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Analysis of the story of an hour by kate chopin
The use of symbolism in the story of an hour
Themes in the story of an hour
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When first reading Kate Chopin's "Story of an Hour," one may not typically be surprised at its ending, write it off as one of those creepy "back from the dead" horror stories and forget about it. There is more to this story than simply horror. The author is making a very strong, however subtle, statement towards humanity and women's rights. Through subtle symbolism, Kate Chopin shows how marriage is more like a confining role of servitude rather than a loving partnership.
Mr. Mallard is assumed to die from a railroad accident (Chopin 181). The railroad has been used to symbolize a transition, moving on, and change. The death of Mr. Mallard would be a transition from Mrs. Mallard being some man's wife to becoming her own person. Mrs. Mallard would inherit her husband's fortunes and the house; she would own her own property. For a woman in that era, owning land was almost unheard of, unless as a result of the death of their husband.
When Mrs. Mallard first hears of the news of her husband's death she barricades herself in her bedroom where she looks out an open window upon the ...
Pg. 278, 279). Her sister then comes into the room and tells her “open the door--- you will make yourself ill.” (Pg. 279), and she is afraid that she will hurt herself. So, Mrs. Mallard finally came out of her room, hugged her sister, and went downstairs with her sister and Richards. Then, the twist in the story comes.
The Major theme in “Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin is the forbidden pleasures of freedom for women. This story was written in a time where women had no independence. They lived their lives for their husbands and not for themselves. While reading we see the oppression women faced in marriages, and the guilt they faced when desiring their freedom from the lives that they lived.
Chopin writes “She was beginning to recognize this thing that was approaching to possess her, and she was striving to beat it back with her will--as powerless as her two white slender hands would have been. When she abandoned herself a little whispered word escaped her slightly parted lips.” Chopin uses this as a metaphor to show that even though her husband is dead, she is not completely free, as some outside force still has the ability to “posses” her. The first line mentions Mrs. Mallard’s heart problem which foreshadows her eventual cause of death. In the tenth paragraph Chopin writes “Her pulses beat fast and the coursing blood warmed and relaxed every inch of her body.” This is an early foreshadowing of Mrs. Mallard’s eventual
Why would a married woman go out, spend the night with a man whom she barely knows, when she has a wonderful, devoted husband and child? Mrs. Mallard's cry of ultimate relief and the joy she felt when she learned of her husband's deathis intolerable.
With respect to word choice, Chopin foreshadows the idea that it was possible that Mrs. Mallard’s husband was not dead at all. From the start she describes the news as “possible” (79). To further show this, she chooses to use the word killed in quotation marks (79). It is possible that this was just to set off the title of the news, but the foreshadowing it implies is far too great to disregard. It is this foreshadowing that gives the reader knowledge of the ending, which ties the idea that Mrs. Mallard, while sad, would rather see her freedom than the life of her husband.
The story is very short, but every word has import in the story and each line has great depth of meaning. It is possible to infer a great deal about the woman's life, even though we are given very little on the surface. A telegraph and a railroad are mentioned in the first paragraph, so there is some idea of the time the story takes place. We are also given her married name and the full name of her husband. The fact that she is referred to only as "Mrs. Mallard", while her husband's full name is given, coupled with what we learn on the second page, gives some indication of the repression she's had to suffer through and the indignity society placed on woman in those times. We also learn in the first paragraph that she lives in a man's world, for, though it is her sister that tells her the news, it is her husband's friend who rushes over with the story. Even after his death, she is confined to the structures she adopted with married life, including the close friend's of her husband.
In Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour”, it talks about marriage and a woman’s life in the 1800’s. This story illustrates the stifling nature of a woman’s role during this time through Mrs. Mallard’s reaction to her husband’s death. When Mrs. Mallard obtains news that her husband is dead, she is hurt after a brief moment and then she is delighted with the thought of freedom. This story shows how life was in the mid 1800’s and how women were treated around that time.
Looking through the lens of the open window, Mrs. Louise Mallard was able to use the open window to metaphorically represent the life and happiness she longed for throughout her marriage. For this reason, Mrs. Louise Mallard narrates, “ And yet she had loved him-sometimes. Often she had not. What did it matter!What could love, the unsolved mystery, count for in the face of this new possession of self-assertion which she suddenly recognized as the strongest impulse of her being!”(Chopin, Page 2) Evidently, it is her knowing that above everything what she wanted more than anything is to be her own person. Thus the open window brings a fresh new start to life for her. It is what takes away her fear at the very beginning of the story, of her life changing. The open window evolves to serve as a long life which, in the beginning of the story, the thought of having a long life would bring fear. The more she looked out, the more she realized that life is good. Therefore, the moment Mrs. Mallard does turn away from the open window and leaves the room she was in, her new revelation that her husband is alive, that all of her endless possibilities were shattered and that her independence was short-lived makes her die out of disappointment. Ironically enough, instead of being the one to survive, she is the one that is dying, suffering from a tragic heart attack just as the beginning of the story
Kate Chopin wrote a short piece called “The Story of an Hour” about a woman’s dynamic emotional shift who believes she has just learned her husband has died. The theme of Chopin’s piece is essentially a longing for more freedom for women.
Most women in Mrs Mallard’s situation were expected to be upset at the news of her husbands death, and they would worry more about her heart trouble, since the news could worsen her condition. However, her reaction is very different. At first she gets emotional and cries in front of her sister and her husbands friend, Richard. A little after, Mrs. Mallard finally sees an opportunity of freedom from her husbands death. She is crying in her bedroom, but then she starts to think of the freedom that she now has in her hands. “When she abandoned herse...
Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” is a wonderful period piece that gives reader’s an inside look at the complexity of human emotions and the oppression a woman might feel in marriage. Mr. Mallard is said to be killed in a train accident, and while Mrs. Mallard’s sister Josephine and Mr. Mallard’s friend Roberts are extremely upset by this news, Mrs. Mallard locks herself in her room, looking forward to her newfound freedom. One example of her newfound symbolic freedom is the open window in her room. It expresses a window so that she may peer out into her new life, and, as though Mrs. Mallard were a bird, an open window for her to spread her wings. Mrs. Mallard sits in an armchair by her window, her head lolled back and exhales a deep sigh.
Kate Chopin was a Victorian writer; whose writing manifests her life experiences. She was not happy with the principles of the time, because women had fewer rights, and they were not considered equal to men. Afraid of segregation from society, people lived in a hypocritical world full of lies; moreover, Kate Chopin was not afraid of segregation, and used her writing as a weapon against oppression of the soul. Marriage was an oppressor to Chopin, she had been a victim of this institution. Being a victim of marriage, Chopin's "Story of an Hour," is an expression of her believe that, marriage is an institution that oppresses, represses, and is a source of discontent among human beings.
Mallard’s emotions over the presumed death of her husband. The author used both dramatic and situational irony to mislead the reader and surprise them with a plot twist ending. By utilizing both external and internal conflict the author expresses the internal debate of Mrs. Mallard’s true feelings and those of the people around her. The author used symbolism to display Mrs. Mallard’s desire for freedom from her marriage. In the end it was not joy that killed Mrs. Mallard but the realization that she lost her
Mallard. Her self-assertion surpassed the years they were married and the love she had for him. She is beginning to realize she can now live for and focus on herself. The text insists “There would be no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself. There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature.” (Chopin 477.) Finally she can live freely and no longer worry about being confined in her marriage and inside her own home. She has come to realization that she is now independent and can think freely and achieves happiness and freedom. She is no longer held down or back by her marriage. She will no longer be someone’s possession she will be free and respected. Her husband Brently returns and he is alive the happiness and freedom she once possessed briefly with the mere image of her deceased husband were quickly torn away. “When the doctors came they said she died of heart disease of joy that kills” (Chopin 477). She was free but still confined without the knowledge of her husband who wasn’t dead. Chopin illustrates at the end that she was free because joy killed her. She was joyous because she was finally set free but she is now once again confined by the grief knowing her husband was not killed
In “The Story of an Hour”, Kate Chopin expresses many themes through her writing. The main themes of this short story are the joy independence brings, the oppression of marriage in nineteenth century America, and how fast life can change.