The Sort Of An Hour Literary Analysis

Mrs. Mallard and Mrs. Sommers have a fair share of intemperance. Mrs. Mallard has come to the realization that the death of her husband is not only a tragic occurrence, but also a beneficial cutting of her previously binding marital ties. The crisis of her grief has given her new insight on her life, and Mrs. Mallard understands that her marriage has limited her independence and freedom. Due to this realization she immediately forgets about the accident and starts to think about her freedom: ““Free! Body and soul free!” she kept whispering” (paragraph 14). It is only an hour after Mrs. Mallard has received the bitter news of her husband’s death. Considering that her husband is gone, instead of mourning, she is overwhelmed with the freedom she

When her husband is killed in a train accident Mrs. Mallard cries, but for different reasons than would be expected. She is sad for her husband’s death, but, moreover, she is overcome with joy. For now she is free. No one recognizes her true emotions because women fall apart when their spouse dies; it’s required. Marriage is portrayed as a life sentence. "She said it over and over again under her breath: ‘free, free, free!' Her pulse beat fast, and the coursing blood warmed and relaxed every inch of her body"(1). Mrs. Mallard was relieved that her husband died for she thought her sentence was over. When she realized that he was still alive, and therefore she was still committed to the marriage, she died from the shock and horror of being trapped.

Mallard is unsatisfied with the limitations of her marriage, however, like Desiree, she is submissive and believes that the end of her duties as a wife will come at the death of her husband and her freedom will be given to her. Also, she experiences little or no feelings because of her marriage. This is shown when Mrs. Mallard, after hearing of her husband’s death, cries, but ironically she senses a moment of euphoric pleasure at the awaiting freedom in her remaining life. “She saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely.” Mrs. Millard is now aware of things that were not noticeable before such as: the beginning of spring, patches of blue sky through clouds, the twittering of sparrows and the smelling of the pending rain, which may signify the nature of her freedom. Mrs. Mallard would now be able to live her life outside the home and find her identity.

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

When first reading Kate Chopin's "Story of an Hour," one may not typically be surprised at its ending, write it off as one of those creepy "back from the dead" horror stories and forget about it. There is more to this story than simply horror. The author is making a very strong, however subtle, statement towards humanity and women's rights. Through subtle symbolism, Kate Chopin shows how marriage is more like a confining role of servitude rather than a loving partnership.

She won't have to live a life trying to prove something to her husband, she will be able to live her life the way she wants. She won't be chained to her husband any longer, she will be a free woman pursuing the life she wants to live, not the life her husband wants her to live. Freedom is an ecstatic feeling for Mrs. Mallard but will soon be followed by her death. When her husband walks into that door her heart stops. Some may say it’s out of happiness, some may say its out of shock, or others may say it is because all the of thoughts and the feeling of freedom came to a sudden and frightful halt in that very moment in

I think Mrs. Mallard felt trapped in her marriage, a marriage where communication no longer existed. I believe this caused her to feel very alone and restless in her marriage. In the late nineteenth century, women basically had little or no rights. It was thought that women’s sole purpose in society was to marry, have children, and to care for their family and household. Women of this era were not allowed to satisfy their own wants and desires. Therefore, we can assume that Mrs. Mallard got married at a young age. This fact, along with the crumbling of her marriage caused her to feel lost in a world where she knew not even herself. The fact that she was unable to experience life for herself resulted in her yearning desire for independence. These explanations contributed to Mrs. Mallard’s overwhelming enjoyment of her newfound freedom.

With the death of her husband came her ultimate freedom. This marks a very important and surprising shift in the tone. The dismal and gloomy tone shifts to this sense of liberation. Louise continuously mutters the words “free, free, free!” and her pulse quickens.

Mrs. Mallard felt sad about her husband’s death as he was loving and always being nice to her. She felt depleted but after a while she realized that now she is alone and she can live for herself and he more independent. She can do whatever she wants with no one to stop her that thought made her very happy and

It was evident she wore a mask due to her mixed emotions over his death. She cried in her sister’s arms, in her room, and then eventually she realised what this meant for her. “ She said it over and over under her breathe: ‘free, free, free!’” She hoped to be free of her boring comfortable life. She wasn’t delighted, she, instead, was sad and tired.

In the midst of her grieving, Mrs. Mallard pictures the time that is to come, when she will be able to make all of her own decisions and will be given the freedom to live her life as she pleases. Suddenly, she feels relieved more than she is upset. “She knew that she would weep again when she saw the kind, tender hands folded in death…but she saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely (Booth 307). Her desire for freedom overcame the despair of her husband’s death.

As the story begins, Mrs. Mallard is just told the news of her husband dying in a railroad accident. She is not paralyzed by grief with the inability to accept the news; she wept suddenly. She became overwhelmed with this feeling that began to possess her. The feeling was one of living for no one but herself in the years to come. There would be no one trying to impose their will onto her, and she welcomed that. Mrs. Mallard, at first, is extremely grief-stricken but soon realizes the pleasures of independence.

Mallard thinks to herself about all of the possible opportunities she comes to a point of insight about her life to come. She is given the news about her husband and in response causes her to analyze what on Earth is going on and eventually causing herself to rejoice on her newfound freedom (Deneau 211). She goes through a metamorphosis and he finds herself to beaming with emotions she would not have expected to feel in such a situation (Jamil 215). Suddenly she can see things more clearly than she had before about life. Before, she was an empty vessel, that has to conform to how the social norm is, having her emotions subdued, and had no excitement for the next day. Now, instead of living a life filled with emptiness she finds her life to be more valuable with her this freedom. She has a sense of independence that blossoms from within, as she thinks for her own and not for anyone else (Jamil

Next, Mrs. Mallard was a woman who suffered from the times where women were treated with less value and importance. She lost her own life because rejoice at her husband’s tragedy. Her uncontrollable desire to be free made her become a frivolous woman, who let his personal longing’s end with his own life. When she realized that her husband was alive all his plans vanished. Her happiness was a temporary happiness which lasted less than an hour.