Structure provides guidance to the reader throughout a short story. Kate Chopin uses structural techniques to enhance “The Story of an Hour” from beginning to end. She follows formal structure to a certain degree, but occasionally strays to actual structure. Upon analysis of the organization of Chopin’s story, the reader understands the powerful meaning that is expressed in such a short piece. Initially, a short story begins with an exposition. This is the laying out of important background information, characters, and setting. Chopin’s story is only a few short paragraphs in length, so her exposition is almost overlooked. However, she does provide one detail that is essential to appreciating Mrs. Mallard. Louise is described as needing …show more content…
Continuing, Chopin provides the crisis to aid in the structure of “The Story of an Hour.” The crisis is the initiation of tension and provides the turning point in a story. Mrs. Mallard’s reaction to the news is considered the crisis in this story. Upon hearing of her husband’s death, Louise “instantly grasps it” (Shmoop) and locks herself in her room to cry. The majority of widows would reject the announcement and insist that their husbands would be coming home any second. Louise proves to be an “unusual widow” (Shmoop), which drives the story to a unique situation. Since Mrs. Mallard acts like this, readers begin to ponder the intentions of her and the initial vulnerability she possesses. Chopin uses the crisis to lead up to the climax. While readers are questioning Louise, Chopin sneaks in the unusual climax and shocks them. Finally, readers reach the climax. Chopin wonderfully delivers a climax that strikes readers and may be considered disturbing. The purpose of a climax is to declare a high point and reveal any acceptance. In “The Story of an Hour” acceptance is an understatement. Mrs. Mallard finds herself declaring freedom and feeling relief, by the death of her husband. She no longer dreads her long years to come, but instead welcomes them with open arms. Her sickening feeling of victory confirms her anticipation for life after her husband’s death. She is “drinking in a very elixir of life” (Chopin, 294) that comes with
At the beginning of Kate Chopin’s short story, “The Story of an Hour” the young, yet physically frail protagonist, Mrs. Mallard, is tactfully informed of her husband’s recent demise. Immediately after receiving the grim news, she makes it perfectly clear how she feels about the circumstances. Mrs. Mallard “…wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister’s arms” and subsequently isolated herself inside of the privacy of her bedroom. Reflecting on the events alone, she displays a welling of despair; however Mrs. Mallard notices that, unlike her husband, the world outside of her bedroom window appears vivid and alive. When cogitating about her external observations, and dissolving her finite trepidation, Mrs. Mallard comes an epiphany:
The short story The Story of an Hour, by Kate Chopin, describes a woman conflicted with the death of her husband and her outlook on life after his assumed passing. Through the story, Chopin shows the transformation of Mrs. Mallard from that of an ordinary wife to that of a woman cherishing her newfound freedom. Although Mrs. Mallard is deeply saddened at the news of her husband’s passing, she finally begins to feel a sense of relief and witnesses what it means for her as a woman. Just as she begins to fully cherish her life, she is horrified at the sight of her “dead” husband’s return and proceeds to perish. Through the use of imagery and syntax, Chopin illustrates the interchanging psychoanalytic perspective of an individual following a personal loss.
The story of an hour by Kate Chopin introduces us to Mrs. Mallard as she reacts to her husband’s death. In this short story, Chopin portrays the complexity of Mrs. Mallard’s emotions as she is saddened yet joyful of her loss. Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” argues that an individual discover their self-identity only after being freed from confinement. The story also argues that freedom is a very powerful force that affects mental or emotional state of a person. The story finally argues that only through death can one be finally freed.
Kate Chopin’s The Story of an Hour is a brilliant short story of irony and emotion. The story demonstrates conflicts that take us through the character’s emotions as she finds out about the death of her husband. Without the well written series of conflicts and events this story, the reader would not understand the depth of Mrs. Mallard’s inner conflict and the resolution at the end of the story. The conflict allows us to follow the emotions and unfold the irony of the situation in “The Story of an Hour.”
In "The story of an Hour," Kate Chopin reveals the complex character, Mrs. Mallard, In a most unusual manner. THe reader is led to believe that her husband has been killed in a railway accident. The other characters in the story are worried about how to break the news to her; they know whe suffers from a heart condition, and they fear for her health. On the surface, the story appears to be about how Mrs. Mallard deals with the news of the death of her husband. On a deeper level, however, the story is about the feeling of intense joy that Mrs. Mallard experiences when she realizes that she is free from the influences of her husband and the consequences of
Within, “The Story of an hour”, Kate Chopin portrays the reaction of Mrs. Mallard to her husband’s deaths a disconsolate then eventual mercurial tone. At the beginning of the story, the mood and tone were despair and disconsolate. Not only was Mrs. Mallard feeling grief over her lost, but Chopin uses pathos to effect and relate the audience to a grief feeling as well.
Most stories have more than one conflict, some bigger than others, but all important as a story progressives to the very moment everything clicks and comes together. After that point, the story starts to wind down, lose ends are tied, and the reader gets the satisfying feeling of a happy ending. The Story of an Hour is not your typical short story; but is similar to others in the way that conflicts are the leading force behind a short story. This story starts with Mrs. Mallard finding out any wife’s worst news and realizing it is the best news she has ever heard. Within the short hour of the announcement, the news that was going to save her, ended up killing her. The internal conflicts Mrs. Mallard faces in Chopin’s The Story of an Hour are subtle, but lead to a resolution that makes the reader question if they believe the author or not.
In Kate Chopin's short story "The Story of an Hour," there is much hatred. The first hatred detected is in the way that Louise reacts to the news of the death of her husband, Mr. Mallard. Before Louise's reaction is revealed, Chopin turns to how the widow feels by describing the world according to her outlook of it after the bad news. Louise is said to "not hear the story as many women have heard the same." Rather, she accepts it and goes to her room to be alone. Now the person reading starts to see the world through Louise's eyes, a world full of new life.
Although true to its name regarding length, “The Story of an Hour,” written by Kate Chopin published in the eighteen-hundreds, is a profound story with a deeply tragic implication. At first glance, one may assume that this story is a short and not very complex read, and while that is partially true, “The Story of an Hour” has so much more to offer upon further analysis. The main character, Louise Mallard, is a woman who feels confined by her “love”, Brently Mallard, who acts as the opposing force in this story; and throughout the plot it divulges a tale of freedom, which inevitably gets torn from her very grasp. This alone is evidence enough that among the devices Chopin uses, irony and foreshadowing being two examples; irony is the most important.
Kate Chopin's `The Story of an Hour' is a short yet complex piece describing the feelings of Mrs Mallard. This story is overflowing with symbolism and imagery. The most prominent theme here is the longing for freedom. Chopin focuses on unfolding the emotional state of Mrs Mallard which can be separated into three stages: quickly moving to grief, through a sense of newfound freedom, and finally into the despair of the loss of that freedom.
In “The Story of an Hour,” Kate Chopin describes to her readers a young woman’s response to her husband’s death, or at least his presumed death. The opinions readers will draw from this story will vary from person to person due to personal experiences. The experience and wisdom that I have gained through the trails and tribulations of my life help me to understand, relate, and even despise Mrs. Mallard’s character. On one hand, I feel pity for Mrs. Mallard. I think she felt trapped in a situation that she found to be inescapable. She felt lonely, restless, and did not know how to help herself. Yet, on the other hand, I do not feel sorry for
Throughout the short story, “The Story of an Hour,” Kate Chopin uses imagery and symbolism with several different objects to further the theme and plot. Since the use of symbolism helps bring depth to the story without focusing on too much detail, readers can acquire a more complex idea on what they believe the author tries to convey throughout the story. As Chopin executes an underlying message behind her signs, she also reveals new traits and meanings of her character, Mrs. Mallard. Despite Chopin’s use of several symbols to advance the storyline, the open window exemplifies not only Mrs. Mallard’s realization of her new-found freedom, but her hope and happiness as well.
“The Story of An Hour” focuses on sixty minutes in the life of a young nineteenth-century woman, Mrs. Mallard. Upon learning of her husband’s death, Mrs. Mallard experiences an epiphany about her future without a husband. Her life, due to heart problems, suddenly ends after she unexpectedly finds out her husband is actually alive. Mrs. Mallard’s actions cause the reader to cogitate a hidden meaning weaved into Kate‘s short story. Chopin had an idea that women felt confined in their marriages, and the idea is brought out through the protagonist’s initial reaction, excessive joy, and new perspective of the world following the upsetting news.
To illustrate a difference in an element of fiction, we commence with plot. We can conclude that Chopin has numerous techniques to implement her notions and effectively carry out disparate plots by comparing her two short stories. In “The Story of an Hour” by Chopin, the main character, Louise Mallard, “died of heart disease” at the end of the story (Chopin 181). What this melancholy ending does for this story is create a tone of dreariness. In spite of this method, in “The Storm” by Chopin, at the end of this fearsome storm, “everyone was happy” (Chopin 123). Chopin’s approach to ending this story was unlike her approach to ending “The Story of an Hour.” The pleasing ending of “The Storm” creates a fulfilled, content tone for the story. Demonstrating that two stories transcribed by the same author end in two utterly divergent
Kate Chopin’s impressive literary piece, The Story of an Hour, encompasses the story of an hour of life, an hour of freedom. We must seize the day and live our lives to the fullest without any constraints. This very rich and complete short story carries a lot of meaning and touches a readers feelings as well as mind. Throughout this piece much symbolism is brought about, which only helps us to understand the meaning and success of Kate Chopin’s work. Kate allows her reader to think and allows us to understand the meaning of her story with the different uses of symbols such as heart troubles, the armchair, the open window, springtime, and the calm face and goddess of victory. We eventually realize little by little that Mrs. Mallard