The Story of an Hour Essay "The Story of an Hour" is a short story written by Kate Chopin. It's about a woman named Louise, a sickly wife who briefly believes her husband is dead and imagines a whole new life of freedom for herself. To conclude, people long for freedom after a series of tragic events in their life. With these literal elements, symbolism and Imagery the reader can assume what the feeling was like when Louise was set free. Chopin uses Imagery to contrasts the series of emotions Louise Mallard endures while going through mixed emotions about her husband’s death.
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 would be no one to live for her during those coming years; she would live for herself". She was so overwhelmed with happiness that when she found out her husband had never died she had literally died in an instant of “the joy that kills.” She so badly wanted to be free from her husband that she could not take in the fact that he was still alive so her reaction was death which is one way she will truly be free. The same ideas are explored in "The Yellow Wallpaper" where the narrator in the story is overwhelmed with feeling like a slave to their own husband and consumed by her own thoughts. She is trapped within her own mental processes constantly analyzing the "wallpaper" and connecting it with things in her life. In both of these stories each woman has a way to escape or try to make themselves feel "fulfilled"
Morgan A. Campbell Composition I Professor Jacquelyn Markham Characterization of Mrs. Mallard in “The Story of an Hour” When asked if Chopin's characterization of Mrs. Mallard justifies the story's unexpected and ironic climax the answer is yes. Chopin gives us characterization of Louise Mallard and makes the story have a very interesting unexpected and ironic climax We are told a story about Mrs. Louise Mallard and how her husband has been killed in a train wreck. We learn about the emotions that Louise feels when she receives the news about her husband, first it is guilt soon it is happiness. At the start of the story we discover, Mrs. Mallard experiences heart troubles and that her sister Josephine and her husband's Friend Richard have came to her house after hearing about a tragic train wreck that has left Mrs. Mallard's husband dead. They both fear that when they tell Louise the news of the wreck that killed her husband, Louise may become very sick.
She is a middle aged woman with heart trouble, and bad news was about to come her way of the “possible death of her husband” (Chopin, 1894, para.1). Mrs. Mallard was a lady who was possibly controlled in her life by her husband. “When hearing the news of the death, she wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in Josephine’s arms” (Chopin, 1894, para.3). I can feel the attachment that she had with her husband, but wept once also shows maybe some antipathy. Mrs. Mallard made her way to her room and stared out her window to watch her new life take fold.
The Irony used in “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin In “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin the real meaning of this story can be quiet confusing. Chopin created this story after her own husband’s death. In a way one might think that she may be relating her own experiences in this short story. In this short story Chopin has the reader thinking as if Mrs. Mallard was supposedly having heart troubles and that that was the cause of her death. Chopin also has readers believing that Louise is mournful of her husband’s death but it’s definitely the opposite.
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.
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
We learn that Louise Mallard is a strong and intellectual woman although legally bound to her husband. Upon the news of his death, though feeling some grief, she rejoiced that she would at last have a future filled with freedom. The story concludes with her husband being very much alive and Louise dying of a heart attack at the news of this (Chopin, 1984). Having given over completely to the thought of her female independence then realizing it wasn’t going to happen was enough to kill her. Wollstonecraft, a European author, also wrote about the oppression of women.
From these things, I think that the woman's disease results from a psychological cause. Maybe, I think that the chief cause is her husband because she feels joy when she was heard that he was dead. Chopin also uses setting to contrast the news of her husband's death or her longing for freedom. In the text, "the open window and the open square(1,3)" repeat again and again throughout the story. In addition, "the tops of trees, the new spring life, the delicious breath of rain, the notes of distant song and countless sparrows" don't get along with the woman's present situation.