Was it just a Dream? Dreams versus reality. Kate Chopin's short story, "The Story of an Hour", was first published December 6th, 1894, in the magazine, Vogue. It was originally titled, "The Dream of an Hour". It was reprinted in the St. Louis Life in January 5th, 1895, with the title we know now. Changing the title can give a different perspective on how we can interpret the story. When her husband, Brently Mallard, is dead due to a railroad disaster, no one wants to tell her that he has died. It could be because she is weak, in some way, and her sister, Josephine, is scared that the news may kill her. That would be the reality of the story. If this is was a dream, no one tells her because she maybe, subconsciously, feeling guilty that she is thinking about her husband's death. Most people would feel guilty about dreaming of a life without a certain individual, their freedom from that person. "She did not stop to ask if it were or were not a monstrous joy that held her. A clear and exalted perception enabled her to dismiss the suggestion as trivial" (180). Most people think, to have those types of thoughts, would not be acceptable. Louise did have those …show more content…
thoughts because she may have been dreaming and in dreams you can think whatever you like. If it was a dream, she would not know how to react to the news, of her husband's death. "She did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with paralyzing inability to accept its significance" (179). Most women would be paralyzed, with the awful news of their husband's death. They would not know how to react, at first, but Louise starts crying right away. That would be the dream aspect because Louise would know the significance. She is dreaming of her freedom and a new life. Louise led a submissive life, just like every other woman in the 1800's. Women were raised to be submissive to men and may have married Brently, out of necessity and not love. To prove this point of her having to marry out of an obligation, Chopin wrote: "And yet she had loved him-sometimes. Often she had not" (180). Trying to distance one's self, emotionally, helps with the grieving process, yes. It can also make you not feel as guilty, as you should, about dreaming of their death. There was no mention of children in the story, as well. Men thought that women were only good for breeding children and to take care of the house. They started raising children at a young age due to the fact that people didn't long life expectancies. If there were children in the home, Louise would not have such strong feelings of freedom. Chopin wrote; "Free! Body and soul!" she kept whispering" (180). She would be more worried about the children and family finances since men were in charge of the income. Freedom would be the furthest thing from a woman's mind, of that time period. Was it such a realistic dream?
At the end of the story, when she "wakes" and goes downstairs and finds her husband walking through the door, is it's too much of a shock for her to take and it ends up killing her? "When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease-of joy that kills" (181). The shock and realization that her freedom is gone kills her. However, you can also argue that the end was still part of the dream. She did not walk down stairs to find her husband alive and that she did not die. The dream may have been a subconscious thought, that your freedom may end up killing you. A warning to her. "She breathed a quick prayer that her life might be long. It was only yesterday she thought with a shudder that her life might be long" (181). Now, she may have no life at
all. No matter the title, the simple fact is that both titles state that it is a dream or story of an hour, which means that it is a short period of time (one hour). Realistically, could you mourn over a husband, even if you did not really love him, for just an hour or could you dream that you could find a new lease on life, after a death? Chopin may have wanted the story about a "dream" to have a deeper meaning; be happy for what you have and the grass may not be always greener or do not wish for what you cannot have, etc. Whereas, if it is just a "story", the reader may not be able to get passed the irony of the story and the deeper meaning may be lost, whatever you think the deeper meaning may be. We may never know who or why the title of the story changed but, it may give the story a new perspective, to the reader, when it is read with its original title. Bibliography Kennedy, X. J., and Dana Gioia. "Tone and Style." Backpack Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. Fifth ed. 2016. Print.
“Story of an Hour”, written by Kate Chopin presents a woman of the nineteenth century who is held back by societal constraints. The character, Louise Mallard, is left to believe that her husband has passed away. She quickly falls into a whirlwind of emotions as she sinks into her chair. Soon a sense of freedom overwhelms her body as she looks through the window of opportunity and times to come. She watches the world around her home run free as nature runs its course. Louise watches the blue sky as a rush of “monstrous joy” shoots through her veins (Chopin). She experiences a new sense of freedom. Although she sometimes loved her husband, his “death” breaks the chain that keeps her from experiencing a truly free life. Thoughts over times to
In many short stories, characters face binding situations in their lives that make them realize more about themselves when they finally overcome such factors. These lively binding factors can result based on the instructions imposed by culture, custom, or society. They are able to over come these situations be realizing a greater potential for themselves outside of the normality of their lives. Characters find such realizations through certain hardships such as tragedy and insanity.
Since its creation, the utopian and dystopian theory has made many political conversations take place worldwide. These conversations revolve around the idea of a perfect society versus that of an unpleasant society. In captivating a large portion of people, the theory is a huge topic with authors who also want to voice their opinion on the matter. One of these authors being the writer of The Awakening, Kate Chopin. Through her writing, Chopin expresses her view by taking on the aspect of the female social class, and of how different it is treated within the two theorized sociological settings.
As the title puts it, “The Story of an Hour” takes place in the span of an hour. The title of the story also shows the possibility of occurrences within a single hour. This story is mostly centered around one woman, Louis Mallard. In conventional circumstances, death brings sorrow, grief, seclusion, guilt, regrets, along with other feeling depending on the cause of death. In “The Story of an Hour”, sorrow and grief are a product of the recent happenings, however, these feelings are coupled with joy and independence. Kate Chopin uses this story to convey death as a joyful circumstance whereas conventionally it is portrayed as sorrowful.
Upon seeing her husband alive and well Louise realizes that the life she has imagined is not to be. The return of Brently signals a return of the patriarchal oppression in her life, and after imagining herself as an individual and then to be denied the chance to live freely is a punishment far worse than the crime. Louise loses her identity and once again becomes "his wife." Richards once more tries to protect her, a helpless woman, by attempting to block her view from her husband, because of the fragile state of her heart. Mrs. Mallard's strengths are gone, never to be acknowledged by the men in her life. For one, brief hour she was an individual. Now she finds herself bound by masculine oppression with no end in sight, and the result is death.
Story of an Hour – A Big Story in a Small Space. Kate Chopin's "Story of an Hour" tells the story of a woman trapped in a repressive marriage, who desperately wants to escape. She is given that chance, quite by accident, and the story tells of the hour in which this freedom is given to her. The story is very short (only two pages), so is interesting to look at as a minimalist piece of literature, and the surprise ending offers an opportunity to look at Chopin's use of foreshadowing.
Setting exists in every form of fiction, representing elements of time, place, and social context throughout the work. These elements can create particular moods, character qualities, or features of theme. Throughout Kate Chopin's short story "The Story of an Hour," differing amounts and types of the setting are revealed as the plot develops. This story deals with a young woman's emotional state as she discovers her own independence in her husband's death, then her "tragic" discovery that he is actually alive. The constituents of setting reveal certain characteristics about the main character, Louise Mallard, and are functionally important to the story structure. The entire action takes place in the springtime of a year in the 1890s, in the timeframe of about an hour, in a house belonging to the Mallards. All of these aspects of setting become extremely relevant and significant as the meaning of the story unfolds.
In Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour”, the struggle for freedom is dominant. The main character, Mrs. Mallard, stands for a woman who is struggling internally and externally for freedom. After the sudden loss of her husband, Mrs. Mallard gets a taste of the freedom she was lacking in her marriage. Like Mrs. Mallard, women throughout history have struggled to find freedom and success away from their husbands. Chopin herself only became successful after the loss of her husband. In “The Story of an Hour”, Chopin shows women’s struggle for freedom during the Victorian period through Mrs. Mallard’s struggle for her own freedom.
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.
Chopin, Kate. "The Story of an Hour." Perrine's Literature: Structure Sound & Sense. 11th ed. Belmont: Wadsworth, 2010. 541. Print.
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.
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.
Kate Chopin’s short story "The Story of an Hour," utilizes superb symbolism and elucidating points of interest with a specific end goal to differentiation Mrs. Mallard 's everyday and dreary life. Chopin utilizes symbolism and expressive subtle elements to differentiate the rich conceivable outcomes for which Mrs. Mallard longs with the dull reality of her regular life. The main theme of this story is “the quest for identity” because Louise’s sudden self-discovery shows that she had been seeking her own identity in a male-dominated world at the time. Kate Chopin wrote this in the 19th century when males were “dominate” and females were “passive.” Mr. Brently’s "death" was what initiated her “quest for Identity” without him “dying” she would have never thought about how
...egaining her husband and all of the loss of freedom her marriage entails. The line establishes that Louise's heart condition is more of a metaphor for her emotional state than a medical reality.” (Koloski) It is ironic that she accepts the death of her husband and is joyous and free, and then he ends up being alive after she walks out of the room with a sense of power. The ending of The Story of an hour by Kate Chopin implies that maybe the only true resolution of conflict is in death.
The mysteries of love, hate, and compassion are all part of marriage. The mysteries of the heart are felt in the short story, The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin (Clugston, 2010, sec 2.1). This story pulls you in with the suspense of Mrs. Mallard’s heart condition and the idea of her husband’s death. When you first begin to read this story you get a feeling of compassion for Mrs. Mallard having a heart condition. As the reader you receive sadness within you to know the revealing of her husband’s death may harm her in some way, only to find out that love isn’t that simple and maybe it was the news of her husband being alive that killed her.