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The Story Of The Hour Essay examples

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The Story Of The Hour, by Kate Chopin, is about woman who struggles with oppression brought on by her husband and her secret desire for freedom. Mrs. Mallard doesn’t know how truly unhappy she is until she is told that he has died in train accident. The story is limited to a third-person point of view, but is not short on drama thanks to the structure and style of Chopin’s writing. Her theme of oppression is reveled by the irony of the story, in which she discovers a sense of freedom quickly after her husbands death. Chopin uses symbolism to emphasis this newly found feeling. The main character Mrs. Louise Mallard is a very easy to relate to. The structure and style that Chopin uses in The Story Of The Hour, is used …show more content…

Mrs. Mallard loses her husband, and shortly after receiving the news she finds her self relieved, She whispers, “Free, free, free!”. (70) You would expect her to be in morning, instead she seams to be uplifted by the idea that she no longer has to cater to her husband’s desires , she can do as she pleases. The author explains it as a “monstrous joy that held her.”(70) There is also irony in the fact that her husband didn’t really die, “He had been far from the scene of the accident, and did not even know there had been one.” (70) When Mr. Mallard walks through there door Mrs. Mallard is so shocked that it cause her already weak heart to stop. The doctors called it “joy that kills.” (70) The sense of irony that is used through out the story is what makes it so entertaining. One of the major themes of The Story Of An Hour is oppression brought on by marriage. When the story was written, in 1891, women were view as possessions. They were expected to cook, clean, have and care for children, as well as sever their husbands every whim. Women were not a loud to fulfill their own wants and their needs only came second to their husbands. Though it does not seem that that Mrs. Mallard husband was abusive since she describes his hands as kind. (70) Yet she hints that her husband had a powerful presence , which he used to forced his will on her. She says, :“There would be no one to

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