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In American novelist’s essay “The Story of an Hour,” Kate Chopin develops a strong argument about her opinion on women’s role in society through the character of Ms. Mallard. Chopin’s subject of this essay is Ms. Mallard’s husband’s supposed death and the freedom it brings her. This subject back her purpose of portraying the idea of how woman can’t be confined and are individuals of their own and not defined by men. To appeal to the audience of the time, Chopin uses many instances of tone, diction, and syntax to draw readers in order to present her views about women’s lives in society of the time. Chopin begins her essay by appealing to the audience’s sympathy of the time. She introduces Ms. Mallard as having a heart problem and explains that she must be treated delicately when delivering the news of her husband’s death, “great care was taken to break to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband’s death” (Chopin, 1). Her diction creates a somber tone and helps her develop credibility by originally conferring with society’s view of women as delicate and feeble. However, her tone quickly changes to almost …show more content…
cynical of society’s view on women. She uses quick and to the point sentences and paragraphs to help move along the essay. Chopin immediately begins to shift the essay to a more feminist view; she does this by showing the strength of Ms. Mallard after she hears the news of her husband’s death. Through tone and description, Chopin shows how Ms. Mallard wasn’t like typical women of the time, she didn’t go into denial like most women were expected to, instead she “ She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister’s arms” (Chopin, 3). Thus, Chopin shows that Ms. Mallard was stronger than most women of the time. Following her development of the strength of Ms. Mallard, Chopin begins to shift the story to portray her purpose even more. Through description and dialogue Chopin begins to show how Ms. Mallard begins to feel free, as if a burden had been lifted. She began to whisper, “Free, body and soul and free” (Chopin, 14). Through Chopin’s concise tone, she clearly explicates her views of women in society and how men affect their lives. Also, her short sentence structure helps draw readers in and helps to clearly make her points and move the essay along. Additionally, in this section of her essay, she explicates the strength to Ms. Mallard by showing how she went off on her own to process the news of her husband’s death. Chopin described how she went over to a chair in the window and “into this she sank” (4). This furthers her quick and concise diction but also adds on to the mysterious tone of the passage. Finally, Chopin proves her point as the essay comes to a surprising end.
As Mallard walks down the stairs in an unexpected state of happiness, her husband walks through the door, and Mallard dies of “…heart disease—of the joy that kills” (Chopin, 19). Chopin uses both tone and irony to both appeal to her audience of the time and to finalize her view on women’s role in society. Her diction is that of surprise and wonder, yet the irony of the essay is prominent. She establishes logos with the audience by making it appear as if the wife died of happiness. However, to the reader, it is known that the wife actually died of lack of joy when seeing her husband alive. Although this brings a dark and mysterious mood to Chopin’s ending of her essay it adequately portrays her stance on how men diminish women’s quality of life and hold them
down. Throughout, American novelist Kate Chopin’s essay “The Story of an Hour,” rhetorical devices are prominently used to depict a clearly feminist tone. Kate Chopin utilizes syntax, diction, and tone, to strengthen her argument about women’s roles in society. Through this usage of rhetorical devices, Chopin validates her view that husbands can diminish women’s freedom and individuality.
Chopin shows that some social pressures and responsibilities can in fact hold one back from their own potential as was Mrs. Mallard. Marriage was introduced as one of these social expectations, and Mrs. Mallard’s internal conflict shows the reader that sometimes it is hard to question these normalities. By creating such an internal visual of Mrs. Mallard, Chopin provides a tale of the true importance of seeing past socialistic deception, and choosing to find happiness beyond
...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.
In “The Story of an Hour,” Kate Chopin exposed the obligations and feelings of a stifled, young woman. The main character, Louise Mallard, thought she might get her freedom back, but the unexpected ending allowed the reader to understand what women experienced during this time, making the reader more connected to the characters. Additionally, readers were moved by the pathos of death, along with the imagery that was utilized by Chopin to make it easier for people to relate with. Her main purpose was to entertain but she also desired to inform the reader about women being repressed. Although this short story seemed quite straightforward, Chopin managed to pull the reader’s emotions in various directions with each new paragraph, using pathos
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.
Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” tries to shed light on the conflict between women and a society that assign gender roles using a patriarchal approach. Specifically Margaret Bauer highlights, that most of Chopin’s works revolves around exploring the “dynamic interrelation between women and men, women and patriarchy, even women and women” (146). Similarly, in “The Story of an Hour” Chopin depicts a society that oppresses women mostly through the institution of marriage, as women are expected to remain submissive regardless of whether they derive any happiness. The question of divorce is not welcome, and it is tragic that freedom of women can only be realized through death. According to Bauer, the society depicted in Chopin’s story judged women harshly as it expected women to play their domestic roles without question, while on the other hand men were free to follow their dream and impose their will on their wives (149).
Chopin reflects her rejection of the “postures of femininity” through her character’s descriptions. She describes her as “young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression.” Describing her as young and calm are what men looked for in a wife in the 19th century. They wanted a submissive woman to tend to their needs as Chopin’s description suggests. Furthermore, Chopin says of her character Mrs. Mallard, “she would live for herself.” Her character believes she will now be free of her marriage, and won’t be “repressed” as aforementioned any longer by her husband. Wives had a natural servitude towards their husbands as husbands worked and went about their lives. All in all, Chopin displays her character as having a joyous moment after the death of her husband because she is let go of being forced into her “femininity.”
A Woman Far Ahead of Her Time, by Ann Bail Howard, discusses the nature of the female characters in Kate Chopin’s novel’s and short stories. Howard suggests that the women in Chopin’s stories are longing for independence and feel torn between the feminine duties of a married woman and the freedom associated with self-reliance. Howard’s view is correct to a point, but Chopin’s female characters can be viewed as more radically feminist than Howard realizes. Rather than simply being torn between independent and dependant versions of her personality, “The Story of an Hour’s” Mrs. Mallard actually rejoices in her newfound freedom, and, in the culmination of the story, the position of the woman has actually been elevated above that of the man, suggesting a much more radically feminist reading than Howard cares to persue.
When people lose close relatives, the natural response is unbearable grief. Yet, in stark contrast, in the short story, “Story of An Hour,” by Kate Chopin, the main character, Louise Mallard feels liberated after her husband’s death. At the beginning of the hour after she learns that her husband is dead, she is both sad and shocked. But, soon, she feels a strong power coming over her: freedom. Kate Chopin contrasts the typical grief that a widow faces with Mrs. Mallard’s “abnormal” reaction to her husband’s death. The author skillfully uses the “death” of Mr. Mallard to illustrate the approach of freedom for Mrs. Mallard. While doing so, Chopin portrays her attitude towards women’s roles in society: women are undermined and trapped in the shell of marriage.
In Kate Chopin's "Story of an Hour" the author portrays patriarchal oppression in the institution of marriage by telling the story of one fateful hour in the life of a married woman. Analyzing the work through feminist criticism, one can see the implications of masculine discourse.
... This woman suffers a tremendous amount from the commitment of her marriage, and the death of her husband does not affect her for long. A marriage such as this seems so unbelievable, yet a reader can see the realistic elements incorporated into the story. This begs the question of how undesirable marriage was during Chopin’s life. The unhappiness felt by Mrs. Mallard seems to be very extreme, but Chopin creates a beautiful story that reflects upon the idea of marriage as an undesired relationship and bond to some women in the nineteenth century.
Mrs. Mallard, in Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour”, lives through many revelations before ultimately leading to her demise. Mrs. Mallards’ acceptance of her husband’s passing brings rise to emotions that can only be described as a “sexual” experience as this “[…] thing […] possess[es] her” (Chopin 552) and eventually results in a new outlook on the situation. In the final seconds of her life, it was not so much a joyful shock that killed her as it was the realization of everything that she had just thought of in the past hour being stolen from her.
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
In the mid 1800s nearly every women in the united states was married by the age of eighteen. This doesn't happen to be the case for the short story written by Kate Chopin “Story of an hour”. Kate Chopin is famous for using irony and foreshadowing to rely a message to her readers. This story a woman finds out that her husband is killed in a railroad accident : unfortunately for the women she has a very serious heart disease which will later lead to her dealth. So that gets us to the main point, when Chopin writes her short story she tries to show her readers the forbidden freedoms of society in her times.
Kate Chopin, author of “The Story of an Hour” written in 1894 was the first author who emphasized strongly on femininity in her work. In the short story, Chopin writes about freedom and confinement Chopin is an atypical author who confronts feminist matter years before it was assumed. The time period that she wrote in women were advertised as a man’s property. The main idea in the short story is to illustrate that marriage confines women. In “The Story of an Hour” the author creates an intricate argument about freedom and confinement Mrs. Louise Mallard longing for freedom, but has been confined for so long freedom seems terrible. Mrs. Mallard wife of Brently Mallard instantly feels free when her husband dies. The reason she feels this way
“There is no perfect relationship. The idea that there is gets us into so much trouble.”-Maggie Reyes. Kate Chopin reacts to this certain idea that relationships in a marriage during the late 1800’s were a prison for women. Through the main protagonist of her story, Mrs. Mallard, the audience clearly exemplifies with what feelings she had during the process of her husbands assumed death. Chopin demonstrates in “The Story of an Hour” the oppression that women faced in marriage through the understandings of: forbidden joy of independence, the inherent burdens of marriage between men and women and how these two points help the audience to further understand the norms of this time.