Who Is Louise Mallard In The Story Of An Hour By Kate Chopin

Selfish Mrs. Mallard in The Story of an Hour Kate Chopin’s story, "The Story of an Hour," may seem to be about Mrs. Mallard’s unexpected and ironic reactions to the news of her husband’s untimely death due to a railroad disaster. At least that’s what I thought when I read the story. It seemed to me that she led a normal life with a normal marriage. She had a stable home life with a kind, loving husband who cared for her. She seemed to love him, sometimes. She had some kind of "heart trouble" (Chopin 25) that didn’t really affect her physically, until the very end. I thought Mrs. Mallard would have been saddened and filled with grief for an adequate period of time after her spouse died, but her grief passed quickly, and she

Literary Analysis “The Story of an Hour” “When she abandoned herself a little whispered word escaped her slightly parted lips. She said it over and over under her breath: “free, free, free!” (Chopin). During the late 1800’s women were obligated to give obedience to their husbands and basically be a housewife. In the “Story of an Hour” Louise Mallard was an intelligent women living in the 1800s with a very bad heart problem. So when the news struck about her husband’s death, Josephine, her sister had to inform her with great care about the tragic death. Instead of other women in her time who would be dreadful over the news was very understanding and decided to grieve in pain alone in her room where she felt a sense of freedom. Kate Chopin’s 1894 short story “The story of an Hour” displays a theme of freedom and the oppressiveness of marriage at the end of Victorian era with setting, symbols, and distinctive characters.

Written in 1894, “The Story of an Hour” is a story of a woman who, through the erroneously reported death of her husband, experienced true freedom. Both tragic and ironic, the story deals with the boundaries imposed on women by society in the nineteenth century. The author Kate Chopin, like

Louise Mallard is the protagonist of The Story of an Hour. The entire story is about her preservation. Chopin portrays Mrs. Mallard as a woman who is in deep suffering. She is not only suffering from a marriage she is not happy with, but she is also suffering from her medical condition. As if she had not suffered enough, she also puts a threat to her own life. We see this when Josephine is knocking on her door while she refuses to open it (Chopin). What is unknown to Josephine however is that her sister is in fact not suffering but savoring the moment.

In “The Story of an Hour” the main character Louise Mallard has just found out that her husband, Brently Mallard, died in a train accident. She did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, (527) which means that she didn’t immediately think that her life was over and she could not go on without her husband, she thought of the rest of her life with open arms and excitement. She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life. (527) she was looking forward to a whole new life, a life of her own. Of course she was sad and knew that she would mourn her husband, be sad when she saw him lying in the casket at his funeral. And yet she had loved him—sometimes. Often she had not. (528) She is saying she did love him but not most of the time. While she was alone in her room staring out the window a feeling came over her that she was unsure of at first, but when she let herself go she realized it was freedom, triumph, and victory. She kept whispering to herself “free, body and soul free!”(528) She and her sister walked down the stairs together to find her husband, Brently, walking through the front door, she died of a heart attack as soon as she saw him.

In the short story, written by Kate Chopin we are able to live through Louise Mallards’ emotions after she was given the dreadful news that her husband, Brently, had been killed in a railroad accident. She is finally beginning to feel a sense of freedom and independence, an hour has gone

Louise realizes she will be sad when she sees her husband’s hands “folded in death,”(Chopin, p.477) but she also realizes that for the first time in years she wants to live. Louise realizes there will be no one there to have control over her. She is free from the binding rules of a marriage that men feel they have a right to impose on their wives. Having a new found independence and self-worth overcomes Louise as she sits quietly in her room. Having the physical and emotional changes of becoming someone new. Louise is thrust into the amazing reality of being her own person and the woman she longed to be. Louise now knows she is free from her marriage and whispers that multiple times under her breath. “Free! Body and soul free!” (Chopin, p.477)

Marcus Tullius Cicero stated, “What then is freedom? The power to live as one wishes.” Freedom is a gift many people crave, but often something that many people don’t receive. It is difficult to obtain full independence, and that is often a roadblock to the things one wants to achieve. This is demonstrated in Kate Chopin’s realistic fictional story, “The Story of an Hour.” This story introduces us to Louise Mallard, a dynamic character afflicted with heart trouble. One day, over the course of an hour, she is told that her husband has been killed in a railroad accident. Shocked and distressed, Louise falls into a state of grieving and depression as she stares through her bedroom window by herself. She begins to attempt to picture her life alone, without her husband, but it pains her to think about living in her lonesome. Her mood quickly takes a turn as she sits and thinks, realizing then that she would be living for herself- distanced from her troubled marriage and able to be free for the first time. She becomes thrilled to live her life independently and envisions her life finally belonging to herself. Her vision is quickly ripped from her when her husband walks through the front door of their house, completely alive, despite what Louise had been told. Louise dies instantly at the sight of her husband, her freedom- and her life- ripped away from her.

“ He had only taken the time to assure himself of its truth by a second telegram and had hastened to forestall any less careful tender friend in bearing the sad message” (Chopin 181). Her marriage was a little controlling because her husband thought that Louise should wait on him hand and foot and be a good housewife. Louise was alone now and she mourned until she came to realize that she was now a free women. “She said it over and over under her breath; ‘free, free, free!” (Chopin 181). She could do whatever she wanted and not have her husband their to tell her what to do. Louise was with her family when she realized this and she never thought her life would change this way. Louise loses her husband in a tragic accident at the beginning of the story. This is a devastating loss for Louise and the rest of the family, seeing that they have all gathered to mourn together in the story. “Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble, great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband’s death…when the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease- of joy that kills” (Chopin 181-182). At the end of the story Louise’s husband shows up at the door and she is so much shock her heart can’t take so she has a heart attack and dies right in front of

I n the Story of an Hour, Kate Chopin gives us the feeling that Mrs. Mallard is unhappy in the by telling us “she was presses down by physical exhaustion that haunted her body and seemed to reach into her soul” (227). We learn right off that Mrs. Mallard has a heart condition and should be treated tenderly. When she heard the news of her husbands death, she was at first upset and distraught. She did not begin to feel better until she had time to sit and think, with “the delicious breath of rain was in the air” (227). Mrs. Mallard felt lonely and did not know what to do with herself anymore. She realized that there would no longer be someone there with her to be there when her life expired. She often had the feeling that life was too long and that the end would never come for her. That was a sign that Mrs. Mallard was a lonely and isolated woman. She was sitting there in the chair when it came to her in a sudden rush. That she is “Free! Body and soul free” (228). Mrs. Mallard knew then that life was not short after all. Life was short and she should live it to the fullest. She is now free to do as she pleases. Mrs. Mallard has a feeling of freedom, freedom form the loneliness and isolation that she has felt for a very long time. She is now free to be herself

The Character of Mrs. Mallard in The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin 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

Mrs. Louise Mallard has heart trouble and is about to learn that her husband has died in a railroad accident. That is the introduction, we have to the main character in the story. Is the heart trouble significant to the story? In the ensuing paragraphs there is great detail used to describe everyday occurrences. How can “aquiver with the new spring of life” or “the delicious breath of rain” lend its self to the story? Are these more important now than they would have been an hour earlier when she believed her husband was alive or does the author just enjoy using descriptive language? Louise slowly recognizes she is free of her husband’s “powerful will” and would be living her life for herself.

The Author of "The Story of an Hour" written by Kate Chopin, this Story presents, Chopin's shows Mrs. Louise Mallard, the main character of this short story, that principal character related to the others, Mr. Mallard is dead, We don't know for him much but he is only died by

Reaction to the Character of Mrs. Mallard in The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin

Anyone who receives notice of a loved ones death is never expected to take it lightly. In Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour,” Mrs. Mallard is informed of her husbands “death” as gently as possible, and immediately she understands the enormous significance this loss will have on her life. Unlike many widow’s, her feelings of utter devastation do not last. Mrs. Mallard’s sobs of loss turn to cries of joy after she reflects upon her own character and discovers truths about her marriage.