In the short story “The Story of an Hour”, the author successfully accomplishes the perfect fake out. In the short story, the Chopin leads the audience to believe that Mallard’s husband had died in a train accident only to find out the he is, in fact, alive and Mrs. Mallard herself ends up dying in the end. In “The Story of an Hour,” the author, Kate Chopin, makes use of symbolism by speaking of Mrs. Mallard's heart trouble, constantly discussing the fear of death that is hovering over the house, and even in the title length of the story itself in order to communicate a deeper idea and richer meaning to the audience. There is much more behind Mrs. Mallard’s heart trouble other than her physical well-being that the author introduces the audience …show more content…
People are always trying to keep it away. Someone is always guarding Mrs. Mallard against a potential shock, which could lead to her death due to her heart trouble. When the author unleashes the sad tale of how Mr. Mallard has “died” in a train accident upon the readers the characters quickly rush to Mrs. Mallard's side for any unexpected bad news, such as the death or her husband, could mean the end of Mrs. Mallard's life as well. With the constant fear of daeth lingering over the house and the worry of Mrs. Mallrd's heart problems the audience is left to worry that Mrs. Mallard will grieve herself to death over the loss of her husband. However, Mrs. Mallard is actually estatic about. The audience believes that Mr. Mallard is dead and the Mrs. Mallard will finally be able to live out her dream of being free. However, after Mr. Mallard unexpectedly returns home the author states “When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease...” (Choping, 308) Death, it seems, is bound and determined to take one of the Mallard’s that day. The of the story itself is an example of the author using symbolism and allegory. The author uses the the title of the story itself to tell the audience of the short time that Mrs. Mallard was truly free and her heart was soaring/ In just an hour, Mrs. Mallard is
The archetypal lens plays a role as a critical lens in, The Story of an Hour, in many types of ways. When using the archetypal lens, a person needs to be in mind for a typical recurring image, character, narrative design, theme, or other literary phenomenon that has appeared in the literature from beginning and keeps reappearing. Some examples of when using the archetypal lens is hero, colors, quest, loner, scapegoat, etc.. In, The Story of an Hour, the archetypal lens is used in many ways, such as when the blue sky, spring and Mrs. Mallard is mentioned, as well as when Mrs. Mallard keeps repeating the words, “free free free.”
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.
Mrs. Mallard’s repressed married life is a secret that she keeps to herself. She is not open and honest with her sister Josephine who has shown nothing but concern. This is clearly evident in the great care that her sister and husband’s friend Richard show to break the news of her husband’s tragic death as gently as they can. They think that she is so much in love with him that hearing the news of his death would aggravate her poor heart condition and lead to death. Little do they know that she did not love him dearly at all and in fact took the news in a very positive way, opening her arms to welcome a new life without her husband. This can be seen in the fact that when she storms into her room and her focus shifts drastically from that of her husband’s death to nature that is symbolic of new life and possibilities awaiting her. Her senses came to life; they come alive to the beauty in the nature. Her eyes could reach the vastness of the sky; she could smell the delicious breath of rain in the air; and ears became attentive to a song f...
Written by Kate Chopin, the short story “The Story of an Hour” follows Louise Mallard, a woman from the nineteenth century who has just received the news that her husband, Brently Mallard, has passed away in a horrific train accident. Immediately Mrs. Mallard is overcome with grief and sorrow, but her mood quickly shifts when she realizes the independence and free-will she will now have. At the climax of her elation for the future, her husband walks through the door. Mrs. Mallard, shocked and speechless, dies of a heart attack. In the short story, "The Story of an Hour," author Kate Chopin utilizes symbolism, diction, and irony to emphasize the effects of Mrs. Mallard's newfound sense of freedom, and how that ultimately results in her death.
Several symbols in Kate Chopin's "Story of an Hour" create a feeling of comfort, wellness, and wonderfulness within the reader's mind. The first symbol I will speak of is the "comfortable chair" which she sinks into after the news of her husbands' death. Then, I will speak of the open window, which she sits in front of through which she sees many symbols of things that are good. Finally, I will speak of the description of Mrs. Mallard herself and her comfortable situation, which will tie together all the symbols that create the feelings of comfort and wellness in the reader.
“The Story of The Hour” by Kate Chopin is about a young lady who battles with the suffering brought on by her seemingly unhappy marriage and the freedom she secretly desires. The protagonist in the story, Mrs. Mallard, does not realize how unhappy she truly is until she learns that her husband is dead. Even though the story is written with the limit of third person point of view, it does not lack the structure of dramatic irony to keep the reader wanting more. The author’s use of oppression is shown by the irony in the story, especially when Mrs. Mallard starts to notice a sense of freedom shortly after hearing of her husband’s death. The author also uses symbolisms to express this new feeling, which makes the protagonist someone easy for the reader to connect with. One of the more praiseworthy features of Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” is the fact that the author is able to control the dramatics of a very condensed short story with suspense, shock, and surprise. If it is true that art reflects life, then the author has personal irony that will serve as proof in this case. In the story, Mrs. Mallard’s husband is presumed dead from a train accident. Ironically, in real life Chopin’s father is also killed in a train accident leaving her mother to be a widow. At the age of thirty, Chopin becomes a widow as well when her husband unexpectedly dies. Chopin uses irony to build up the emotions in the reader.
In "The Story of an Hour" Kate Chopin tells the story of a woman, Mrs. Mallard, whose husband is thought to be dead. Throughout the story, Chopin describes the emotions Mrs. Mallard felt about the news of her husband's death. However, the strong emotions she felt were not despair or sadness, they were something else. In a way, she was relieved more than she was upset, and almost rejoiced in the thought of her husband no longer living. In using different literary elements throughout the story, Chopin conveys this to us on more than one occasion.
Upon hearing the news that her husband passed away in a tragic train accident, a forlorn widow is overcome with unbearable sorrow. However, once she takes a moment to process what happened, and her marriage altogether, she becomes enlightened on the aspect that she can live a free life now, without the burden of her late husband who did nothing but hold her back. Although, there is an unpredictable ending to the story as Mrs. Mallard comes downstairs to find that her husband is alive and well in their front room. Given she has a known heart condition, she collapses out of the heartbreak of knowing she won’t be a free woman and is still stuck in a controlling marriage.
Mallard’s belief is that she will finally be happy without her husband. Mrs. Mallard believes that since her husband has dead in a train accident, that she will be able to live a long life of happiness and be free. The irony of this story is when Mrs. Mallard engages her joy, she soon comes to learn as her husband walks through the door still alive, her happiness takes the best of her life. Kate Chopin, tells this story in a way to connect with the reader on her past and to show that true happiness can be deadly… “When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease- of joy that kills. ”(Chopin,
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...
Chopin describes her as a fragile woman. Because she was “afflicted with a heart trouble,” when she receives notification of her husband’s passing, “great care was taken” to break the news “as gently as possible” (1). Josephine, her sister, and Richards, her husband’s friend, expect her to be devastated over this news, and they fear that the depression could kill her because of her weak heart. Richards was “in the newspaper office when the intelligence of the railroad disaster was received, with Brently Mallard’s name leading the list of killed” (1). He therefore is one of the first people to know about his death. Knowing about Mrs. Mallard’s heart, he realizes that they need to take caution in letting Mrs. Mallard know about it. Josephine told her because Richards feared “any less careful, less tender” person relaying the message to Louise Mallard (1). Because of her heart trouble, they think that if the message of her husband’s death is delivered to her the wrong way, her heart would not be able to withstand it. They also think that if someone practices caution in giving her the message, that, ...
Mallard’s heart condition, another important symbol, allows the reader to see the effect that her marriage has had. The first thing we learned about Mrs. Mallard is of her heart trouble. The other characters struggle to break the new of her husband 's death so as not to affect her heart. However upon coming to terms with this fact her heart grows stronger. This is shown by Chopin’s description of “her bosom rising and falling tumultuously…[and how] her pulse beats fast and the coursing blood warmed and relax every inch of her body”(Chopin, par. 10). It appears as if the thing that was keeping her heart weak and sickly was her marriage. Ironically the organ most associated with love was being injured by the very institution that was supposed to represent it. Further evidence can be seen of her sudden recovery as she removes herself from the safety and comfort of the chair so she may “drink in [the] very elixir of life through that open window”(Chopin, par.16). Mrs. Mallard is invigorated by her newfound freedom as it leads her from a life of sickness and oppression to one of health and liberation. One can see the true debilitating effects of Mrs. Mallard’s marriage when she discovers that her husband had not died and she would have to go back to her husband, her heart finally gives
Mallard comes to a revelation that shocks her, remodeling the tone of the story. This can be understood in the lines, “But she saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely. And she opened and spread her arms out in welcome.” (159) Mrs. Mallard’s feelings are not as expected of a new widow. Rather, the tone is now elated and hopeful. Images like the patches of blue sky, the tops of trees with new life, the scent and breeze of rain in the air, and a faraway song all enhance this mood of hopefulness. When the narrator describes the atmosphere by saying, “The delicious breath of rain was in the air,” (158) it suggests that Mrs. Mallard is about to experience a new beginning, much like the season of spring. The repetition of the words “free” and “open” also contribute to this new mood. Next, the tone transitions to victorious as “There was a feverish triumph in her eyes, and she carried herself unwittingly like a goddess of Victory.” (159) Mrs. Mallard feels hopeful, then elated, and lastly triumphant with her new life ahead of
First of all, when her sister and husband’s friend told her the news, she appeared to be sorrowful, but infact she was overjoyed. “She did not stop to ask if it were not a monstrous joy that held her. A clear and exalted understanding enabled her the suggestion as trivial”. Every cry that exited Mrs. Mallard’s body was the happiness of being
The first reader has a guided perspective of the text that one would expect from a person who has never studied the short story; however the reader makes some valid points which enhance what is thought to be a guided knowledge of the text. The author describes Mrs. Mallard as a woman who seems to be the "victim" of an overbearing but occasionally loving husband. Being told of her husband's death, "She did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance." (This shows that she is not totally locked into marriage as most women in her time). Although "she had loved him--sometimes," she automatically does not want to accept, blindly, the situation of being controlled by her husband. The reader identified Mrs. Mallard as not being a "one-dimensional, clone-like woman having a predictable, adequate emotional response for every life condition." In fact the reader believed that Mrs. Mallard had the exact opposite response to the death her husband because finally, she recognizes the freedom she has desired for a long time and it overcomes her sorrow. "Free! Body and soul free! She kept whispering." We can see that the reader got this idea form this particular phrase in the story because it illuminates the idea of her sorrow tuning to happiness.