In the time period when women were treated as property instead of as actual human beings is the basis for a lot of Kate Chopin’s work. Her heterox stance on the world was not liked nor was it approved of, but that only makes her work that much more controversial and interesting. Mrs. Mallard is told by her sister and husbands best friend that he has been killed in a horrific train accident. Mrs. Mallard has a condition that causes her loved ones much worry about the news but surprisingly she takes it extremely well. After coming to terms with the news and actually being happy about having her freedom, her husband walks through the door, the shock causes her to drop dead. In Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” she uses a disturbing scenario to shed light on the way women were trapped in their lives during the turn of the century. In “The Story of an Hour” “The Story of an Hour” is a tragic tale of loss, the loss of a loved one and the loss of freedom which is a key point in this story. Kate Chopin weaves an intricate tale and uses a view point that most people do not when their husband is perceived dead. The thoughts of the freedom that our main character Mrs. Mallard feels as she learns the tragic news is definitely not the emotion that would be expected but for her it truly is release. The story and Kate Chopin’s views on the world all surround the tragedy that she experienced in her own life which has led to countless short stories and books that to this day are widely respected and read. Mrs. Mallard suffers from a weak heart so when she finds out about her husband’s death it is done very carefully. “It was her sister Josephine who told her, in broken sentences; veiled hints that revealed in half concealing” (Chopin par.... ... middle of paper ... ...r” is no different because when her own husband died she to gained a great freedom. The way that Mrs. Mallard reacts in “The Story of an Hour” is truly disturbing but it is thought provoking and really brings out a lot of points about the way that women during the turn of the century actually saw their husbands. Works Cited "Chopin, Katherine (1851-1904)." Encyclopedia of World Biography. Detroit: Gale, 1998. Academic OneFile. Web. 15 Feb. 2014. Chopin, Kate. “The Story of an Hour.” 1894. The Complete Works of Kate Chopin, Vol. 1. Ed. Per Seyerstad. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana UP, 1969. 352-54. Print. Deneau, Daniel P. "Chopin's The Story of an Hour." The Explicator 61.4 (2003): 210+. Academic OneFile. Web. 15 Feb. 2014. Jamil, S. Selina. "Emotions in The Story of an Hour." The Explicator 67.3 (2009): 215+. Academic OneFile. Web. 15 Feb. 2014.
“The Story of an Hour” written by Kate Chopin, published in 1894, tells a story of a woman who believes she will now experience freedom from her repressive marriage. Chopin records the rollercoaster of emotions Mrs. Mallard felt after learning of her husband’s death. Mrs. Mallard experiences strong emotions but not of grief or despre but rather freedom and joy. After the death of her husband she realizes the limitless potential of her own self-assertion. In the story, the reader sees the common view of marriage in the late nineteenth hundreds. Mrs. Mallard felt free from a redistricting and sheltering marriage and becomes self possessed. Later, when Mrs. Mallard learns that her husband still lives, she know that all hope of freedom is gone. With the use of symbolism and characterization, Chopin creates the under lining theme
Chopin, Kate. “The Story of an Hour”. The Seagull Reader: Stories. Ed. Joseph Kelly. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc, 2001. 65 – 67.
Chopin, Kate. “The Story of an Hour.” The Norton Introduction to Literature. Kelly J. Mays, ed. Portable 11th ed. New York: Norton, 2014. 278-280. Print.
Kate Chopin is a phenomenal writer, with two published novels and over one hundred short stories, not only does her writing style keep the reader intrigued, but also the setting, dialect, and history behind her work tell a story all its own. Chopin uses contrast in her writing "The Story of an Hour" through the hints about the quality of Mr. And Mrs. Mallard 's marriage, Mrs. Mallards emotions toward her husband 's death, and Mrs. Mallards death to emphasize her theme of gender roles in a time when women had no rights.
Chopin, Kate. “The Story of an Hour.” Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writing. 3rd Ed. Ed. Laurie Kirszner and Stephen Mandell. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace, 1997. 70-72.
Deneau, Daniel P. "Chopin's 'The Story of an Hour.'." Explicator 61.4 (Summer 2003): 210-213. Rpt. in Short Story Criticism. Vol. 110. Detroit: Gale, 2008. Literature Resource Center. Web. 4 Oct. 2011.
Chopin, Kate. "story of an hour." 19 april 1894. http://www.KateChopin.org. short story. 19 october 2015.
“The Story of an hour” a complex piece of literature by Kate Chopin, has various interpretations to it. This story has, one definite interpretation, which is the following: life has to go on no matter what is happened in the past. In this story, Chopin implies Ms. Mallard’s husband has been very cruel to her in her lifetime. However, she never lets her husband get in the way, finally he dies, and, she thinks she is free although she really is not.
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.
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." Perrine's Literature: Structure Sound & Sense. 11th ed. Belmont: Wadsworth, 2010. 541. Print.
Chopin, Kate. "The Story of an Hour." The Harper Anthology of Fiction. Ed. Sylvan Barnet. New York: HarperCollins, 1991.
The story begins with the passage; “Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble, great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband's death.” The conflict of the story begins here. Mrs. Mallard must be informed of her husband’s death, but there is worry about the condition of her heart and how she will react to the news. The next passage, “It was her sister Josephine who told her, in broken sentences; veiled hints that revealed in half concealing,” explains how this initial conflict was resolved. Two people, both close to Mrs. Mallard and Brentley Mallard, came to inform Louise of the bad news. The information was released to her in broken sentences as hints. This means that they did not walk in and tell Mrs. Mallard her husband had died. They used great care to walk around the subject, to lead Mrs. Mallard to her own conclusion that her husband was now dead. (Chopin)
Chopin, Kate. "The Story of an Hour." The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature. 4th ed. Ed. Michael Meyer. Boston: St. Martins, 1997. 12-15.
In the short story, “The Story of an Hour,” author Kate Chopin presents the character of Mrs. Louis Mallard. She is an unhappy woman trapped in her discontented marriage. Unable to assert herself or extricate herself from the relationship, she endures it. The news of the presumed death of her husband comes as a great relief to her, and for a brief moment she experiences the joys of a liberated life from the repressed relationship with her husband. The relief, however, is short lived. The shock of seeing him alive is too much for her bear and she dies. The meaning of life and death take on opposite meaning for Mrs. Mallard in her marriage because she lacked the courage to stand up for herself.