In the story of an hour, Kate Chopin uses many literary devices. Imagery, irony and symbolism makes the story interesting and the ending of the story raises many question came to my mind? How can such an event take so little time? What is the significant of that one hour? What does her heart trouble symbolize? These are some questions that came across my mind and the beauty of her writing is the symbolism and ironies she used and readers can have different interpretation. What inspires her to write the story? As I read her biography I concluded that her personal life and experiences. she mentions that she started to write after her husband’s death. Which indicates that she was not allowed to write before and when in the story her husband The situational irony is that his name was on the list and louis sees his name and tell the news to Mrs. Mallard’s sister. She locks herself in room and her sister think she is in pain but she was dreaming of her life is going to be great without her husband. The dramatic irony is her death in the end. As a reader I knew she dies because of the shock seeing her husband but the characters think she died because of joy. She was happy that he died and she wishes for a long life but sadly she dies. She also uses imagery beautifully. The spring life, twittering birds, open window, delicious breath of rain, all these symbolize a new beginning and rebirth. Chopin also creates the storm and gloomy weather to show death and mourning. She acted as she cares about him as expectations of people around her. I believe that she never wanted him dead or wanted to kill him but as it happened she takes as an opportunity. Kate Chopin tells the story using a lot of symbolism and she uses irony to raise the concern of a married women who has experienced oppression. She is raising an issue and she tells the readers that women shouldn’t experience what Mrs. Mallard did and shouldn’t be trapped in the intuition of marriage and follows the rules that society has made only for women. Her use of literary devices makes the story more interesting and meaningful. Which is why this story should be in American literature
Kate Chopin is a phenomenal writer, with two published novels and over one hundred short stories, not only does her writing style keep the reader intrigued, but also the setting, dialect, and history behind her work tell a story all its own. Chopin uses contrast in her writing "The Story of an Hour" through the hints about the quality of Mr. And Mrs. Mallard 's marriage, Mrs. Mallards emotions toward her husband 's death, and Mrs. Mallards death to emphasize her theme of gender roles in a time when women had no rights.
Toth, Emily. "Kate Chopin 'The Story of an Hour': Questions and answers about 'The Story of an Hour.'" KateChopin.org. Kate Chopin International Society, 1 Jan. 2011. Web. 1 Jan. 2011.
Chopin depicts marriage as a prison institution that confines women to life. In the story, there is no possibility of divorce and death seems to be the only way out. Evidently, since marriage is dictated by society, women do not seem bothered by their lack of freedom since they feel it is their obligation to run their homes without complaining. From the story, Mrs. Mallard does not seem perturbed by her present situation until she gets a taste of freedom after receiving the news about her husband's death. Precisely, we are told that she was beginning to recognize this thing that was approaching her, and she was striving to beat it back with her will--as powerless as her two white slender hands would have been.
Kate Chopin's The Story of an Hour. Kate Chopin was a Victorian writer whose writing manifests her life experiences. She was not happy with the principles of the time, because women had fewer rights, and they were not considered equal to men. Afraid of segregation from society, people lived in a hypocritical world full of lies; moreover, Kate Chopin was not afraid of segregation, and used her writing as a weapon against oppression of the soul.
In 1888, after suffering grief from the deaths of her father, mother and her husband, Chopin turned to creative writing as an outlet. She was not particularly well known as a writer during her life. She began writing seriously at the age of 39, when she would have already experienced many maturing life situations. She found her central focus rapidly, and wrote stories whose intriguing characters and settings often disguised the seriousness of their themes. Not greatly involved in the politics of her time, she was nonetheless influenced by such classic masters as Maupassan...
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.
... uses a variety of words to bring the feelings of Mrs. Mallard to life about the death of her husband. An example of this would be “drinking in a very elixir of life” (Chopin 56). Chopin also uses the open window to symbolize a new life full of new opportunities waiting for the newly widowed Mrs. Mallard. However, she is crushed by this closing window when she realizes her husband is still alive. All of the joy, happiness, and freedom were once again closed. The open window is more than just a window. It is the open window Mrs. Mallard seeks the most and her only chance of freedom and joy. Too bad it had to close on her.
Kate Chopin in her short story, “The Story of an Hour” depicts the tale of an ailing woman, and the emotions that manifest upon being told that her husband was believed to be killed in a railroad accident. Chopin demonstrates the theme of oppression of women, and how this forces women to become victims of their own repressed desires. The writer utilizes an omnipresent narrator that identifies the internal thoughts of Louise Mallard. Chopin illustrates her theme with the use of figurative language, setting, and irony.
Chopin starts the story with introducing a character, Mrs. Mallard, having “a heart Trouble” (485). Since the story was written in late 19th century, the heart trouble might indicate married women not being able to portray their true feeling and
Dramatic irony was perhaps the most prevailing type of irony in the story. One example of this type of irony can be seen in the death of Mrs. Mallard after her recently deceased husband walked through the door. Situational irony closely resembles the dramatic irony of the story. The final type of irony used in the story is verbal irony. The heart trouble of Mrs. Mallard can be considered verbal irony. The heart trouble mentioned at the beginning of the story is assumed to be a physical ailment, but this problem could also be attributed to the fact that she has a troubled soul. By using irony, the reader could experience an almost humorous aspect of the
“The Story of an Hour” is a short story in which Kate Chopin, presents a view from the unheard side of marriage. The main character of the story is Mrs. Louise Mallard, she experiences a sense of freedom rather than the loneliness and grief she is supposed to feel after she learns of her husband’s death. In Chopin’s “Story of An Hour”, it reflects the nature of marriage during the time, but Mrs. Louise Mallard learns that marriage is a prison. She is unable to escape from this theme, which is displayed through setting, conflict, and symbolism.
Death in the family would be heartbreaking to many people but this is not the case of Mrs. Mallard. In the story of an hour by Kate Chopin Mrs. Mallard experimented true freedom through the death of her husband. Back in that time women were educated to serve the man . They has not right were owner by her father or her husband. The theme of freedom is represented in “ The Story of an Hour “ through the symbols of Mr. Mallard's heart trouble , the open window and the front door of her house .After she received the news that her husband died she was looking through a open window that represent more than we imagined. “ she was drinking in a very elixir of life through the open window”( pg 687) The open window represents the freedom and opportunities that are waiting for her outside . The reason for this is that she feels that the open window is providing a view of how her life will be with freedom. As result the window represents that now she is unobstructed by the demands of another person.
In the novel, “The Story of An Hour”, written by Kate Chopin in 1894, she describes a woman who lets her emotions cause her own death. Chopin’s story describes how a marriage, even the most loving one, can be oppressive. She focuses on feminist issues, how relationships can be all about power. “The Story of An Hour” can be seen as a husband taking control over his wife, which leads to the emotional oppression she feels. Throughout the story, Chopin conveys multiple symbols to further on portraying the wife’s oppression for her husband; the main symbols that help interpret this are heart trouble and the open window. These main symbols represent her feelings of freedom, confinement and happiness.
The story of an hour essay is a story about a woman who is married. And her husband is dead. But after a moment she is happy because she gets freedom. It just shows the way females got treated back then. How the husbands treated them or really didn't care. So she was happy she felt free.
One can image the struggles women went through during the nineteenth-century having no better option than to be married, widowed, or worse. As a result, Kate Chopin’s theme in “The Story of an hour” in the book Backpack Literature: An Introduction of Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing might have expressed one of many aspects that women struggled with during that time in an alternating, omniscient point of view. To put it lightly, marriage being one of those struggles in the story makes us think if marriage is not for everyone. Through the author’s diction, it will be clear that Mrs. Louise Mallard being the main character struggles with the antagonist, which is the institution of marriage, and she has a realization that she might have defeated the enemy and freed herself, but the institution being there in the end kills the protagonist.