Freedom never comes easy. The news constantly shows that without people fighting for rights and standing up to injustices, we would not have the liberties we do today. Along with freedom, there is usually a sacrifice. This idea is shown in the short story, “The Story of an Hour” written by Kate Chopin. The short story follows a wife, named Mrs. Mallard, plagued with heart trouble, that learns of her husband’s passing. At first she is overwhelmed with grief, but throughout the story she transitions towards being overjoyed at her newfound freedom. She eventually dies from heart trouble, ultimately caused by excitement before she finds out that her husband was mistakenly pronounced dead. Throughout the story, Chopin uses various literary devices such as diction, detail, and irony to convey the message that freedom always comes with a consequence. …show more content…
Diction is used by many authors to reveal a character’s emotions and the tone of the story.
Chopin implements numerous examples of diction throughout “The Story of an Hour.” To describe Mrs. Mallard’s grieving, the author chooses the words “wept,” “storm of grief,” and “haunted.” These help the reader understand the pain the wife is suffering now that she is free. Chopin also uses the words “delicious” and “triumph” to describe Mrs. Mallard’s attitude after realizing her freedom. By choosing these words, the reader knows that the wife is overjoyed to be free, despite losing her husband. Finally, Chopin uses diction when describing characters. Mrs. Mallard is seen as “fair” and having a “calm face.” By using gentle words, the reader realizes that Mrs. Mallard is just like any other person overcome by grief. By using specific words, Chopin conveys the message of freedom by allowing the reader to get a glimpse of what the main character is feeling and
thinking. Details are commonly used in most stories. Chopin capitalizes on them to make the reader feel as if they were present in the story. To begin the story, Chopin describes the “heart trouble” that the wife suffers and the “railroad disaster” that allegedly took the life of her husband. The author implements minor details such as how the family and friends learned of the passing and specifically how the husband passed to include the reader on the events in the story. Without this, the reader would not be able to understand the central message because the plot would be confusing. In the middle of the story, Chopin expands on the use of her details when describing the overwhelming sense of joy that overcomes Mrs. Mallard. The author describes it as “creeping out of the sky” and suffocating the main character through “the sounds, scents, the color that filled the air.” This allows the reader to know that although Mrs. Mallard is grieving, she desires to be free. Without details, Chopin would be unable to convey the central message because the reader would not know the basic plotline. Not every story contains irony. Chopin uses irony in the final paragraph to reveal the central message of the story. In the beginning, the reader learns that Mrs. Mallard was “afflicted with heart trouble” meaning that they had to take extra care of her when breaking the news of her husband’s death. When she learns of the death she does not suffer from any initial trouble. It is only when she becomes overwhelmed with joy does she suffer from heart problems and die “of joy that kills.” The irony lies in the fact that it wasn’t grief that killed her, but joy. Another example includes Mrs. Mallard noting that she wants a “life [that] might be long.” Shortly after, she dies. This irony helps convey the central message because it shows that although Mrs. Mallard was allowed to grieve in her own way, she suffered the consequences of being joyed about her husband’s death. The central message of the story that freedom always comes with consequences in conveyed by Chopin’s use of diction, detail, and irony. Although Mrs. Mallard is allowed to be free, she had to endure the loss of her husband to earn it. Even though she is allowed to grieve however she pleases, she deals with her death as a consequence. This story shows that even though we may be free, somewhere or someone had to pay the consequences.
In the short story, “Story of an Hour,” Kate Chopin uses diction and syntax to demonstrate that as much as one yearns for freedom, it might not be everlasting.
The Story of an Hour is a short story of Ms. Mallard, a woman with a heart condition who receives short term good news. Chopin uses contrast between independence, marriage, and gender to show how hidden emotions can effect a woman’s actions in the time period where women did not have much power or right to speak what came to their mind.
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 "Story of an Hour" proves to be a timeless short story. Although this story was written in the nineteenth century, it is still reflective and relevant of today's society. It is still popular in many high schools and college classrooms. A critical examination of this piece of literature can be done using character analysis. This is an important tool in analyzing the meanings "between the lines" in this story. Mrs. Mallard is the main character and therefore plays the most important role in the story. This makes it necessary to examine her character in order to gain insights into the story's meaning. Several key elements relating to her personality surface in the story. These elements give insights into her feelings and her thoughts. The character analysis shows Mrs. Mallard is portrayed as insensitive, selfish and a wishful thinker.
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.
Situational irony is used in "The Story of an Hour" through Mrs. Mallard's reaction to her husband's death and the description of the settings around her at this time. Upon hearing the news of her husband's death, Mrs. Mallard "wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment" (Chopin 213). It appeared to everyone that as a result of her husband's death, Mrs. Mallard was incredibly sad. She insisted upon being alone and retreated to her room. The sort of reaction she had seems like one typical to someone who had just lost a loved one. She experienced grief and shock. However, once she is alone in her room, the reader discovers another side of her emotions. Once she calms down, she whispers "Free, free, free" (Chopin 214), and the reader realizes that she is not having a typical reaction. Instead of being saddened by the loss of her husband, Mrs. Mallard is relieved. "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 to them in welcome" (Chopin 214). Mrs. Mallard, instead of wondering who will support her in years to come, realizes that she will have no one binding her a...
In both her short stories The Story of an Hour and Emancipation: A Life Fable, Kate Chopin presents the them that no matter how terrifying freedom can be, it is always superior to confinement. She does this using literary devises such as tone, symbols and irony.
In "The story of an Hour," Kate Chopin reveals the complex character, Mrs. Mallard, In a most unusual manner. THe reader is led to believe that her husband has been killed in a railway accident. The other characters in the story are worried about how to break the news to her; they know whe suffers from a heart condition, and they fear for her health. On the surface, the story appears to be about how Mrs. Mallard deals with the news of the death of her husband. On a deeper level, however, the story is about the feeling of intense joy that Mrs. Mallard experiences when she realizes that she is free from the influences of her husband and the consequences of finding out that her new-found freedom is not to be. At First, Mrs. Mallard seems to be genuinely affected by her grief: "She wept ar once, with sudden, wild abandonment....When the storm of grief had spent itself she went away to her room alone. SHe would have no one follow her". At this point in the story, the reader is able to look into the mind of Mr...
Written in 1894, “The Story of an Hour” is a story of a woman who, through the erroneously reported death of her husband, experienced true freedom. Both tragic and ironic, the story deals with the boundaries imposed on women by society in the nineteenth century. The author Kate Chopin, like the character in her story, had first-hand experience with the male-dominated society of that time and had experienced the death of her husband at a young age (Internet). The similarity between Kate Chopin and her heroine can only leave us to wonder how much of this story is fiction and how much is personal experience.
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.
Freedom is one of the most powerful words in the world because of the feeling it gives people. This idea is evident in Kate Chopin’s, “The Story of an Hour.” In the story, readers witness the effect freedom can have when the main character, Louise, finds out her husband had passed away. The story begins when Louise’s sister informs her that her husband had been in a terrible accident and he was dead. Once she gets over the immediate shock, she finds herself overwhelmed with joy because she was free to live her life for herself and not her husband. At the end of the story, her husband walks through the front door, and Louise has a heart attack and dies. In the story "The Story of an Hour," Kate Chopin reveals the power of freedom through the use of diction, point of view, and setting.
When I first started reading "The Story of an Hour," Mrs. Mallard seemed to me as an old woman and as we are told in the very first line, “afflicted with a heart trouble.” to my surprised in the eighth paragraph when Chopin tells us that "She was young," but what was even more interesting to me was that she is described as having “a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression” which describes her as being too old for her age. “The Story of An Hour” by Kate Chopin is a story about a woman, who is expressing hurt and sorrow toward the supposed death of her husband. This news took her by surprise and causes her to become very depressed and mute. The story showed in detail the effects of the death of her husband on her life. Kate Chopin uses extremely descriptive diction and figurative language to represent her pain and sorrow.
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.”
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.
Kate Chopin, author of “The Story of an Hour” written in 1894 was the first author who emphasized strongly on femininity in her work. In the short story, Chopin writes about freedom and confinement Chopin is an atypical author who confronts feminist matter years before it was assumed. The time period that she wrote in women were advertised as a man’s property. The main idea in the short story is to illustrate that marriage confines women. In “The Story of an Hour” the author creates an intricate argument about freedom and confinement Mrs. Louise Mallard longing for freedom, but has been confined for so long freedom seems terrible. Mrs. Mallard wife of Brently Mallard instantly feels free when her husband dies. The reason she feels this way