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Kate chopin's "story of an hour theme
Characterization of Mrs. Mallard in the story of an hour
How kate chopin uses the plot to develop the theme in the story of an hour
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Freedom, and pure joy can be hard to find no matter who you are, but when you have it and there is something standing in your way it can be difficult to act on it. In Kate Chopin's “ The story of an hour” we see that happiness is hard to find and when you find it, it’s truly a marvelous joy and wonder, however if you don’t push and grab it when you can it may be too late. We will see Mrs.Mallard obtain happiness, and when she finally realizes it she has she is overfilled with joy. However when she goes to think and live out her new found freedom reality is slammed back in her face, killing her and her new found freedom.
In the beginning, we meet Mrs.Mallard and get to find out she is a frail woman who “was afflicted with a heart trouble” (Chopin 234) We
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also learn that her husband is a railroad worker and there was a horrible accident in which he was on the “list of killed” (Chopin 234) Her sister Josephine decides she should be the one who tells her the bad news. Brently Mallard's (husband of Mrs.Mallard) had friends that were there to support her in the times of sad news. When the news was told to her it was said very lightly with the fear she would have a heart attack if not said with complete caution. Mrs.Mallard goes into shock and decides to lock herself in her room to think. At first she is over struck with grief and cannot stop crying from the pain. After awhile she lets out her pain and worries she stops to witness something that will change her mindset on everything. She looks outside and hears “Distant song.., countless sparrows” (Chopin 234) When she looks outside the window, she sees something coming for her and as she wonders what it is, she realizes it is her free soul. She stays by the window and realizes her life will be lived by her and only her. She gains strength and power “which she assigns to self-assertion," (Deneau 1) Mrs. Mallard now Realizes that yes she will cry whens she sees the “ cold tender hands folded in death; the face that had never looked save with love upon her” (Chopin 235) but “ She saw a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely” (Chopin 235) Mrs. Mallard can finally see after years of living for her husband and bending to him she is now free. She can now live for herself and doesn't have to worry about anyone but herself. Since her husband isn't there anymore than she feels that she can place self-assertion on herself and never have to be tied down again. Finally there “would be no powerful will bending her in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow creature.” (Chopin) Mrs.Mallard begins thinking about her bright new future and what it holds for. Why was Mrs.Mallard so unhappy though?
Why now is she deciding she wants to be free? The author gives us clues that point to a bad marriage for them both. “Saying she had loved him--sometimes. Often she had not.” (Chopin) Giving us the impression that no actual love was shown for him, and later in the story we find out that Mr.Mallard was no where near his post. The fact he lied to his wife and was nowhere near his work space implied he was cheating. “It is obvious that there is quite a discrepancy between the way Louise and Brently Mallard feel about each other, but all the mystery of the difference is on Louise's side.Whatever her original reason had been for marrying Brently, 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. How, then, would she live?” (Berkove 2) Why Mrs. Mallard stayed with her husband when she was so miserable is unknown, but her reaction of extreme joy and elation about her new found freedom shows that she is happy to be rid of him. While she does she will be sad and would cry over his body she could see brighter and a happier future awaiting
her. She yells out “Free, Free” (Chopin 234 ) over and over again throughout the story allowing herself to realize no longer will she be shackled down but free to make her own choices. When her family hears her they begin to get worried and yell to let them inside her room. She eventually comes outside and she has changed the once dull look in her eyes in the very beginning has changed and there “was a feverish triumph in her eyes” (Chopin 235) She proceeds to grab her sister and walk down the stairs with her new found freedom and happiness which she keeps to herself. As she begins to descend the steps of freedom she looked to she reality. There stood her husband alive and well with no recognition of any accident. Mr. Brently friend Richard tried to block the sight of Mrs.Mallard but he was too late. She died from the sight of her husband and got a heart attack. In the end the incident is described as a “joy that kills.” (Chopin 236) She finally achieved true freedom but when she realized that reality didn't have that planned she became trapped. Happiness and freedom are hard to find and when you do find it keeping is the hard. If she had realized what it was that was stopping her from her freedom maybe life would be different. Not attacking what it was that was making her miserable was her mistake. The message of freedom and self-assertion is a hard one for Mrs.Mallard to attack. When she finally thought she was free to live the life of an independent woman she was so immensely jubilated. Her sorrows and pain melted away with the thought of bright futures, however when reality came and hit her she died. The freedom, time, and independence she saw was gone in a flash because she was too late. If she had went after what she truly wanted then she could have been happy but not stay true to her own feelings lead to her ultimate downfall.
“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
After reading The Story of An Hour by Kate Chopin, Daniel Deneau remarkably breaks down and analyzes the most intense aspects of the short story. Deneau acknowledges simple things such as “the significance of the open window and the spring setting” along with more complex questions including what Mrs. Mallard went through to achieve her freedom. He also throws in a few of his own ideas which may or may not be true. Almost entirely agreeing with the interpretation Deneau has on The Story of An Hour, he brings stimulating questions to the surface which makes his analysis much more intricate.
“Story of an Hour”, Kate Chopin unveils a widow named Mrs. Louise Mallard in which gets the news of her husband’s death yet, the audience would think she would feel sorrowful, depressed, and dispirited in the outcome her reaction is totally unusual. Meanwhile, day after day as time has gone by Mrs. Mallard slowly comes to a strange realization which alters a new outlook over her husband's death. "And yet she had loved him- sometimes. Often she had not. What did it matter! What could love the unsolved mystery, count for in the face of this possession of self-assertion which she suddenly recognized as the strongest impulse of her being!" (Chopin, 2). The actuality that she finds a slight bit of happiness upon the death of a person who particularly is so close to her is completely unraveling w...
In The Story of an Hour, the main character, Mrs. Louise Mallard, is a young woman with a heart condition who learns of her husband’s untimely death in a railroad disaster. Instinctively weeping as any woman is expected to do upon learning of her husband’s death, she retires to her room to be left alone so she may collect her thoughts. However, the thoughts she collects are somewhat unexpected. Louise is conflicted with the feelings and emotions that are “approaching to possess her...” (Chopin 338). Unexpectedly, joy and happiness consume her with the epiphany she is “free, free, free!” (Chopin 338). Louise becomes more alive with the realization she will no longer be oppressed by the marriage as many women of her day were, and hopes for a long life when only the day prior, “…she had thought with a shudder that life may ...
Like in many tragically true stories, it would seem Mrs. Mallard 's freedom came too late. Kate Chopin’s, “The Story of an Hour” begins by introducing Mrs. Mallard as a person afflicted with heart trouble. The story builds on this by having Mrs. Mallard’s sister Josephine and her husband Richard explain the situation in a very sensitive manner. Their efforts would prove to be in vain however as Mrs. Mallard then proceeds to emotionally break down. The news shocks Mrs. Mallard to her very core and has her at odds with how she should feel now that all was said and done. After coming to terms with her situation, fate delivers its final blow in a cruel and deceitful ploy towards Mrs. Mallards. And with that, Mrs. Mallard 's dies. In her hour of change Mrs. Mallard 's was delicate, thoughtful and excitable.
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.
As Mrs. Mallard lets her realization take root she begins to chant, “free, free, free” (Chopin, 75). This shows that she accepts her new fate and knows that she will be okay without her husband. Louise becomes aware that she has been dictated by social expectation and requirement, but now can live for herself once again with no one to answer to. Louise admits, “she would weep again when she saw the kind, tender hands folded in death” (Chopin, 75), but sees her future beyond that now. Social expectations no longer obligate her to be the woman she was. Louise is now able to do what she feels is most beneficial for her as an individual, and not what would be expected in her monogamous
The symbols and imagery used by Kate Chopin's in “The Story of an Hour” give the reader a sense of Mrs. Mallard’s new life appearing before her through her view of an “open window” (para. 4). Louise Mallard experiences what most individuals long for throughout their lives; freedom and happiness. By spending an hour in a “comfortable, roomy armchair” (para.4) in front of an open window, she undergoes a transformation that makes her understand the importance of her freedom. The author's use of Spring time imagery also creates a sense of renewal that captures the author's idea that Mrs. Mallard was set free after the news of her husband's death.
...Mallard’s death up to the reader’s own interpretation, but it seems that she is trying to secretly prove that women do not have to be dependent upon men. Chopin demonstrates throughout the literary work that women can possess joy without having a man by their side, which contradicts the beliefs of the 1800’s society. Chopin’s use of an ambiguous death and irony successfully create an entertaining story that courageously takes a stand for women’s freedom.
Back then, women had a no say in things and were not allowed to work. The men made all of the money, so marrying the only option for women. Divorce was not an option because with no money and no job, running away would prove to be pointless. Therefore, when her husband dies, she can finally break away from the role she is forced to play which is that of the perfect wife, and can stop holding herself back. In fact, after a brief moment of sorrow she is overjoyed with the sense of freedom and just as she is going to open the door and leave forever, Mr. Mallard opens the door very much alive.
The “Joy that Kills” ends this dynamic short story, as well as Louise Mallard’s life. As the audience reads about Mrs. Mallard’s epiphany, it is likely they experience realizations of their own. Works Cited for: Chopin, Kate. “The Story of an Hour.” Backpack Literature.
Upon coming to the realization that her husband did not die in a tragic railroad incident as she was told by her sister Josephine and her husband’s friend Richards, in the most delicate manner due to her heart troubles, Mrs. Mallard dies suffering from a heart attack. The doctors claim that the cause of her heart attack was from a “joy that kills”(Chopin, Page 3). Throughout this short story, the author Kate Chopin, focuses on visualizing the emotions and the role that the women of the 19th century had as wives. And so, Kate Chopin shows the role of women and what is expected of them by telling a story of a woman who experiences an emotional transformation as soon as she finds out she is a widow. The emotional transformation that Mrs. Mallard
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.
Chopin describes her as a fragile woman. Because she was “afflicted with a heart trouble,” when she receives notification of her husband’s passing, “great care was taken” to break the news “as gently as possible” (1). Josephine, her sister, and Richards, her husband’s friend, expect her to be devastated over this news, and they fear that the depression could kill her because of her weak heart. Richards was “in the newspaper office when the intelligence of the railroad disaster was received, with Brently Mallard’s name leading the list of killed” (1). He therefore is one of the first people to know about his death. Knowing about Mrs. Mallard’s heart, he realizes that they need to take caution in letting Mrs. Mallard know about it. Josephine told her because Richards feared “any less careful, less tender” person relaying the message to Louise Mallard (1). Because of her heart trouble, they think that if the message of her husband’s death is delivered to her the wrong way, her heart would not be able to withstand it. They also think that if someone practices caution in giving her the message, that, ...
She has now found a new desire for life. However, without warning, the tone abruptly reverts back to its grief stricken “ horror.” As Mr. Mallard walks in the door, her thoughts, dreams, and aspirations, quickly fade away. Louise’s heart, so weak, simply stops and all bliss transfers into extreme heartache. The drastic changes of tone reveals that freedom can be given and taken from someone in a heartbeat and the heartache will always remain.