Story Of An Hour Literary Analysis

Throughout the story, Chopin adds bits of foreshadowing to hint at the demise of Mrs. Mallard. On the opening page of the story, the first sentence states, “Knowing Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with heart trouble, great care was taken to break her...husband's death” (6). This sentence leads the reader to believe that Mrs. Mallard is already gravely ill. On the final page of the story, Mrs. Mallard argues with her sister, Josephine, who fears that Mrs. Mallard is making herself sick from heartbreak. Mrs. Mallard shouts, “Go away. I am not making myself ill” (8). This foreshadows that she is already making herself sick.

Mallard after her sister tells her the news of her husband is not the common reaction expected when someone suddenly dies. Her reaction quotes, “She did 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” (Chopin 653). This quote indicates the fact that she does not react the way that a spouse would when he or she’s spouse has passed and having the utter feeling of denial. Though uncertain of her own feelings, Chopin begins to describe Mrs. Mallard’s decaying thoughts of her former lifestyle into something more

Mrs. Mallard’s sister expected her to show grief about the death; however, Mrs. Mallard felt that her life seemed better without her husband and she could enjoy it. While Mrs. Mallard finally feels relief, she finds out that her husband did not actually die, this news caused Mrs. Mallard to die. People thought her death occurred due to over excitement, however she actually died because she no longer had freedom. Through these events, Chopin uses naturalistic conflicts to connect readers to Mrs. Mallard. Mrs. Mallard's physical limitations present a naturalistic conflict.

The doubt and misconstruction placed upon the women in the stories is a huge factor in the way their characters develop. Mrs. Mallard's sickness was misdiagnosed by both her family and doctor. They believed she suffered from heart problems but no evidence of this was produced during the story. When Mrs. Mallard was up in her room, her sister, Josephine, was worried that Mrs. Mallard would make herself ill because she was alone and suffering from her husband's death. Chopin gives the reader an insight as to Mrs. Mallard's thoughts by using a third person limited omniscient narrator, and by doing so, allows the reader to understand that Mrs. Mallard's family's ideas of her health were false. Near the end of the story the doctors and Mrs. Mallard's family believe that she has had a heart attack because she was happy to see that her husband was alive, while in actuality, she died because didn't want to live if she had to live with him.

In the psychological lens, the brain is separated into three different parts. The three parts are the superego, the ego, and the id. The superego is the way society expects you to react to different problems and situations. The ego is the conscious decisions that you make. The id is your unconscious desires.

“The Story of an Hour” written by Kate Chopin is about Mrs. Mallard, a lady with heart troubles who is married to Brently Mallard. At the beginning of the story, her husband’s friend Richards and her sister Josephine informed Mrs. Mallard that a railroad accident had killed her husband. After she had received the news, she then went by herself in her room alone (Chopin 337). The story then goes on to say, “When she abandoned herself a little whispered word escaped her slightly parted lips. She said it repeatedly under her breath: “free, free, free!”

She was heartbroken, to begin with, but realizing that between her husband and her there was not much love and their marriage had already been falling apart since the beginning made her mixed emotions that she was feeling a change. She accepted that her husband had passed away but when Chopin says "she did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance." and most women do not tend to react the same way that she did but because most women did not have to go through what she did. Times were different but that still does not change the fact that her husband had to leave her at home keeping her as a housewife. That made her feel lonely and sad, which was affecting her heart trouble making it worse. When they find out that after all her husband was fine and he had not passed away Mrs. Mallard was in the room looking out the window, not knowing yet that her husband was still alive, Chopin says "when the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease of the joy that kills." (Chopin 2). She died happy knowing that her husband was gone. Mrs. Mallard wanted to be independent women but could not which was why she was very happy to know that now she was free to become that independent woman she has been wanting to be. She finally had freedom because her husband never made it on time to tell her that he was fine and that

Kate Chopin’s short story “The Story of an Hour” shows the theme of freedom (through the loss and gain of a husband) thought her work. The Story of an Hour, focuses on Mrs. Mallard gaining her freedom and losing it all within the hour. This transpires do to a misunderstanding after a train crash, where upon learning that her husband has died, Mrs. Mallard discovers that she may know live the life that she wishes to. Up until the point that Mr. Mallard walks through the door completely fine. Chopin use irony, symbolism and conflict to show how gaining freedom in any form and having it takin away can change one’s self.

When it is revealed that she has “heart trouble”, her sister uses extreme caution when breaking the news about the death of Mrs. Mallard’s husband. Chopin makes use of certain things in the short story where things can be taken literally and figuratively. Mrs. Mallard’s heart condition can be looked at literally and figuratively because Chopin incorporates it as both a physical and symbolic problem. Mrs. Mallard did have mixed feeling about her marriage and the lack of freedom that she had. When Mrs. Mallard realizes that she has this

One theme that resonates through the stories is a glimpse of false freedom. In “The Story of an Hour” Mrs. Mallard is given the news of her husband passing, which after a brief sense of grief, Mrs. Mallard starts to see that she is finally free from her oppressive relationship, that had lost its spark, with her deceased husband. This can be seen when she whispers under her breath “free, free, free!” (Chopin 49).

Mallard does not feel guilty about not loving her husband due to the fact that he is already gone. Because of all these new feelings and emotions that she is experiencing she starts to form a identity. She does not have to be this perfect wife anymore, because she is free. She can finally come out of her shell. Kate Chopin creates this for the reader in order for the audience to not view Mrs. Mallard as a weak character, but now as a actual person. The story goes deeper into making Mrs. Mallard a actual person that she stated thinking of her future with a new life she has found. The story does this by saying “She breathed a quick prayer that life might be long . It was only yesterday she had though with a shudder that life might be long.” Now that she could live for herself and not her husband it made her want to become healthier. Being forced into playing a boring, timid, obedient wife made her not see the point in life. She was content with the fact of dying young due to her heart problems, rather than live a long life being the woman her husband wanted her to be. The ironic part about it is that she was viewed as a weak character. But everyone thinks she dies because of her heart condition. But actually it was because as soon as she saw her husband alive she did not want to go back to being the ‘weak’ person her husband wants her to be.

Some of the women at some points in their lives are tripped by their marriage. The story of an Hour, by Kate Chopin is a story about a women who is sad at first when she hear the news of her husband’s death feels release when she realizes that she is free from her marriage and finally dramatically died of shock because of seeing her husband alive. From the story it is clear that there are many objects that are actually important symbols. In the Story of anHour two of the most important symbols are the heart trouble that represents unhappiness in a marriage and the open window that represents freedom. What is more, both symbols help to illuminate that marriage in the 19th century results in repression as well as a loss of freedom and man and

In Kate Chopin’s short story “The Story of an Hour”, is in the perspective of Mrs. Mallard which takes place in the 1890s. She struggles with identity because of her calamitous relationship with her husband. After hearing the news of her husband’s death, everything starts to change for her within an hour. The author illustrates the effects of freedom.

Mrs. Mallard suffers from a heart condition; thus, her sister Josephine gently and carefully breaks the news of Mr. Mallard’s death. Richards, a close friend of Mr. Mallard, is the first to discover the news of Mr. Mallard’s railroad tragedy. When hearing the news, Mrs. Mallard collapses in grief into her sister’s arms and retreats upstairs into her room. While her sister begs Mrs. Mallard to open the door, Mrs. Mallard reflects on her feelings. She sinks into an armchair facing an open window noticing the “new spring life, the delicious breath of rain in the air, the peddler in the street crying his ware, the notes of a distant song which someone was singing and countless sparrows twittering in the eaves” (Chopin 556). This signifies a new blossoming life: a life that she would live for herself. Although her husband is loving, and she knows that she will weep again when she sees his dead body, she realizes how confined marriage is for her. Robert Evans, author of “Literary Contexts in Short Stories: Kate Chopin's “‘The Story of an Hour,’” claims that Mrs. Mallard looks forward to a bright future rather than a dreadful life. She becomes aware that she must live alone rather than being imprisoned by marriage. As these thoughts circulate in her mind, she keeps whispering, “Free! Body and soul free!” (Chopin 557).By conveying the story through Mrs. Mallard’s thoughts, Chopin portrays how women actually feel compared to what they present in society. While Josephine and society expect Mrs. Mallard to be grieving, Mrs. Mallard is actually looking forward to the days ahead of her: “Spring days, and summer days, and all sorts of days that would be her own” (Chopin 557). When Mrs. Mallard discovers that the news of her husband’s death was inaccurate, Mrs. Mallard dies from a heart attack after seeing her husband alive. The

Mrs Mallard's awkward attitude after learning of her husband's death establishes an irony- somebody who is really happy in marriage will not enjoy nature in peace and have mixed emotions; the person will feel genuine grief upon hearing of the death of her husband. Here, Mrs Mallard's reaction portrays the extent to which her thirst for freedom was strong. Kate Chopin allows us to visualise the moment that Mrs Mallard is able to shed the bondage of marriage: "free, free, free!." She feels liberated through her husband's death. Much emphasis is laid on her joy upon finding freedom- "there would be no one to live for." The author also points out that "she knew that she would weep again.....folded in death." This only highlights the fact that it is not an expression of love but seems more like a duty that