In “The Story of an Hour,” author Kate Chopin presents exactly that, the story of an hour in Louise Mallard’s life. In this particular hour, Louise confronts her husband's death. Louise has heart problems and must be informed of her husband's death in the lightest way. Weeping immediately, Louise mourns in her sister's arms and then moves to her room once her tears are momentarily exhausted. As she sits in her room and peers out of the window, Louise isn't indifferent to the death of her husband. She knows she will cry at the funeral, but she is set in her new independence. However, this independence is cut short, when Brently, Louise Mallard’s husband arrives unscathed by the train that was sure to have killed him. Only moments later, Louise is pronounced dead “of joy” (Lostracco 353). Chopin’s central idea expresses something universal, a longing for independence or personal freedom.
An important element of language that contributes to “The Story of an Hour” is irony. The reader knows all too
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Chopin uses both literal and figurative imagery to elaborate on Louise’s emotions and describe the setting of the story. Louise reacted unlike most women would, weeping “at once, with sudden, wild abandonment and in a “storm of grief” (Lostracco 351) Chopin defines Louise's emotion in such a way that it comes alive. Her emotions are personified in that they “haunt her body” and “reach into her soul” (Lostracco 351) The open window in the bedroom is a place of solace for Louise. A “delicious breath of rain” and “patches of blue sky”, and “a distant song” help create a lighter and free tone (Lostracco 351). Watching the world from her window “inspire[s] joy and hope” in Louise which can be seen in the light springy imagery used to illustrate the setting (Jamil 217). All of the imagery in this story helps describe Louise and her surroundings while preparing the reader for dramatic and ironic
When looking out the window "she was drinking in a very elixir of life” (Chopin). The short story comes to an end with her husband walking through the door and Louise falls dead at the sight of her diminishing dreams. This well known short story is comprehended in many ways deciding the reason of Louise’s death and what “freedom” she experiences.
This is a story of a series of events that happen within an hour to a woman named Louise Mallard. Louise is a housewife who learns her husband has died in a train accident. Feeling joy about being free she starts seeing life in a different way. That is until at the end of the story she sees her husband well and alive. She cries at the sight of him and dies. The story ends with a doctor saying “she had died of a heart disease—of the joy that kills” (Chopin). Even though the story doesn’t describe Louise doing chores at the house like in The Storm we know that she was a good wife because of the way she reacts when she learns that her husband is dead. Louise gets described as “young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain strength” (Chopin). From this line we get a bit of insight into her marriage and herself. We get the idea that she wasn’t happy being married to her husband but still remained with him and did her duties as she was supposed to. In reality her being a good wife was all an act to fit in society’s expectations of a woman being domestic and submissive. As she spend more time in her room alone thinking about her dead husband she realizes life would finally be different for her. She knows that “there would be no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself” (Chopin) For a long time in
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 ...
Kate Chopin’s short story, “The Story of an Hour”, is about a woman, named Louise Mallard, in the late 1800s who is told that her husband, Brently, has died in a railroad accident. Initially, Louise is surprised, distressed, and drowned in sorrow. After mourning the loss, the woman realizes that she is finally free and independent, and that the only person she has to live for is herself. She becomes overwhelmed with joy about her new discovery of freedom, and dreams of all of the wonderful events in life that lie ahead of her. Louise’s sister finally convinces her to leave her room and come back into reality. While Louise is walking down her steps, her husband surprisingly enters through the door because he was actually not killed in the accident. At the same moment, Louise collapses and dies, supposedly from “heart disease-of joy that kills” (Chopin 706).
Throughout the whole short story “The Story of an Hour” the reader sees’ irony but the best usage of irony occurs toward the end of the story in the last few paragraphs. As the reader reads the story they notice that Mrs. Mallard’s husband Brently Mallard died in a railroad disaster. The reader also finds out that Mrs. Mallard has a heart trouble, and great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband’s death. (157) There ar...
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.
Written by Kate Chopin, the short story “The Story of an Hour” follows Louise Mallard, a woman from the nineteenth century who has just received the news that her husband, Brently Mallard, has passed away in a horrific train accident. Immediately Mrs. Mallard is overcome with grief and sorrow, but her mood quickly shifts when she realizes the independence and free-will she will now have. At the climax of her elation for the future, her husband walks through the door. Mrs. Mallard, shocked and speechless, dies of a heart attack. In the short story, "The Story of an Hour," author Kate Chopin utilizes symbolism, diction, and irony to emphasize the effects of Mrs. Mallard's newfound sense of freedom, and how that ultimately results in her death.
The story tells how death gave a woman a taste of the freedom she desired, but also helped her escape from someone who was going to rip it away from her. During the time this story takes place, women had no choice but to listen to what men had to say, and Louise Mallard was never happy with that. The death of her husband gave her a taste of what the freedom she so desired was like. Her death also showed that she valued her freedom more than being with her husband. Chopin used death to show that freedom was what Mrs. Mallard truly needed to be happy and that her marriage restricted her and held her
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.
By using figurative language, Chopin gives the readers a hint regard of the inequality where men hold all the power. During her awakening, Louise fancies of all the “years to come that would belong to her absolutely” where she doesn’t have to live with her husband, her family but for herself (Chopin 90). By using figurative language, Chopin emphasizes that Louise has been devoting to her husband all her life as the society expects a wife to be. Louise has no choice but to satisfy her husband needs both physically and mentally. Therefore, Louise is shocked and overwhelmed with joy where she realizes that she is no longer under control of her husband or the “powerful” which “bending her in that blind persistence” (Chopin 90).
Chopin then takes the reader through the house to Louise's bedroom where the reader discovers another side of Louise; the woman is grateful for losing her husband. Chopin uses metaphors to express the freedom that Louise feels she gained from his husband's death. Terms such as "delicious breath of rain" and " monstrous joy" are used to show the kind of liberty the married woman yearned for and the pleasure that women in that era were forbidden from expressing in public (Chopin,524). The hyperbole, "monstrous joy" exaggerates the description of joy by creating a picture in the mind of the reader of a vast and probably wild
In Kate Chopin’s The Story of an Hour, the main character, Louise Mallard, goes through a drastic change in emotion. When presented with the news of her husband’s death at the beginning of the story, her immediate reaction is naturally to grieve, as most do in such an event. However, as the plot progresses, she begins to feel another emotion overcoming her, one that is initially “too subtle and elusive to name.” Eventually, she is able to recognize this feeling as relief.
The Story of an Hour was written by Kate Chopin and published in a Vogue magazine in 1894. The short story is about a woman with heart disease, Louise Mallard, who is day dreaming about the death of her husband. Instead of falling into grief the way most new widows would, she is overcome with joy and new-found freedom. An hour later her husband comes home and she is over whelmed with the independence she created in her head that she dies. In this story Kate Chopin uses the literary devices of imagery, irony, and symbolism.
Kate Chopin's story, "The Story of an Hour", focuses on an 1890's young woman, Louise Mallard. She experienced a profound emotional change after she hears her husband's "death" and her life ends with her tragic discovery that he is actually alive. In this story, the author uses various techniques-settings, symbolism and irony- to demonstrate and develop the theme: Freedom is more important than love.
Louise is capable of regarding possibilities that are competent of letting her enjoy them in midst of grief. Unfortunately, Louise passes away once discovering that she is not able to achieve her desired lifestyle. Yearning to continue living life in glory, Mrs. Mallard desires to live longer, as, “she was drinking in a very elixir of life through that open window” (Chopin 2). Providing her a clear view of the plentiful delights in which awaits, the open window establishes an innate desire within Mrs.