feminist author and was well acquainted with death after losing many siblings as a child, her husband (who left her a large amount of debt), and her mother with whom she was very close. As a means of therapy, Chopin took up writing and her ideas about feminism and death are very clear. In “The Story of An Hour,” Chopin uses multiple symbols and an allusion to a Greek god to illustrate and support the idea that male oppression harms the souls and lives of women.

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 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.

In Kate Chopin’s 1894 short story The Story of an Hour, a woman processes the announcement of her husband’s death. The story revolves around Louise Mallard, a young, pretty woman who has just received word that her husband, Brently Mallard, died in a train accident. Upon receiving the news from her sister Josephine, Louise immediately bursts into tears, an emotional display that, once spent, prompts her to retreat to her bedroom. After a time, Louise repeats her emotional outburst—this time with excitement at the idea she will be able to live her own life. However, Louise’s joy is cut short when her husband, having been nowhere near the accident, arrives home. Her disappointment is so profound she dies.

In “The Story of an Hour” the main character Louise Mallard suffers from a bad heart, but otherwise, she is young and cute. Louise learned from family members that her husband had just been killed in a railroad disaster. As she grieves alone in her upstairs bedroom, she suddenly is hit with new emotions. She realizes that she did love her husband and he loved her, but what she wants more than anything is to be free. Free to go and do as she pleases without anyone watching over her. Later

`The Story of an Hour' was written in the nineteenth century and during this time highly restrictive gender roles forbade women to live as they saw fit. Kate Chopin presents in her story,

Kate Chopin set the primary precedent of a desired woman representative promoting equal rights. Chopin’s feminist ideology shaped the basis of ¨The Story of an Hour.¨ She encountered hatred and rejection from the patriarchal society since her writings portrayed women as ¨passionate and emancipated¨ (Hicks). Unlike Louise Mallard, Chopin knew the implications of the institution of marriage; however, it did not stop her from pursuing a union with Oscar Chopin. Throughout her lifetime, she had been exposed to the essence of equality of both sexes. Fatherless at the age of four, Chopin was ¨strongly influenced by her mother and her maternal grandmother.

In Mark Twain words, “Sanity and happiness are an impossible combination”, Being sane is defined as someone who is rational and behaves normal. In the selection “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner, Miss. Emily is seen as someone who lacks sanity and is portrayed as an insane woman, but content with her introverted life. On the other hand, we have Mrs. Mallard from “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, who is a married woman but she lacks true happiness in her life. These two selections show that rationality and happiness is an impossible thing to achieve in a world where women are oppressed and beneath men. Secrets are held deep inside them, and in the end no one knows the truth behind them. Furthermore, both of these women shared a common origin of their problem; however, their outlook on life, their actions, and their surroundings are

In her article Kate Chopin’s View on Death and Freedom in The Story of an Hour, Xuemei Wan proposes that Kate Chopin The Story of an Hour expresses birth and death, psychology of Mrs. Mallard, and freedom. The Story of an Hour written by the American woman writer, Kate Chopin (1851-1904) fully shows us the tremendous conflict between life and death among those women who had more self-awareness. Who had less social living space according to the established social norms 100 years ago in a dramatic way. The heroine’s strong desire for freedom and sudden death. This reminds us of the philosophical thought on life and death of Zhuangzi, ancient Chinese thinker, Martin Heidegger, which deconstruct and transcend the conflict between them, and many more. In this essay, I will be critiquing Xuemei Wen article showing the strengths, weaknesses, and notable features.

When someone tries to give you the bad news of your spouse death, but breaks the news down in parts, because of a heart condition that can harm you. The bad news of your husband’s death is it bad, or good? In “The Story of an Hour” Mrs. Mallard gets the news of her husband’s death. She doesn’t know how to handle the news of Brently Mallard’s death. Should she be sad and crying, or be happy and excited. In an hour, Mrs. Mallard expresses her thoughts, feels, and plans she has as a widow. These excitements don’t last long, when she sees her husband at the door of her house. “The Story of an Hour” has a very ironic theme at the end of the story. Kate Chopin the author of this story creates such detail about Mrs. Mallard, that we can get a

“The Story of an Hour” is a (1) fictional story inspired by the outlook and feelings of Kate Chopin, an author of (2) literature, despite the expectations regarding women during the Victorian Era. The (4) short story was originally published in Vogue Magazine in 1894. Louis Mallard, the main character, is used throughout the story to produce numerous (8) themes that revolve around the Victorian Era. The (55) Victorian Era was characterized by change and development, which included life goals that defined what a typical man and woman’s life should consist of. Chopin, along with the character Louise Mallard, both had different (61) points of view of not only themselves and their roles, but of the roles of women in general.

The focus of the “The Story of an Hour” is on Mrs. Mallard, who is the quaint and seemed to be frail women with a heart condition. Mrs. Mallard is told that her husband was killed in a tragic train accident. As she processes this devastating news, she realizes that she is free from the chains of her marriage. That she can finally be the woman

“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.

“The Story of an Hour” is a very short text, so the author does not have room to develop a complex plot. In the exposition, the reader learn that Mrs. Mallard has a heart problem, so the other characters wanted to be delicate while sharing the news of her husband’s death. The rising action is when Mrs. Mallard’s sister shares the news and Mrs. Mallard responds by weeping and going to her room. The climax occurs when Mrs. Mallard learns that she will be free from the restrictions the “civil law” forces on women at that time. According to the text, “When she abandoned herself a little whisper escaped her slightly parted lips. She said it over and over under her