Critical Analysis of “The Story of an Hour”
“The Story of an Hour” was a story set in a time dominated by men. During this time women were dependent on men, but they always dreamed of freedom. Most people still think that men should be dominant and in control. They think that without men, women can’t do anything and that they can’t be happy. Well this story has a twist.
The main character in this story, Louise Mallard shows us her dream of freedom and proves these people wrong when her husband, Brently Mallard, dies. Louise’s husband was on a list of people that died in a railroad disaster. They tell her carefully since she has a heart condition. She starts crying, but afterwards she begins to think of all the positive things that come from his death. Her sister, Josephine goes upstairs to make sure she is okay,and once she finds out she is they come down. As they walk down the stairs she sees the door being opened and her husband comes in. Having her heart condition, she dies. The doctors thought “she had died from heart disease-of joy that kills.” However, she didn't die from the joy of getting to see her living husband but from losing her future filled with freedom.
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...
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...dition, so the doctor thought that this weakness was the reason she died.What really killed her was being put back into the role that was forced and expected of her. When her husband walked in, all of her feminine freedom vanished.
Women weren’t given the same rights as men. No one ever considered their opinions, or heard their desires and feelings. However, in “Story of an Hour” one of the major themes is freedom. Once Mrs. Mallard receives the bad news of her husbands death she is upset, but that doesn't last. She becomes a woman free from male dominance. In the end she discovered that Mr. Mallard isn’t dead, and she dies of what the doctor says was her heart disease and joy. I see this story as a female struggle.Women were never superior to men back then, and Mrs. Mallard shows us that when she dies because even her short fantasies of freedom weren’t real.
In the short story, “The Story of An Hour”, written by Kate Choppin, a woman with a heart trouble is told her husband had passed away in a railroad disaster. Mrs. Mallard was depressed, then she came to a realization that she was free. Back in the day this story was written, women did not have many rights. They were overruled by their husband. As she became more aware of how many doors her husband death would open, she had passed away. The doctors had said she had died of heart disease--of the joy that kills. The irony in the situation was that as she was dying, her husband walked through the door, alive.
Her husband’s friend, Richards, and her sister Josephine have to tell Mrs. Mallard that her husband has died in a train accident. They are both concerned that this news might harm Mrs. Mallard’s health. However, when Mrs. Mallard hears the news, she feels excitement and a spur of freedom. Even though her husband is dead, she doesn’t have to live the depressing life she has been living. Mrs. Mallard sits in a chair and then whispers, “Free, free, free!”
The short story, "The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopkins begins by telling the reader about Mrs. Mallards heart condition and that she needed to be told very lightly that her husband passed. Throughout the short story we are able to see a lot of irony taking place. Mrs. Mallard dies from heart failure due to her condition when her supposed to be dead husband walks through the front door. "the joy that kills" (paragraph 21) They believe she died from joy, when in fact she died from disappointment.
Mrs. Mallard was a young and composed woman but every human being is a little optimistic for a glimmer of independence either consciously or unconsciously. Finding out about the death of her husband broke Mrs. Mallard’s spirit and she plunged into a dark abyss. Being disheartened is an obvious reaction to the news of a loved one’s death but it is also a freeing experience. Mrs. Mallard did not want to be delighted in shadow of her husband’s death but when the thought of relieved oppression came to her she could not help herself. She loved her husband but could not understand the peculiar sense of freedom she was feeling. It is hard to imagine how she could feel free and joyous in such an emotionally devastating situation but we have to remember that this story was inscribed in the 1800’s. In those times women were merely possessions of their husbands, they had no individual rights.
After hearing the horrific news of Brently Mallard's railroad accident death, his friend Richards goes off to tell the news to Mrs.Mallard at her house. When he arrives, he and Mrs. Mallard's sister Josephine inform her of Mallard's tragic death. After hearing the news she cries to them before going off to her room for some alone time. She sits exhaustively and motionless in her armchair while looking out the window, occasionally sobbing. The young woman stares into the sky while she waits nervously for the revelation of her husband's death to set in. He then realizes that it isn't sadness that she is feeling but freedom. She decides it while she's running for her husband's death she's also going to get many years of freedom, which
Like in many tragically true stories, it would seem Mrs. Mallard 's freedom came too late. Kate Chopin’s, “The Story of an Hour” begins by introducing Mrs. Mallard as a person afflicted with heart trouble. The story builds on this by having Mrs. Mallard’s sister Josephine and her husband Richard explain the situation in a very sensitive manner. Their efforts would prove to be in vain however as Mrs. Mallard then proceeds to emotionally break down. The news shocks Mrs. Mallard to her very core and has her at odds with how she should feel now that all was said and done. After coming to terms with her situation, fate delivers its final blow in a cruel and deceitful ploy towards Mrs. Mallards. And with that, Mrs. Mallard 's dies. In her hour of change Mrs. Mallard 's was delicate, thoughtful and excitable.
The short story “The Story of an Hour” was written by a 19th century feminist named Kate Chopin. The definition of a feminist in the urban dictionary is a person who believes that men and women are equal, and should be entitled to equal rights, equal treatment, and equal opportunity. Kate Chopin shows a little glimpse of what it was like for married women in the 19th century and how women had no rights and weren’t treated equally to men. A woman’s reputation and status were very important at the time and they had to complete their roles as obedient housewives and caretakers. The story reflects a woman who lost her husband and finally had a taste of freedom and later died when her freedom was taken from her. There are great differences between
The end of the story is such a tragedy for me because I feel like Louise and I have such a connection. When Louise went down stairs with her sister and witnessed her husband walk through the door, her heart gave out and she died. This event to me is like finally getting to Gainesville and realizing that my parents were still just a phone call away to smother me. Though I can do what I want, it's nothing like how I thought it would be. I love my parents with all my heart, and Louise sometimes loved her husband. The doctors said that Louise died from her heart disease, "Of joy that kills (16, paragraph 23.)" For me that was the tragedy, that again Louise was misunderstood. Though the events in my life are not as painful as Louise Mallards, we are similar in a sense that all we want is to be free and understood.
Unfortunately, her hope for long years and many beautiful spring days was abruptly ended in an ironic twist. Unbeknownst to herself and her company, Mr. Mallard had survived, and within an hour the promises of a bright future for Mrs. Mallard had both began and came to an end. Her grievous death was misconstrued as joy to the others: "they said she had died of heart disease-of joy that kills" (Chopin 471). This statement embodies the distorted misconception that a woman lives only for her man. The audience, in fact, sees just the opposite. To Louise her life was elongated at the news of her husband's death, not cut short. Throughout the story, one hopes Louise will gain her freedom. Ironically, she is granted freedom, but only in death.
The time period in which this story was written was during the late eighteen hundred’s, early nineteen hundred’s. This time period is known for the men being the head of the household. In fact, women had zero civil rights during this time. As young girls, their fathers made decisions for them, up until the point in which they were married off. From here, their husbands would take over in making decisions. A women’s job during this time was to simply cook, clean, and have babies. This was the case for Mrs. Mallard, so much that she begins to whisper to herself “free, free, free” after discovering that her husband had been killed in a railway accident. She was so overcoming with joy, that when her husband walked into the room after being presumed
In the story, The Story of an Hour, Mrs. Mallard and all her actions and surroundings are used as symbolism .At the beginning of the story; Mrs. Mallard had heart conditions, so what they did to explain the tragic death of her husband to her. Was that they kept her as comfortable as they could and released the news to her little by little, and also gave her hints in order for her not to know by the harsh way, notified by the newspaper office in which the husband of her sister worked at currently.
In the story, the main character, Louise Mallard, is a woman who is described as a submissive wife who endures the oppressions of marriage to fit in with the societal norms. Louise Mallard, who suffers from heart trouble, is told the news of her husband's death in a railway accident by her sister, Josephine. Her reaction to the tragic news would be considered as appropriate as she openly grieves for him. When
Kate Chopin's story, "The Story of an Hour", focuses on an 1890's young woman, Louise Mallard. She experienced a profound emotional change after she hears her husband's "death" and her life ends with her tragic discovery that he is actually alive. In this story, the author uses various techniques-settings, symbolism and irony- to demonstrate and develop the theme: Freedom is more important than love.
Mrs. Mallard who says her husband was loving and nice, still feels a sense of joy and freedom when she thinks he has died. Louise feeling this way suggests that all marriages are oppressive in some way and take away independence from those in them. Louise is introduced as “Mrs. Mallard” at the beginning of the story and referred to as “she” up until she becomes “free” after her husbands death. This lasts until the reader figures out Brently is not dead and her status as a wife is reestablished. The very last sentence in the book, “When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease-of joy that kills” (Chopin 301) .The fact that the doctors, who happen to be men, had the last say in Mrs. Mallard’s life is another example of men dictating the way she lives. Chopin makes the setting confined to one hospital room to illustrate the confinements Mrs. Mallard is living in due to her marriage. She finally escapes from that room at the very end of the story but only for seconds before discovering her husband is still alive and it destroys everything she was looking forward
The story takes place in the late nineteenth century, a time when women had very limited rights. Mrs. Mallard, a young woman who has a bad heart, plays the main character in this story. She receives news that her husband has been killed in a railroad accident. Mrs. Mallard is shocked and bewildered by the death of her husband. However, the feeling of bewilderment is only a temporary feeling that quickly leads to an overwhelming sense of freedom. A freedom she has desperately longed for. Yet, shortly after receiving the news of her husbands death there is a knock at the door. Upon opening the door, she discovers that her husband is not dead, for he is standing in the doorway alive and well. Mr. Mallard’s appearance causes his wife to die. “[T]he doctors … said she [has] died of heart disease – of jo...