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Analysis of the story of an hour by kate chopin
How feminism played a part in kate chopin's writing
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For centuries, American literature has served as indication on the power of words to articulate encouragement for change by creating a call to action. Indeed, literature “the art that expresses life in words” (Tanvir, Para. 4) has the ability to transform the comprehensive human race. Consequently, literature serves as a record of all the dreams that made such change a possibility throughout history. Each successive era, literature begins and ends with great writers communicating their own message to their intended readers. When skillfully written, enthusiastic, and engaging a piece of literature possesses the power to create a substantial contribution. One such great writer, Kate Chopin often wrote about an alternative way of thinking in regards to a women’s position in the 19th Century. Chopin was well known for some of the most shaping feminist stories and novels during her time. Accordingly, in her short story “The Story of an Hour” Chopin tells the tale of Mrs. Mallard’s reaction to the death of her husband, instead of fearing the forlorn widow years ahead of her; she falters upon a different comprehension all together. After hearing the news of her husband’s alleged death, Mrs. Mallard retreats to her bedroom in solitude. Although Mrs. Mallard is initially distraught by the news, she sits down, gawks out a window and astonishingly, it is spring and everything comes to life. As the reader takes an expedition with Mrs. Mallard on her revelation of true independence, Chopin’s strong word choice sheds light on and develops ideas that articulate, boost and deepen the content. Truly, her short story is comprehensible and clear-cut; Chopin plainly describes people and objects without wasting any words. While “The Story of an Hour” ...
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...e of structural organization and powerful word choice work as a guide for the readers to gain a better understanding of Mrs. Mallard and an exploration of how she finds herself free after her husband’s sudden death.
Works Cited
Chopin, Kate. The Story of an Hour. Cummings Study Guide, 2006. Web. 10 Feb 2012.
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Tanvir, Nabila. Chief Qualities of Literature. Online Library of Classic English Literature Books.
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Deneau, Daniel P. "Chopin's the Story of an Hour." The Explicator 61.4 (2003): 210-3. ProQuest. Web. 3 Apr. 2014.
Chopin, Kate. "The Story of an Hour." Introduction to Literature: Reading, Analyzing, and Writing.2nd ed.
Mrs. Mallard’s repressed married life is a secret that she keeps to herself. She is not open and honest with her sister Josephine who has shown nothing but concern. This is clearly evident in the great care that her sister and husband’s friend Richard show to break the news of her husband’s tragic death as gently as they can. They think that she is so much in love with him that hearing the news of his death would aggravate her poor heart condition and lead to death. Little do they know that she did not love him dearly at all and in fact took the news in a very positive way, opening her arms to welcome a new life without her husband. This can be seen in the fact that when she storms into her room and her focus shifts drastically from that of her husband’s death to nature that is symbolic of new life and possibilities awaiting her. Her senses came to life; they come alive to the beauty in the nature. Her eyes could reach the vastness of the sky; she could smell the delicious breath of rain in the air; and ears became attentive to a song f...
Chopin, Kate. "The Story of an Hour." Heritage of American Literature. Ed. James E. Miller. Vol. 2. Austin: Harcourt Brace Jovanich, 1991. 487. Print.
Women have traditionally been known as the less dominant sex. They have been stereotyped as being housewives, and bearers and nurturers of the children. Many interesting characters in literature are conceived from the tension women have faced with men. This tension is derived from men, society, and within a woman herself. Even though these stories were written during the 19th century when modern society treated women as second class citizens, in “The Storm” and “The Story of an Hour,” Kate Chopin illustrates how feminine power manifests when the female characters are able to discover their freedom.
Chopin, Kate, and Kate Chopin. The Story of an Hour. Logan, IA: Perfection Learning, 2001. Print.
In Gilman’s story The Yellow Wallpaper, and in Chopin’s story The Story of an Hour are two feminist stories, which freedom is the main theme. In the nineteenth century, women were supposed to take care of their children and obey their husbands. “Women of the mid-19th century had no such choices. Most lived in a state little better than slavery. They had to obey men, because in most cases men held all the resources and women had no independent means of subsistence” (Wojtczak). The Yellow Wallpaper, takes a devastating look at the oppressive relationships between middle class husband and wife, doctor and patient. The Story of an Hour describes a moment of awareness when Mrs. Mallard realizes how she really feels about her life and situation. The news of her husband’s death shocks her into an awareness that seems to overtake her against her will. Mrs. Mallard and the narrator both express they want to be free, but unfortunately they achieve freedom through insanity and death. Freedom is accomplished in an unusual way in The Yellow Wallpaper and The Story of an hour; the freedom these women attained is not readily obtainable to most women in the 19th century.
Chopin, Kate. "The Story of an Hour." The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature. 4th ed. Ed. Michael Meyer. Boston: St. Martins, 1997. 12-15.
Mrs. Mallard is an ill woman who is “afflicted with heart trouble” and had to be told very carefully by her sister and husband’s friend that her husband had died (1609). Her illness can be concluded to have been brought upon her by her marriage. She was under a great amount of stress from her unwillingness to be a part of the relationship. Before her marriage, she had a youthful glow, but now “there was a dull stare in her eyes” (1610). Being married to Mr. Mallard stifled the joy of life that she once had. When she realizes the implications of her husband’s death, she exclaims “Free! Body and soul free!” (1610). She feels as though a weight has been lifted off her shoulders and instead of grieving for him, she rejoices for herself. His death is seen as the beginn...
Chopin, Kate. "The Story of an Hour." Perrine's Literature: Structure Sound & Sense. 11th ed. Belmont: Wadsworth, 2010. 540. Print.
Xuding Wang writes in her essay, Feminine Self-Assertion in “The Story of an Hour”, a strong defense for Kate Chopin’s classic work, “The Story of an Hour”. Wang provides powerful proof that one of the pioneering feminist writers had a genuine desire to push the issue of feminine inequality. Even decades later, Xuding Wang fights for the same ground as Kate Chopin before her. She focuses on critic Lawrence I. Berkove, who challenges that Louise Mallard is delusional with her personal feelings of freedom once she discovers the news that her husband has passed away. The story opens with the line “Knowing Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble” (Chopin). [1] Chopin uses allegory to describe
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.
Koloski, Bernard. "Kate Chopin "The Story of an Hour"" Www.katechopin.org. Kate Chopin International Society, 08 Nov. 2013. Web. 08 Nov. 2013.
Daniel P Deneau. (2003). Chopin's, The Story of an Hour. The Explicator, 61(4), 210-213. Retrieved October 6, 2011, from Research Library. (Document ID: 419206431). http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?index=3&did=419206431&SrchMode=1&sid=3&Fmt=3&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1317923613&clientId=74379
The first reader has a guided perspective of the text that one would expect from a person who has never studied the short story; however the reader makes some valid points which enhance what is thought to be a guided knowledge of the text. The author describes Mrs. Mallard as a woman who seems to be the "victim" of an overbearing but occasionally loving husband. Being told of her husband's death, "She did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance." (This shows that she is not totally locked into marriage as most women in her time). Although "she had loved him--sometimes," she automatically does not want to accept, blindly, the situation of being controlled by her husband. The reader identified Mrs. Mallard as not being a "one-dimensional, clone-like woman having a predictable, adequate emotional response for every life condition." In fact the reader believed that Mrs. Mallard had the exact opposite response to the death her husband because finally, she recognizes the freedom she has desired for a long time and it overcomes her sorrow. "Free! Body and soul free! She kept whispering." We can see that the reader got this idea form this particular phrase in the story because it illuminates the idea of her sorrow tuning to happiness.