She was simply trapped in a life that she did not want to be in. Louise Mallard was not happy. The unhappy marriage that she was involved in and the heart trouble that she dealt with took a major toll on Mrs. Mallard’s life. She struggled with many different things in her life but the death of her husband gave her a slight bit of relief. It all came down to, “In truth, Louise was sick, mentally and physically” (Berkove para. 14) The short story “The Story of an Hour” expresses the theme of freedom by the initial impression, liberty of freedom, and an ironic twist.
Kate Choppin wrote the short story “The Story of an Hour” in 1894. During the time of the story Louise was married to Bentley Mallard. Louise was afflicted with heart trouble so the news of her husband’s death had to be broken to her gently. As we see in the story Louise reacts like any other wife would when hearing that their husband had just been killed in a railroad disaster but once Louise is off in her bedroom by herself, she is overcome with relief. In this time period we know that woman had a tough job, it was a time period where women really did not have that much of say so in what went on. The man was always the head of the house.
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Louise is now able to live the way she wants to live. She knows that she is no longer a shadow to her husband and “whatever her original reason had been for marrying Bentley, it is clear now that feeling the way she does about him she would be better off not being married. Her love for herself--"she would live only for herself"--does not leave room for anyone else” (Berkove para. 9) She was truly free. Some might think Louise was selfish, she had a sense of joy that her husband was dead. Although she might be selfish, she see’s her life as hers now, not having to live for anyone but herself. In the end, the Ironic twist will take her freedom right from
Louise left the country to go stay with Albert Hardy and his family in the city, so she could attend school. Louise was very lonely growing up, her mother died when she was an infant and her father never showed her much love. When moving to the city she found herself to be even lonelier than before. Although she was living with the Hardy family which consisted of Mr. Albert, his two daughters, and his son John Hardy. Louise craved some type of companionship. Louise had a plan to make John Hardy her new companion, she
She seemed to have felt free for the first time in who knows how long. “She was drinking in the very elixir of life through the open window.” [18] Louise’s seemed to be getting a fresh start at life and she seemed so relieved to be able to enjoy it. Her marriage sounded problematic in her eyes. She could have been a house wife who grew bored after countless years of the same song and dance. I see marriages all the time that seem to have “stood the test of time” and both the husband and the wife seem miserable. The death of Brently may have opened up a door to a new life that Louise was anxious to
Thelma and Louise escaped for a weekend getaway. These were two women that wanted to get away from their day to day lives and live a little. Louise had her own place, car and a job at the diner. Thelma was longing and regretful of her early marriage to her husband, Darrell. Since the young age of 16, she has been with the same man. Thelma had accepted her life and the way she was treated. Louise didn’t think highly of Darrell and thought Thelma could do much better. As they were on their way, Thelma admitted to only leaving Darrell a note. Louise is the leader of the two women and wants Thelma to have her fun. Harlan is a local guy that hangs around and notices Thelma. He begins to give her attention, which she doesn’t get from Darrell.
Eglin and Louise never remarry, he does not treat her, she is left to her own devices and Eglin goes on with another girlfriend. The narrator, after a failed love attempt to Gail; they seem to live with each other, went on to find that it is important to go get what you love, and goes searching for Louise. The narrator is not pleased with Gail. She searched for Eglin, fought him, and sent him to the hospital. After searching for several weeks, the narrator returns home to find that Gail has changed things around the house and the narrator feels sad that finding Louise, the greatest endeavor, is futile. At the last moment, Louise is seen in the kitchen; albeit weakened and visibly ill, but she is there.
Lawrence Berkove believes that the story was about self-assertions which were the cause of Louise Mallard 's death. She was obsessed with the thought of living for herself. Lawrence Berkove called her immature, egotist and a victim of her own self-assertion.
...t the end of the story shows that liberation of women in a society ruled by a patriarchal mindset is doomed to fail (Wan 169). According to Wan, the story of an hour is a true depiction of representation of women in the nineteenth century when movements against oppression of women began to emerge (170). Although the outcomes were not as tragic as depicted in the story, it was obviously a journey filled with many challenges, and the fact that a viable resolve is yet to be achieved to date shows the issue of gender equality is grim.
In “The Story of an Hour,” after Louise is informed of her husband’s death she goes to her room. From her room Louise describes what she sees out the window as a new spring life representing her new found freedom. Then she sits down and during that time discovers her freedom.
First, the 1900’s is a time where women are trying to put away the homemaker image and obtain work. This causes many hardships between husbands and wives. Jane is on the verge of beginning to leave her homemaker image and begin a career in writing. “I am sitting by the window now, up in the atrocious nursery, and there is nothing to hinder my writing much as I please, save lack of strength” (Gilman, 1599). Jane is starting to recognize that she is loosing her feminism. John recognizes this and tries to do everything he can to stop Jane. John knows that Jane is putting aside her role as being a wife, homemaker and mother. In these times, husbands’ do not believe that women could balance both home and work responsibilities. Jane decides to oppose the homemaker life and branch out into writing. The feminist role is “The concept of "The New Woman," for example, began to circulate in the 1890s-1910s as women are pushing for broader roles outside the home-roles that could draw on women's intelligence and non-domestic skills and talents” (http:/...
Louise’s fate was tragic. But still I think that it’s better to live an hour of freedom and happiness than to spend an entire lifetime in the shadow of the “gray cloud”. Louise experienced real freedom that meant the absence of her husband’s domination. The irony of life killed her too early, but it seems to me that there is no need to feel pity for her. Even if it was a short hour, it was the time when all her dreams came true. She found the freedom from her husband that her lonely soul was searching for, and just for this we can consider her as a really happy woman.
Mrs. Louise Mallard has a "weak" heart. In Louise 's case, a reader also can see the disenfranchised woman who was not able to guide her own life due to the social constraints of a male-dominated society. Louise 's reaction to her husband 's death was shocking even to herself. As she is told the news, Louise goes to her room to be alone. The fact that "she would have no one follow her" could possible symbolize the beginning of her acceptance and understanding that "she would live for herself." She wanted to be alone in order to allow her emotions to react freely to the news of her husband 's death. This clearly shows that the protagonist can’t allow herself to show her emotions in public. She’s scared of being
Brently opens the door at the end of the story, and Louise is surprised to find her husband alive. She was shocked and died of a heart attack. Ironically, the doctor declares “she died of heart disease--of the joy that kills” (Chopin). In the movie we saw, it was different. Louise was kept in the house because Brently is afraid that she might die or because he is afraid that seeing the world could give her an idea to rebel against him.
Many people interpret that Louise passes away from shock and disappointment from discovering her husband is actually alive. They feel that when Louise finally accepts that her husband is deceased and she discovers freedom, that seeing her husband alive causes her to get depressed, go into shock, and die. On the other hand, a more unique interpretation of Mallard’s death would be that she passed away from excitement and anxiousness from being completely independent, and having various opportunities in store for herself. Mallard may have not been able to handle the new exhilaration directly after experiencing deep depression and grief from the news of her husband’s accident. Some supporting evidence that Louise did not collapse from seeing her husband alive, is that the passage never directly states that she actua...
Louise has turned into a little girl that must depend on man to take care of her. Louise pleads with Brently to go to the gardens of Paris. She begs like a child begging for something that is impossible to give. Brently must lock her up in their home to protect her from her curiosity and need to see the world. The filmmakers do not give her the commonsense to realize the dangers she would face in seeing Paris and all the other places she would like to visit. Louise remains the little girl in the flashbacks and Brently has replaced her dead father as the soul keeper of her world. Brently must protect her from the world and herself. She is made to be completely dependent on him from her everyday needs to being her only window into the outside world. There are no female positions of authority in her life. Aunt Joe is left in the background and Marjorie must ultimately answer to Brently. Louise is left to see men as the only authority in her life. She herself as a woman must feel powerless to the will of men. Brently even chooses the destinations of their daily visits to far off and exotic places. These excursions are Louise's only escape. Brently is made to be her captor and savior at the same time. Her fate is completely dependent in his yet she is given no control of either.
...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.
Louise Mallard finds personal strength in her husband's death, ready to face the world as a whole person "She breathed a quick prayer that life might be long. It was only yesterday (prior to her husband's death) she had thought with a shudder that life might be long." The strength conveyed in the image of Louise carrying "herself unwittingly like a goddess of Victory" is unmistakable. However, the irony that her husband lives, and therefore, she cannot, conveys the limited options socially acceptable for women. Once Louise Mallard recognizes her desire to "live for herself," and the impossibility of doing so within the bounds of her marriage, her heart will not allow her to turn back.