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Story of an hour critique
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Thesis statement for symbolism story of an hour by kate chopin
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The Story of an Hour
“The Story of an Hour” was written by Kate Chopin, she uses irony to describe the oppressive and unhappy nature of marriage during her time. Chopin wrote about subjects that were considered taboo and not very traditional for her time. In “The Story of an Hour”, Chopin’s main character is named Mrs. Mallard, she is a young lady who is trapped in an unwanted and oppressive marriage. Chopin uses situational irony and dramatic irony thought out her story. She uses symbols to create an ironic tone throughout the story. Chopin’s unexpected plot makes the reader question what is truly happening in her story.
At the beginning of the story is when we find out that Mrs. Mallard has a heart problem, this is one of the symbols we encounter. Situational irony is used when Mrs. Mallard finds out her husband had died, this wouldn’t be considered the typical reaction to having a loved one pass. Another time Chopin uses situational irony is when Mrs. Mallard locks herself in her room. Mrs. Mallard starts to cry not for grieving her husband’s death, but she is finally free from her husband’s oppression. Mrs. Mallard didn’t know what to think about it at first. It was as if she was in shock and didn’t know what to do, this is probably because her husband controlled every
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aspect of her life. When reading the story, it becomes clear that Mrs. Mallard’s heart problem was more of a broken heart rather than a heart disease or any other type of medical illness. Her broken heart seemed to be the main reason why she died at the end of the story. It’s ironic how Asbury 2 Mrs. Mallard didn’t die because she was feeling overjoy of seeing her husband alive but realizing that she had just lost her new-found freedom. Mrs. Mallard was a woman who was trapped in a world that was dominated by men. According to Kathleen Wilson, “the role of women” is one of the themes in “The Story of an Hour”. She talked about how Mrs. Mallard “identity and selfhood” is another theme and how Mrs. Mallard is only known as a wife at the beginning of the story and not but of her relationship with Mr. Mallard. At one point, Mrs. Mallard wondered if she was truly happy in her marriage. Wilson stated that Kate Chopin was making comments on the 19th-century marriages. Mrs. Mallard knows that her husband was a good man and that he truly loved her. However, he thinks that he can control her every move just because he is Mrs. Mallard’s husband. Back in the 19th-century men controlled every aspect of the marriage and left little to no control over the women. Women had to be married at a young and with a marriage that wasn’t built on love. Women had to do whatever the man asked of them without hesitation. Mrs. Mallard wanted to be free of that control, to do whatever she wanted without having to face any consequences. Another symbol that occurs in the story was when Mrs. Millard was sitting by the open window. The Open window can be interpreted as a new beginning and new-found freedom. Kate Chopin has a way of making her images come to life in her stories. Chopin sets the tone of a new beginning when she describes, “The delicious breath of rain was in the air” (543). The smell of the rain, the clouds, and the incoming storm implies that Mrs. Mallard’s unwanted marriage is coming to an end and that a new chapter is starting. According to Mary E. Papke, when Mrs. Mallard was looking out her window it was as if “She is like both a tired dreaming a sad Asbury 3 dream and a young woman self-restrained but with hidden strengths”. I think Papke is referring to the new-found freedom that Mrs. Mallard had found when finding out her husband had passed. Another form of irony that Chopin uses is dramatic irony when Mrs. Mallard realizes she is free from her husband. She takes a deep breath and whispers three words, “free, free, free!” (543). Mrs. Mallard sees the chance to live the rest of her life for herself and become her own self. She now looks forward to the rest of her life, rather than dreading every minute of it as she once did with her husband. Mrs. Mallard’s freedom starts to disappear the moment she starts to turn away. The window Mrs. Mallard is looking into is another symbol in Chopin’s story. The window represents a new beginning for Mrs. Mallard. The moment Mrs. Mallard turns away is when her new-found freedom starts to diminish. After Mrs. Mallard turns away from the window she opens the door and goes down the stairs with her sister. The story describes Mrs. Mallard as having a new-found confidence in herself that she never had before, “There was a feverish triumph in her eyes, and she carried herself unwittingly like a goddess of Victory” (544). When describing Mrs. Mallard as a “goddess of Victory” Chopin is saying that Mrs. Mallard is free from the repression that she had faced in her marriage. What Mrs. Mallard doesn’t know is that her husband isn’t really dead, he didn’t even know that there was an accident that occurred. Mrs. Mallard’s husband walks through the doors caring grip-sack and umbrella. As soon as Mrs. Mallard sees her husband is when she dies of a broken heart. When her husband stepped back into the house she realized at that moment her new-found independence and freedom had vanished. Mrs. Mallard dies not because she is overjoyed that her husband is alive, but that she has tasted what her life might have been without her husband. The idea of picking her life back Asbury 4 to where it was made her heartbreak.
She didn’t want to continue her life as it was with her husband being in it, Mrs. Mallard was miserable and unhappy. The doctors arrived at the house and said, “she died of a heart disease- of joy that kills” (544). As Xuemei Wan has noted, “From this point of view, maybe the doctors’ diagnosis is right that Mrs. Mallard did die of joy, but the delight is not from the good news that her husband is still alive, but from the death in which she acquires an immortal freedom. All the conventional conflicts are deconstructed and are not existent for her any longer” (169). Xuemei means that Mrs. Mallard dies because she knows that she will be at peace and
free. “The Story of an Hour” was one of Kate Chopin stories that use irony to describe the oppressive and unhappy nature of marriage during her time. Chopin wrote about subjects that were considered taboo and not traditional for her time. Writing about stories that were normally frowned upon made Chopin face a lot of criticism. Chopin’s adds an unexpected twist in her stories to draw the reader in. “The Story of an Hour” is very ironic, but it shows us that marriage isn’t always what it appears to be. Asbury 5 Work Cited Chopin, Kate. “The Story of an Hour”. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. 9th edition. Robert S. Levine. New York, NY. 2006.,542-544. Mary E. Papke, “Kate Chopin’s Social Fiction,” in Verging on the Abyss, Greenwood Press, 1990, pp. 62-4. "The Story of an Hour." Short Stories for Students, edited by Kathleen Wilson, vol. 2, Gale, 1997, pp. 263-277. Gale Virtual Reference Library, http://link.galegroup.com.db23.linccweb.org/apps/doc/CX2694900026/GVRL?u=lincclin_sjrcc&sid=GVRL&xid=8ca11127. Accessed 11 Mar. 2018. Wan, Xuemei. “Kate Chopin’s View on Death and Freedom in The Story of an Hour.” English Language Teaching, vol. 2, no. 4, 17 Dec. 2009, doi:10.5539/elt.v2n4p167.
The Story of an Hour is a short story of Ms. Mallard, a woman with a heart condition who receives short term good news. Chopin uses contrast between independence, marriage, and gender to show how hidden emotions can effect a woman’s actions in the time period where women did not have much power or right to speak what came to their mind.
In the short story “The story of an Hour”, the author, Kate Chopin, clearly communicates the story’s theme which is having a restricted amount of freedom. In other words, the theme is confinement. In order to develop and explain the theme, Chopin uses irony throughout the entire short story. When the speaker states, “She did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance.” (REFERENCE) this indicated that Louise Mallard did not refuse the news of her husband’s death. On the contrary, she shed tears of joy because she was no longer stuck in a repressed relationship. Also, she started visualizing her new life full of freedom while confining herself in her bedroom. “The Story of an Hour” uses symbols, foreshadowing and irony to explore Mrs. Allard emotional hour after her husband’s death.
A very dull and boring story can be made into a great story simply by adding in something that is unexpected to happen. When the unexpected is used in literature it is known as irony. An author uses irony to shock the reader by adding a twist to the story. The author of “The Story of an Hour” is Kate Chopin. Her use of irony in the story is incredibly done more than once. Irony is thinking or believing some event will happen but in return the unexpected or opposite occurs. Kate Chopin uses two types of irony in this short story. Situational irony refers to the opposite of what is supposed to happen, and dramatic irony occurs when the audience or reader knows something that the rest of the characters in the story do not know. Kate Chopin does a great job in placing irony into this short story and makes the reader understand that the unexpected happens in life.
In Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour”, it talks about marriage and a woman’s life in the 1800’s. This story illustrates the stifling nature of a woman’s role during this time through Mrs. Mallard’s reaction to her husband’s death. When Mrs. Mallard obtains news that her husband is dead, she is hurt after a brief moment and then she is delighted with the thought of freedom. This story shows how life was in the mid 1800’s and how women were treated around that time.
The use of irony is integral to the plot of "The Story of and Hour" by Kate Chopin. Situational irony is used to surprise the reader and add an interesting twist to Mrs. Mallard's discovery of her husband's death. Dramatic irony is used to give the reader insight into Mrs. Mallard's situation. The use of irony serves to make the story more interesting and the ending becomes a complete surprise to the reader.
Mallard at the end of the story stands for the suffrage of women during this time to be free. She would rather die than lose her newfound freedom. Chopin’s biography before the story states “[t]he loss of her husband, however, led to her assuming responsibilities…Eventually devoting herself entirely to writing” (30). Her success was found only after she was free from her marriage; Chopin herself could have been hinting to the fact the she would have rather died than lose her own freedom. Chopin also uses the heart condition to kill Mrs. Mallard. She writes “the doctors…said she had died of a heart disease—of the joy that kills” (32). The metaphor of the heart condition standing for the weakness put on women returns with her husband. She is no longer strong and free; she is weak and trapped by her marriage. Chopin uses this purposely to show that women are weak in marriage and need to be set
Analysis of “The Story of an Hour”. In her story “The Story of an Hour,” Kate Chopin (1894) uses imagery and descriptive detail to contrast the rich possibilities for which Mrs. Mallard yearns, given the drab reality of her everyday life. Chopin utilizes explicit words to provide the reader with a background on Mrs. Mallard’s position. Chopin uses “She wept at once,” to describe Mrs. Mallard’s emotional reaction once she was told her husband had been “Killed.”
Mrs. Mallard was at first overjoyed with freedom because her husband was supposedly “dead,” yet at the end of the story, Mrs. Mallard comes face to face with Mr. Mallard. A whole new wave of emotions overcame Mrs. Mallard as she laid eyes on her husband instantly killing her from “a heart disease-of joy that kills.” It is ironic how Mrs. Mallard is overjoyed about her husband’s death, and she ended up dying because she found out he was alive instead. Her joy literally was killed, killing her on the inside as
Kate Chopin employs the tool of irony in "The Story of an Hour" to carefully convey the problem inherent in women's unequal role in marital relationships. Chopin develops a careful plot in order to demonstrate this idea, one not socially acceptable at the end of the 19th century, and unfortunately, a concept that still does not appreciate widespread acceptance today, 100 years later as we near the end of the 20th century. Louise Mallard's death, foreshadowed in the initial line "Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with heart trouble" takes on quite a different meaning when the plot twists and the context of her sudden death is presented unexpectedly, not upon her shock at her husband's death, but instead in her inability to endure the fact that he lives.
Mallard’s emotions over the presumed death of her husband. The author used both dramatic and situational irony to mislead the reader and surprise them with a plot twist ending. By utilizing both external and internal conflict the author expresses the internal debate of Mrs. Mallard’s true feelings and those of the people around her. The author used symbolism to display Mrs. Mallard’s desire for freedom from her marriage. In the end it was not joy that killed Mrs. Mallard but the realization that she lost her
Kate Chopin’s short story "The Story of an Hour," utilizes superb symbolism and elucidating points of interest with a specific end goal to differentiation Mrs. Mallard 's everyday and dreary life. Chopin utilizes symbolism and expressive subtle elements to differentiate the rich conceivable outcomes for which Mrs. Mallard longs with the dull reality of her regular life. The main theme of this story is “the quest for identity” because Louise’s sudden self-discovery shows that she had been seeking her own identity in a male-dominated world at the time. Kate Chopin wrote this in the 19th century when males were “dominate” and females were “passive.” Mr. Brently’s "death" was what initiated her “quest for Identity” without him “dying” she would have never thought about how
Kate Chopin’s The Story of an Hour is a brilliant short story of irony and emotion. The story demonstrates conflicts that take us through the character’s emotions as she finds out about the death of her husband. Without the well written series of conflicts and events this story, the reader would not understand the depth of Mrs. Mallard’s inner conflict and the resolution at the end of the story. The conflict allows us to follow the emotions and unfold the irony of the situation in “The Story of an Hour.”
Kate Chopin is able to illuminate her stories with clever language and meaning. As well as an immense criticism as to how society oppresses the individual in the glorified institution of marriage. Through language, she is able to introduce the thought of deeper meanings. “The Story of an Hour” being a prime example of the individual that has a need for freedom for herself. Through symbolism and straightforward comments, the freedom that Mrs. Louisa Mallard is notable just as her marriage is oppressive.
Irony can often be found in many literary works. “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin is masterfully written full of irony. The characters of the short story, Mrs. Mallard, Josephine, Richards, Mr. Brently Mallard, and the doctors all find their way into Chopin’s ironic twists. Chopin embodies various ironies in “The Story of an Hour” through representations of verbal irony, dramatic irony, and situational irony.
Since Kate Chopin has used different types of literary devices, it is good to know the definition to those word to better understand “The Story of An Hour”. This story uses a lot of irony throughout the whole passage as well as imagery and symbolism. Each literary device has been set within its own meaning in the story. Using these literary devices that Kate Chopin used, it was what helped make the story into a great one. it makes it be more descriptive in the way the reader views things while reading it.