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
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,
“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 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
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...
“When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease--of the joy that kills.” This is the most ironic and final line in Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin. Story of an Hour tells the story of Mrs. Mallard, a woman who recently found her husband died in a train accident, final hour alive. After hearing the news of her husband death, Mrs. Mallard goes to her bedroom to grieve, but realizes the freedom she now has from his death. This new found freedom is shortly lived when she finally realizes her husband is not actually dead. I am going to demonstrate the literary devices irony and symbolism is used in this story.
Mallard states that she is going to live her new life independently now that Mr. Mallard is gone; she accepts her newfound freedom and believes that she is now an independent woman. Mrs. Mallard was oppressed by Mr. Mallard, and Chopin hints at this oppression: “Chopin seems to be making a comment on nineteenth-century marriages, which granted one person - the man - right to own and dominate another - the woman,” (“The Story of an Hour” 266). The men and women should be treated equally in marriage and should be free, which relates to Mrs. Mallard feeling oppressed by Mr. Mallard. She realizes that she was below her husband her whole married life: “What could love, the unsolved mystery, count for in the face of this possession of self-assertion which she suddenly recognized as the strongest impulse of her being!” (Chopin 645). Her inferiority to her husband controlled her; his death allows her to start over as an independent being. Mrs. Mallard is known to have heart trouble, but readers do not understand what that trouble is until they soon find out: “Later, when we see Mrs. Mallard ‘warmed and relaxed,’ we realize that the problem with her heart is that her marriage has not allowed her to ‘live for herself,’” (Hicks 269). The readers find out that Mrs. Mallard’s mystery heart trouble dealt with her being confined by Mr. Mallard in marriage, which she soon turns away from. Mrs. Mallard’s internal struggle is caused by rushing into marriage; she did not develop herself before developing a relationship with someone else, such as Mr. Mallard: “Love is not a substitute for selfhood; indeed selfhood is love’s pre-condition,” (Ewell 273). Mrs. Mallard may have felt constrained by Mr. Mallard in her marriage because she did not know herself before. If she had known herself before the marriage, she would have known her own constraints and opinions, instead of feeling oppressed by Mr. Mallard. Mrs. Mallard accepts her freedom and independence. She decides to live
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.
Kate Chopin’s “The Story of An Hour” focuses on a woman named Louise Mallard and her reaction to finding out about her husband’s death. The descriptions that the author uses in the story have significance in the plot because they foreshadow the ending.
Mallard’s freedom is constantly changing throughout the short story. Initially, upon hearing of her husband’s death she locks herself in her room and sits down in a comfortable armchair (Chopin, par. 3). Both the armchair and the empty room give Mrs. Mallard the feeling of safety and familiarity. By confining herself in the room, she can shut herself away from the rest of the world. The room confines her body in the same way that her marriage confined her soul. Yet the open window across the room juxtaposes these symbols of confinement. Through it she can see “the tops of trees that were all a quiver with the new spring life… the patches of blue sky… and the countless sparrows twittering in the eaves”(Chopin, par. 5). These symbols of openness, optimism, and opportunity show Mrs. Mallard what opportunities can be had if she were to leave her confinement. The birds on the rooftops remind her of the freedom she could have without the hindrance of her marriage. The spring air offers Mrs. Mallard the chance of a fresh beginning to her new life and the open, blue sky her with a blank canvas on which she can paint this life. When she realizes that through her husband’s miraculous “resurrection”, she would lose these opportunities, Mrs. Mallard’s heart fails because she chooses to die
In the short story, “The Story of an Hour,” author Kate Chopin presents the character of Mrs. Louis Mallard. She is an unhappy woman trapped in her discontented marriage. Unable to assert herself or extricate herself from the relationship, she endures it. The news of the presumed death of her husband comes as a great relief to her, and for a brief moment she experiences the joys of a liberated life from the repressed relationship with her husband. The relief, however, is short lived. The shock of seeing him alive is too much for her bear and she dies. The meaning of life and death take on opposite meaning for Mrs. Mallard in her marriage because she lacked the courage to stand up for herself.
Kate Chopin’s The Story of an Hour is a brilliant short story of irony and emotion. The story demonstrates conflicts that take us through the character’s emotions as she finds out about the death of her husband. Without the well written series of conflicts and events this story, the reader would not understand the depth of Mrs. Mallard’s inner conflict and the resolution at the end of the story. The conflict allows us to follow the emotions and unfold the irony of the situation in “The Story of an Hour.”
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.
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