Emily Choumbakos
Literature Based Research
Erin Lesh
4 May 2014
There is one clear main character, Mrs. Louise Mallard. The story is almost entirely focused on her, her feelings, and her personal mental journey from being a prisoner and a shell of a woman, living in an oppressive, patriarchal society within the confines of a marriage to the elation of newly acquired freedom and a rebirth of that that, for the first time, belongs to her solely.
There are however three other characters in the short story and neither their presence nor meaning is clear, but instead left, perhaps intentionally, ambiguous. These secondary characters are Richards and Josephine, and to a lesser extent, Brently Mallard the husband of Louise. Although Josephine is the one of these that has any lines of dialogue, the role of Richards in the events of the story is arguably much more significant than that of Josephine. He actually serves as the catalyst for the entire story, and without him this hour over which the story takes place would likely be indistinguishable from any other. While there are only five sentences in the story that mention Richards, his character is perhaps the most mysterious and intriguing because of the specific details that are omitted by Chopin and left to be interpreted by the reader. Without any dialogue or insight pertaining to his thoughts or motivations from the narrator his reasons for his actions are uncertain.
Josephine, while still left somewhat undefined, is more easily understood than Richards. She is the sister of Louise Mallard, and so her primary actions, which are consoling her sister, expressing great concern for her and her safety, ad perhaps even being somewhat meddlesome into her sister’s privacy, are all typica...
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...at is the case there could be differing reasons for Richards to not want her to see him. He could be unaware of the rush of freedom she was experiencing, perhaps assuming her to react as women are expected to react upon being widowed with sincere sadness and feared simply the shock would be dangerous for her. The other motivation to keep Louise from seeing Brently must assume that Richards knows Louise well, and is perceives her feeling the confidence and fulfillment in her autonomy. Seeing her experiencing great consummation, and perhaps also seeing her heart and spirit unconstrained, he may have known that not just the shock of seeing Brently alive was dangerous to her heart, but the crushing realization that she was still in the same prison, she did not have any freedom, in fact had never had any, and likely would never have any was the true danger to her heart.
Cal is a character who has to deal with other peoples' problems while having to deal with his own problems. Cal has to deal with his father losing his job and his father doesn't support Cal when it comes to sports. Wanting his dad to go to some of his games, Cal discusses with his mom about his dad coming to the games. "Do you think you and Dad might come?" "No... not tonight, you know your is going through a lot right now." I zipped my gym bag shut. "Yeah, I know, but I wish he'd see me play sometime" (West 16). Helping out Cal, Peggy brings up Cal's last football game at the dinner table, trying to gain her fathers' attention on the subject. "I didn't say anything about the game at dinner that night! like I'd be begging my dad to come, I mean a lot of kids
There are only four mentionable characters, Mrs. Louise Mallard, who is the main character of the short story. She has a weak heart and had her husband presumably die, but then she was secretly glad that he had died. The next character is Josephine, she is Mrs. Mallard's sister who broke the news of Mr. Mallard dying to her sister. There is also Richards, he was the first person to learn of Mr. Mallard's death over a telegram, he also told Josephine, who then told Mrs. Mallard. And lastly, the final character is Mr. Mallard, the man presumed to be dead.
The heroine, Mrs. P, has some carries some characteristics parallel to Louise Mallard in “Hour.” The women of her time are limited by cultural convention. Yet, Mrs. P, (like Louise) begins to experience a new freedom of imagination, a zest for life , in the immediate absence of her husband. She realizes, through interior monologues, that she has been held back, that her station in life cannot and will not afford her the kind of freedom to explore freely and openly the emotions that are as much a part of her as they are not a part of Leonce. Here is a primary irony.
I think Lawrence Berkove thesis is all about Louise mallard 's obsession with herself. She wants to live for her and her only. Lawrence Berkove explains in the first paragraph that there is a deeper level of irony to the story. He also goes on to say that the irony is carefully distinguished between the narrator, author and the Unreliable protagonist.
At this point there seems to be one main character (setting the scene, and the past scene as this is important to the story) but she mentions others as well, which will be involved later on, the first chapter seems to represent the foundation to what is going to happen later on.
If any other characters in Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” were to read Mrs. Mallard’s thoughts, they would surely be horrified. What sort of sane, caring woman would feel joy and relief at the death of her husband? She must be a terrible person, despite her reasoning for those feelings. How could Mr. Mallard have chosen such a woman for his bride? She’s a gem, truly; note the sarcasm. Though, one does have to consider what else there is to Mrs. Mallard. She is a human and there is much more to her than her seemingly ill feelings toward her late husband, such as her desire for freedom, her genuine care for Mr. Mallard, and her capacity to exhibit strong emotions.
When her husband was still with her, she had no identity, she was branded exclusively as Mrs. Mallard, Brently Mallard’s wife. Now, Louise distinguishes that she can finally be her own person and be identified by who she is, not only as someone else’s wife. As Louise departs from her room, she develops into a new person and as Mark Cunningham (2004) writes in his Literary Criticism, The Autonomous Female and the Death of Louise Mallard in Kate Chopin’s “Story of an Hour”, “With Brently’s return, with the reconstitution of her marriage and previous social position, Louise once again vanishes among her husband and her relatives” (para. 3). This explicates that when Louise’s husband was with her, and when he returns, she fades into the background. In the short time Louise is deprived of her husband, she grows into her own identity and this gives way to her feminist ideas. As Louise realizes that she now does not have to live for anyone else in the years to come, Chopin (1894) writes that “There would be no powerful will bending hers” (para. 14). This demonstrates that Louise frequently felt that her husband’s opinion conflicted on hers and she rarely received the attention she deserved. Now, Louise has no one to rule above her, no one to be associated with as lesser than
In life we all have that one person who makes us feel safe,loved or even complete that was my bubbe.Many people have names for there grandmother nanny, grandma,gramie but i called mine bubbe which in the yiddish language means grandma.The day she died July 9th 2014 my world fell apart. there is not a day I do not think about her. Irene Levine was born January 6th 1933. she was born in the bronx’s new York. there are many things I could tell you about my bubbe that she was a phenomenal,selfless,funny person which are all true but what my bubbe really was my hero. my bubbe had a huge impact in my life. my father died when i was ten and my bubbe became a second parent to me. she was there whenever i needed her. I was bubbe only grandchild and
There are only three female characters that are relevant to the story: Caroline Beaufort, Justine Moritz, and Elizabeth Lavenza. These characters have their separate moments of triumph, yet are ultimately viewed as inert in the story. For instance, Caroline Beaufort is portrayed as a compassionate woman who strives to take care of her ill father. After her father dies and she marries Alphonse Frankenstein, little is mentioned of her until she passes away. Justine shows lesser relevance to the main plot, yet she does almost nothing to save her life after being condemned for the murder of William Frankenstein (Shelley, Chapter 8). Elizabeth is somewhat present, but is not seen as an independent character. The fact that she waits around after her wedding night instead of being alert made it easier for her death to occur (Shelley, Chapter 23). The passiveness of women in the novel gives us insight to the lack of roles women had during the 19th century. Another demonstration on the attitudes and roles of women during this time period is portrayed in Hoffmann’s “The
At the beginning of the story, Josephine, Louise’s sister, attempts to break the news of her husband’s death to her “as gently as possible” so as to not cause heart failure (477). The main concern is that Louise will be so devastated over the loss of her husband, that it will cause a premature death, but a factor that many overlook or don’t expect is Louise’s sudden change of heart and her realization of all the freedom she will gain after Brently’s death.
The characters play an important role in showing the true meaning of the story. First, the most important and symbolic character of the story is Goodman Brown. The word ‘Goodman’ has a different meaning beyond its own meaning. The word means a person who is faithful and responsible. This is true in every man, which helps the reader to compare with this main character. For example, before leaving his wife Faith, Goodman replies to his wife shows that he is faithful about his journey, and his journey cannot be avoided at any point: "Amen! Cried Goodman Brown, Say thy prayers, dear Faith, and go to bed at dusk, and no harm will come to thee" (Hawthorne 1). On the other hand, the second symbol of the story is Goodman’s wife named Faith, whose name also has a symbolic meaning. She symbolizes Goodman’s own faith, and it is shown by the Goodman’s description of his wife: “And Faith, as the wife was aptly named, thrust her own pretty head into the street, letting the wind play with the pink ribbons of her cap” ...
The beginning of the novel introduces the reader to Esther O'Malley Robertson as the last of a family of extreme women. She is sitting in her home, remembering a story that her grandmother told her a long time ago. Esther is the first character that the reader is introduced to, but we do not really understand who she is until the end of the story. Esther's main struggle is dealing with her home on Loughbreeze Beach being torn down, and trying to figure out the mysteries of her family's past.
..., Brently Mallard, had now come back to haunt her. This story ends with the death of Mrs. Mallard shock from the arrival of her husband from his business trip. He is greeted by the intense shriek from Josephine, and almost immediately it appears that Louise is greeted by a heart attack which ends her life and the thoughts of having another still imposing on her life.
She is marginalize from society by her partner and she has to live in the shadows of him. She is unbelievably happy when she found out about the death of her husband. She expresses her feelings of freedom in her room where she realize she will live by herself. This illustrates that Louise has been living in an inner-deep life disconnected form the outside world where only on her room away from family and friends she discovers her feelings. It is important to mention that even though Louise has a sister, she does not feel the trust to communicate her sentiments towards her. We discover a marginalization from family members and more surprising from a women, Louise’s sister. The narrator strictly described Louise’s outside world but vividly reveals what is in her mind. At the same time she feels guilty of her emotional state by recognizing that she loved Brently mallard sometimes, her husband. Louise contradict herself but this demonstrates her emotional feelings about her husband disregarding her marriage. The situation of this woman represents the unhappiness and disgraceful life that women had to suffer from their
The novel explores gender roles through the characters of Mrs. Ramsay, Mr. Ramsay, and Lily. Each of these characters embodies different views in regards to gender roles. The readers are taken into their minds and thoughts and are allowed to see what each character views is the role of his/her gender.