Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Analysis of the story of an hour kate chopin
Use of symbolism in story of an hour
Analysis of the story of an hour kate chopin
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Analysis of the story of an hour kate chopin
“The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin is a provocative story that may have kicked-off "modern" feminist literature. Originally written in 1894, the story addresses women’s role in the late 19th century, directing harsh attack against the Victorian ideal of “the Angel of the House” that was mainly dominant at that age and it saw woman as a docile, self-sacrificing, and naive creature that have no sense of individuality. Highlighting such a bold perspective, Chopin’s story reflects the unusual reaction of her protaginist upon learning of her husband’s death. Chopin describes Louise’s emotions as shifting between grief and ecstasy at her newfound freedom. It is through such story that Chopin is able to accantiuate her very outstanding ideology …show more content…
She employs symbolism so that she would be able to reflect her own ideology through the protaginist feelings ,reactions ,and thoughts. She uses positive symbols to foreshadow Louise’s future without her husband who was killed in a railroad accident. This Short story is rich in symbolism “ The open window” is symbolic of the years of opportunity that spread out before her now. She spreads her arms out to welcome the years that will now belong to her absolutely. The “arm chair” is a symbol of relief and comfort that she feels after her husband's death. Moreover, “Heart Trouble” stands for her struggle in her personal life and it also reinforces the “trouble” Mrs. Mallard is having with her “heart” within her marriage. She uses imagery which had a symbolic significance and that is manifisted in "Delicious Breath of rain" is a symbol for hopefulness and is also imagery of taste as in "delicious". "Birds are twittering" is not only an imagery of hearing but also a symbol for optimism after being freed. The symbols and imagery used by Kate Chopin's in “The Story of an Hour” give the reader a sense of Louise’s newfound freedom so it reflect woman’s individuality and selfhood. However, this individuality is considered taboo at as those inner aspirations has run in contradiction to the conservative spirit of her age. Moreover, Louise’s thoughts, dream, …show more content…
That is clear when Chopin made the general tone of this short story is ironical as she made the reader expects something and by the end of the story she changes their expectation. That is because readers expect Mr. Mallard to be dead but at the end of the story it is Mrs. Mallard who died instead and this is situational irony. Moreover, the reader expect that Mrs. Mallard is a fragile woman who suffers from "heart trouble" as Chopin portrayed her. “ She was young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain strength.” There is a paradox here between the two contradictory words that indicate she is not the character we thought she is but a different one , after being released of this marriage that repressed her she feels as a "goddess of victory." With the development of the story Louise starts to change and show her inner feelings and thoughts that reflect Chopin ideology in the story. Furthermore, there is verbal irony in “the joy that kills" as the writer means that she dies out of disappointment after draining her of her dream , not of "the joy that kills " as the doctor said and that reflects that the southern community will never acknowledge women's innermost feelings, individuality, and selfhood. Now we can say that Chopin was ahead of her time in her subject and her approach. The fact that she tackled a very sensitive issues
By contrast, Louise Mallard, the protagonist in Chopin's "Story of an Hour", is a moral woman and loving wife, at least by Western standards. Her life is defined by the accepted social ideal of a husband's will as final. She is so inured to this concept that only upon hearing the news of his death does her true feeling of something "too subtle and elusive to name" (199) come forth. What she acknowledges to herself is that her marriage is not happy for her and she often resents her subservient role and "a kind intention or a cruel intention made the act seem no less a crime".
“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...
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.
Mrs. Mallard is the example of a typical housewife of the mid 1800’s. At the time, most women were not allowed to go to school and were usually anticipated to marry and do housework. During that time, the only way women could get out of a marriage was if they were to die or their husbands was to die. In that time period, the husband had control of all of the money, so it would not be wise if the wife were to leave the financial freedom that was provided by the husband. This is most likely why Mrs. Mallard never leaves her husband’s death, she is sad at first but then experiences an overwhelming sense of joy. This shows that she is not in a fulfilling marriage as his death means she will finally have own individual freedom, as well as financial freedom being the grieving widow who will inherit her husband’s wealth. In the words of Lawrence I. Berkove he states, “On the other hand, Chopin did not regard marriage as a state of pure and unbroken bliss, but on the other, she could not intelligently believe that it was desirable, healthy, or even possible for anyone to live as Louise, in the grip of her feverish delusion, wishes: to be absolutely free and to live totally and solely for oneself.” (3) Mrs. Mallard’s reaction to her husband’s death is Chopin’s way of expressin...
In conclusion, “The story of an hour” is a clear depiction that women status in the society determines the choices they make about their lives. In this work, Chopin depicts a woman as a lesser being without identity or voices of their own. They are expected to remain in oppressive marriages and submit to their husbands without question.
In the opening of this short story, “The Story of an Hour”, written by Kate Chopin, Mrs. Mallard is identified as a woman with “heart trouble”. Although it is never specified in the story as being strictly physical, “heart trouble” alludes to the emotional distress Mrs. Mallard is in at the time according to the heavy burden her marriage lays upon her and her freedom. After her husband’s tragic death in a railroad incident, Louise realizes that now without the weight of a husband upon her, she is free to live her life for herself and as is satisfies her. By being circumscribed to a constricting marriage and not possessing the free will to express thoughts of her own, she is lead to a unique conclusion of her current condition. Louise is
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.
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.
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.
...giving it boundaries and distinctive characteristics about the situation. Setting preys upon reader stereotypes and preconceptions about the certain time frame or location in which the story takes place in order to bring out more meaning. In this work, Chopin develops the story based on the reader's knowledge and understanding of a woman's place in late nineteenth-century America. But the specific setting--the time of year and the structure of the Mallard house--also gives clues to help readers understand Louise and attempt to determine the cause of her death. Louise may die of heart disease, as the doctors say at the end of the story, but setting indicates that the disease was not "joy that kills" (14).
In Kate Chopin’s short story, a woman named Louise Mallard suffered of a heart disease. When her sister Josephine reveals to Louise about her husband’s tragic train accident, causing his death, her reaction was bizarre. After she is notified about her husband’s decease, she goes upstairs and locks herself in her room. She sits on her armchair, looks out her window, and fantasizes about what her life will be like without her husband, Mr. Mallard. Shortly after, Josephine comes for her, thinking Louise will get ill about the news and they both walk down the stairs. To Mrs. Mallard’s dismay, the door flings open: Mr. Mallard was alive! Mrs. Mallard was in shock but mostly disappointed, for the future she dreamed of without her husband was ruined, and dies. According to the doctor she had died of the joy that kills. There is no doubt that Kate Chopin included an abundant of symbolic and ironic references in her short story “The Story of an Hour.”
...ive her life for her own benefit. This is proven by Chopin's use of foreshadowing, the protagonist's realizations, and the effect that the realizations have on her life after the event. The author gives us thorough evidence to support the fact that Louise Mallard experienced an epiphany. Through a close examination of the story, the audience can see that she uses verbal indication that a change will occur. Chopin provides insight into Mrs. Mallard’s outlook on life and the affect this new outlook has. “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.
The descriptions in the story foreshadow the tragedy that ends the story. The author believed unexpected things happen often. In the case of this story, Louise Mallard believed her husband to be dead, having been told this by her sister, Josephine. However, when it is revealed that her husband had been alive the whole time, she is unhappy to see him and suffers a fatal heart attack. While she did have heart trouble, Richards and Josephine thought that the news of her husband’s death, not her seeing him again would be detrimental to her health, possibly even fatal. Chopin succeeded in getting this message across.
Some authors put in words their life experiences that empower them to do their works a mix of emotions capable of touching readers’ hearts, lives, and societies. Kate Chopin’s stories are examples of personal and family situations that affected her drastically, and those hard situations are the inspiration of her works and the reasons of being against chauvinist which marked and distinguished that century. She grew up in a particular family ruled by women in the nineteenth century, and it was the base of her strong feminist thoughts and her disagreement towards societal rules which was illustrated in “The Story of an Hour”
Mallard. Her self-assertion surpassed the years they were married and the love she had for him. She is beginning to realize she can now live for and focus on herself. The text insists “There would be no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself. There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature.” (Chopin 477.) Finally she can live freely and no longer worry about being confined in her marriage and inside her own home. She has come to realization that she is now independent and can think freely and achieves happiness and freedom. She is no longer held down or back by her marriage. She will no longer be someone’s possession she will be free and respected. Her husband Brently returns and he is alive the happiness and freedom she once possessed briefly with the mere image of her deceased husband were quickly torn away. “When the doctors came they said she died of heart disease of joy that kills” (Chopin 477). She was free but still confined without the knowledge of her husband who wasn’t dead. Chopin illustrates at the end that she was free because joy killed her. She was joyous because she was finally set free but she is now once again confined by the grief knowing her husband was not killed