Leslie Knox Ms. Baldwin English 3/ Period 6 2 March 2013 The Story of an Hour Essay In the story, The Story of an Hour, by Kate Chopin, there is a woman with a heart condition that receives bad news. She deals with thenews in a different way than most people would. At first she js sad, but then she realizes she is happy. At the end of the storythere is a major twist. The woman, Mrs. Mallard, is told by her sister Josephine and her husbands friend Richards, that her husband Brently Mallard has been killed in a railroad accodent at work.
They both fear that when they tell Louise the news of the wreck that killed her husband, Louise may become very sick. Richard and Josephine feel they need to deliver the news with great care and caution. . At first we think that Louise is very upset over the news that her husband had been killed in a train wreck; however we are told that she realizes the freedom she might have if she is no longer tied down to her husband. Louise keeps repeating to herself “free, free, free.” The very first action we are told about that Louise performs describes as unusual by Chopin.
Both marriages are restricting, and challenge the protagonists’ concept of self and individuality. In “The Story of an Hour”, Louise Mallard gets the news of her husband’s death from her sister and her husband’s friend. She quickly retreats to the privacy of her own room which her companions believe is to grieve in solitude. In actuality, she shows the reader that she is finally confronting the wasted days of her life, and through that realizes that she has been given a second chance. She reflects on her marriage and we find that, although it was a good one, her husband never knew how unhappy his wife was.
There weren’t any simple answers to the questions in the readers mind. You had to re-read to understand whether the story was uninformative or you didn’t read the passage correctly. The girl in the story had a fake death because her family didn’t want their town finding out about who, or even what, she really was. I think that the family were a good symbol for the average olden time family who might have been very unhappy with children who were not born exactly how they wanted their perfect child to be. I felt the undertones of sadness in the story because of the aloneness and separation from the world that the
Now many overlook the fact that being trapped is not only a physical action, and many argue that a person can’t be emotionally trapped. Personally, I feel as though a person can be trapped emotionally and it causes emotional distress. That’s what Mrs. Mallard, Eveline, and Emily all had in common, the men in their lives all emotionally trapped them. Mrs. Mallard was trapped in a loveless marriage and Eveline and Emily were both trapped by the behaviors or their fathers, all which caused different effects on each of the ladies. Mrs. Mallard was married in a time when divorce was never an option.
In order to achieve self-fulfillment their lives ended in tragedy. In Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour," a young woman's innermost thoughts about her life and marriage and her perception of the world are expressed through Louise, who reacts in a strange way after receiving news that her husband has been killed in a train wreck. "She did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance" and instead of breaking down emotionally she explores the possibilities of what a new life would bring. She realizes that her husband is no longer there to control her or tell her what to do. "There would be no one to live for her during those coming years; she would live for herself".
It is only later on, however, when everyone finds out that the prophesy is true, her life becomes very miserable and it results in tragedy for herself and others. Though, Gertrude has no prophesies to help her, she too turns a blind eye to the truth that her new husband may have had something to do with her old husbands death. To protect her luxuries status as queen, she marries Claudius as soon as possible. “With mirth in funeral and with dirge in marriage” her husband remarks “In equal scale weighting delight and dole” (II.ii (12-13). The thing she is ignoring is that instead of being sad, Claudius is marrying her.
The lack of freedom in both stories lead to a tragic ending, especially in the “Story of an Hour”. In Chopin’s “Story of an Hour” Mrs. Mallard is overjoyed on the inside because due to her years of lack of freedom, she feels as though she is finally free after she hears that her husband, Mr. Mallard died in the train accident. Although, as it turns out that in the end, he isn’t really dead. This leads to Mrs. Mallard’s apparent Heart-Attack when she sees him walk through the doors, which killed her inner joy. In “The Yellow Wallpaper,” the narrator’s husband has both physical and mental control over her.
This displays two different themes which are "Not everything you hear is always true" and "In the end love prevails." This excerpt shows the first theme "Not everything you hear is always true" because throughout the story Ms. Mallard heard from her family that her husband had died in a train accident and she believed them without there being any conformation. Then he shows up in her room although too late but still showed up. Then this excerpt also shows the theme "In the end love prevails" because Mr. mallard who was supposedly dead still came to see his wife who was sick in the hospital because when you love someone
It wasn’t until the second time I read the story that I realized Mrs. Mallard was relieved when she heard the news of her husband` s death. The actions and words Mrs. Mallard portrayed proved this point. The author leaves the reader to almost make a story of their own by leaving out details and allowing the reader to add their own. To prove this, in the beginning of the short story, the reader gets the impression that this woman is going to be extremely upset that her husband has died in a train accident. Her closest friends and family come to her to easily break the news of her husband` s recent death.