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The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin Essay

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“The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin

“The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin is very intriguing, not only because of the emotional change Louise Mallard goes through the hour after her husband’s tragic death but also the way Chopin uses irony in the story. During this analysis of “The Story of an Hour” we will discuss the summary, plot, setting, tone, theme, point of view, emotions of Louise Mallard and other characters involved in the story. Chopin’s story uses the feelings of a married woman in the late 1890’s and feminine identities, to help the reader better understand married life of a woman during that period in time. In the story, Louise Mallard is a young woman with a heart condition who recently is informed of her husband’s …show more content…

I believe the story is very effective with the methods Chopin used to write with. “We are told of the joy she feels with the freedom she finds in her husband’s death, but we are not specifically told that she is skeptical of marriage in general” (Hicks 1).The setting for this story is based in the spring of 1984 in Louisiana, “the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life” (Chopin 2). In the story, Chopin does not describe many things with detail, she describes the only furniture as being “comfortable, roomy armchair” (Chopin 2). Chopin also describes Mrs. Mallard as being, “young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and even certain strength” (Chopin 2). The only method of transportation that is mentioned in the story is railroad and the only reason that method of transportation is mentioned is because that is how they believed Mr. Mallard died in a horrible railroad disaster.
Chopin portrayed all of the characters very well throughout the story, which helped the story read better. Louise Mallard is the protagonist in this story and the antagonist is the bandage she has on in her role as a wife in the 1800’s. There are only a few characters in this story and the main character is Louise Mallard, she is very well developed and changes throughout the story. After finding out about her husband’s death she runs to her room and goes through many emotional changes. At first Louise is sad and then she

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