...Kate Chopin was a famous American author writing during the Realism Era, in the late 1800s. She wrote many short stories, one of the most famous being The Story of an Hour, published in 1894. The story features many characteristics of realism, like all of Chopin’s works, which were all successful. In The Story of an Hour, Kate Chopin writes about the happiness of a woman after she learns her husband dies. An idea that shocks, bothers, and empowers, like most of Chopin’s realist works. Three main factors made Chopin’s works so powerful. First, Kate Chopin’s writing was influenced by many things, among which the varied events in her life. Chopin had five children with Oscar Chopin, a French businessman who she lived with in New Orleans. She...
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...Analytic Review of “Story of an Hour” ENG125: Introduction to Literature Instructor: Rozlyn Truss-Linder 12/3/2012 2 When reading “The Story of An Hour” by Kate Chopin, I found myself very intrigued by both the author and the story. This short story is full of instances and characters the mirror Kate’s own life and tell volumes about the kind of woman she was. There was also quite a bit of the character development that really pointed to the historical movements of the time. I am impressed that the imagery is so complete and clear that the story really seems to come alive as you read. After careful consideration I decided that the best method to analyze this story and all of its components is through a Biographical/Historical approach. The Story of An Hour is a short story that describes a scene involving a woman whose sister has informed her that her husband was killed in a railroad accident. In this story, the young woman who suffers from a heart condition, immediately goes into hysterical weeping and retires to her bedroom where after a short time she comes to a realization that she is free to live her own life and that this could be a positive turning point for her and emerges a new woman, strong and ready to face whatever awaits her. It is only a short time later that she leaves her room and goes out to experience this new existence when to her surprise her husband shows up at the door unharmed and she falls dead. In the beginning of the story we meet a character...
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...The Story of An Hour by Kate Chopin analysis In the following I will analyse the short story “The Story of An Hour” by Kate Chopin. The short story is written on April 19 1894. In the short story we are introduced to 4 characters: Louise Mallard, Josephine, Richard and Brently Mallard. Louise Mallard is the main character in the story. Louise Mallard is married to Brently Mallard. She was afflicted with a heart trouble. Louise lived in an unhappy marriage. “And yet she had loved him- sometimes. Often she had not”. At first when she hears that her husband has been killed in a railroad accident she is miserable, but then she turns out fine. She becomes happy and feels free. “She was young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain strength.” She has a dull stare in her eyes. Josephine is Louise Mallards sister. Her husband is Richard. She is the one telling her sister about Brently’s death. Richard is a friend of Brently Mallard and he is also married to Josephine. He is the one seeing Brently’s name leading the list of killed persons in the railroad accident. Brently Mallard is Louise Mallards husband. First he is assumed dead but in the end of the story it reveals that the news about his death was a mistake. The story is set in the home of Louise and Brently Mallard. When Louise is informed about her husband’s death she went into her own room to be alone where she sits down in a comfortable roomy armchair facing the window...
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...Kate Chopin had many obstacles to overcome throughout her lifetime. She lived a very traumatizing and detrimental life. By spending her childhood in St. Louis, Missouri in the late 1850’s, Kate Chopin knew what it felt like to be discriminated against. St. Louis was a city widely recognized as a prejudice state during the late nineteenth century (Chopin 651). The city was also known for being the sight of the Dread Scott trial. Kate Chopin experienced “many acts of injustice at an early age and she was conformed into being a stereotype of the structure” (Chopin 654). Another impediment that Kate Chopin overcame was not having a male figure in the household. She lost her father at the age of six in a train accident and her brother George died after being imprisoned (Chopin 646). Instead of looking at her past as being harmful, she used the negativity and channeled the energy into writing award- winning novels and stories. By being a feminist writer, Chopin uses realism and writes stories that characterize her childhood and life experiences. Kate Chopin’s, “The Story of an Hour” explores the negative views of marriage injustices by being under a man’s control during the latter-part of the nineteenth century in America. The historical context of Chopin’s, “The Story of an Hour” really describes why this story is written. Chopin constructed this piece of literature during the late Romantic Period, which encompasses the years of 1850-1890. Throughout this time, the United States...
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...Kate Chopin is one of the most famous writers in 19th century. Her short story “ The Story of An Hour” is one of the most outstanding works in her numerous novels. Although the length of this story is short, and it has less than two-thousands words, it wins the favor of many critics because its exquisite language, dramatic plot, changing creative skills, and deep themes. This story tells readers a one hour story in Mrs. Mallard’s life. Mrs. Mallard has heart disease, so her sister and her husband’s friend tell the news of Mr. Mallard’s death very carefully. They both think when Louise hears the news, she will get sick. However, Mrs. Mallard feels very excited, even looks like a goddess of Victory. Though the news makes her sad, she finally...
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...Running head: ESSAY 6.1: THE STORY OF AN HOUR Essay 6.1: The Story of an Hour Jeremy Todd Macy ITT Technical Institute Essay 6.1: The Story of an Hour Freedom!!! Liberation!!! The idea of living your life for yourself, not others; it is something that we all dream of at some point in our lives, but how many of us actually achieve that? Whether we feel trapped in a job that we hate, a bad friendship, or a bad marriage, there is something inside us that yearns to be free. We long for that weight to be taken off of our shoulders. Kate Chopin’s The Story of an Hour takes us through these emotions, only to find out at the end that these emotions are fleeting, and then reality sets in. What will be discussed in this paper is the plot of the story and those feelings that are experienced, Kate Chopin’s life experiences and how that experience influenced this story, as well as my reaction to the story. The story starts off with Mrs. Mallard( we don’t know her first name) being told some distressing news. Josephine, her sister, is trying to relay this horrible news in the most delicate matter. Mrs. Mallard has severe heart problems, although she is young. Brentley, her husband, was killed in a train accident. She weeps, with “sudden, wild abandonment”, at the news (Woodlief, Study Text). She then sinks into an armchair, and begins to ponder the future. The sky opens up, showing the calming blue. Her horizons seem to broaden, she gets a feeling of starting over, fresh. She is still...
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...Hannah Radney Professor Andrew J. DiNicola English 1102 July 22, 2014 Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour”: Character Analysis of Louise Mallard Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” (1894) is a fictional short story presumably set in America in the late 19th century. Chopin’s story is a description of an hour in the life of Louise Mallard, the protagonist in the story. The subject of the story is the transformation of Louise Mallard after she learns about the supposed death of her husband, Brently Mallard; what she thinks and how she feels as she is alone and contemplates self-assertion for the first time. (Koloski) Chopin first introduces the reader to the main character as only Mrs. Mallard. Given the time period of the story, Chopin directs the reader to the conclusion that Mrs. Mallard has no identity of her own. This reference to her as only by her husband’s last name foreshadows how marriage represses Mrs. Mallard and realistically like many women of this time in history. The virtuous wife, in Mrs. Mallard’s world, accepts the idea that her husband has a right to impose a private will upon her. (Jamil) During the time period in which the story takes place, married women are in a subservient role to their husbands under the “femme covert laws.” “Covert refers to a woman’s legal status after marriage: legally upon marriage, the husband and wife were treated as one entity. In essence, the wife’s separate legal existence disappeared as far as property.” (Lewis 1) A married...
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...American author, Kate Chopin, in her narrative short story, "The Story of an Hour," recounts the story of an hour in the life of Mrs. Louise Mallard, a young woman "with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain strength" (Chopin, 605). Chopin's purpose for writing this short story is to address the lack of independence and social status that was an everyday part of life for married women living in the Victorian era. She adopts a sympathetic tone in order to appeal to similar feelings and experiences in her female readers. In 1870, Kate married Oscar Chopin, a Louisiana businessman of French-Creole descent. In New Orleans, where Chopin and her husband lived until 1879, she was among Southern high society. Proper Southern women of this time were expected to be submissive, compliant and stoic. Coming from a long line of Southern females, I know this to be true. The society of this era viewed the altruistic wife, reliant on her husband and devoted to her children, as the feminine ideal. Chopin's forward-thinking literary works of the late nineteenth century were not considered socially acceptable, so it wasn't until the 1960s or 1970s that she became "an integral part of the evolution of feminism" (katechopin.org). Chopin begins "The Story of an Hour" with an instant, essential revelation of the story's pinnacle. Readers learn in the first sentence that the story's main character, Mrs. Mallard, is "afflicted with a heart trouble" (Chopin 605) and she...
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...Corey Campbell June 29, 2009 English 098 Kate Chopin Essay Catherine O’ Flaherty was born February 8, 1851 (tombstone date). She would later marry Oscar Chopin and become Kate Chopin, critically acclaimed and condemned author of two novels (At Fault and The Awakening) and many short stories. She was a beautiful, intelligent woman who was able to tell powerful stories about the lives of people in the nineteenth century. Chopin’s insight writing revealed the hidden emotions, trials, and tribulations of the nineteenth century women. In the story of an hour, Chopin tells the story of Mrs. Mallard and the extraordinary changes including shock, acceptance and joy she endures during this hour in her home. Mrs. Mallard’s feelings are changed by the news of her husband’s death, the reality of living her life alone and the revelation that her husband was still alive. The glimpse into Mrs. Mallards private thoughts revealed a women momentarily saddened by the loss of her husband. “Go away. I am not making myself ill. No she was drinking in a very elixir of life through that open window. Her fancy was running riot along those days of her. Spring days, and summer days, and all sorts of days that would be her own. She breathed a quick prayer that life might be long. It was only yesterday she had thought with a shudder that life might be long”. Chopin reveals with these words that this woman is actually relived to be a widow and excited about experiencing life without the stress and...
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...Brooklynn Stilwell Dr. Redfield English 112- 20 November 2014 MLA Annotated Bibliography: Rhetorical Analysis; the Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin Chopin, Kate. “The Story of an Hour, Kate Chopin, characters, setting. “KateChopinorg. Kate Chopin International Society. N.d. web. 20 Nov. 2014. http://www.katechopin.org/the-story-of-an-hour/ This website is from the Author herself. There are many beneficially things from this website. She has a list of characters, the time and place, the themes, when this book was published, etc. It has a lot of helpful information and the story behind this story. I thought what was really neat on this website was there is a place for a question and answer box. This is a very important source because this particular website was written by the author of the short story I chose. There are many websites that can be helpful to have credible sources. But, when you have a source that is from the author herself, it is helpful and more credible. Lorcher, Trent “The Story of an Hour”: Analysis of the symbols & Irony.” Bright Hub Education. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2014. http://www.brighthubeducation.com/homework-help-literature/60196-the-story-of-an-hour-irony-and-symbolism/ This educational website out of the many that I read over, was informative. As many of the websites state, the symbolism in this story is not as obvious as you may assume it is. Reading this states that the initial heart condition that Mrs. Mallard has is a symbol of...
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...In Kate Chopin's short story, “The Story of an Hour” Mrs. Mallard's heart trouble causes her to live her life with fragility. Throughout the story Chopin focuses on Mrs. Mallard's feelings and proves she is unsatisfied with her marriage and the life she is living. When she receives the unfortunate news that her husband Mr. Mallard died in a train accident, Mrs. Mallard shows little to no remorse. With the use of textual evidence, it can be argued that Mrs. Mallard's death in “The Story of an Hour” is not caused by joy, but rather disappointment that Mr. Mallard is still alive. Mrs. Mallard expresses a sense of happiness that her husband is dead multiple times throughout the story. Chopin describes Mrs. Mallard's reaction to her husband's death as a “paralyzed...
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...the two short stories “The Story of an Hour”, by Kate Chopin and “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”, by James Thurber. “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” is a short story written in 1937. The main character is an older man that drives his wife to town for beauty parlor visits and weekly shopping. “The Story of an Hour” was published in 1894. The main character, Louise Mallard, thinks that she will find freedom from the death of her husband. These short stories share a common theme, gender roles within a marriage. Each of the main characters in these stories has their own ideas about the gender roles that they are supposed to play, according to society and the time that they live in. The secret life of Walter Mitty and The Story of an Hour are based on a man Mr. Walter Mitty and a woman Mrs. Louise Mallard, whom believe that they have become prisoners within their marriages. They have to abide by the society standards of their era, divorce is not an option because all marriages have issues and the wedding vows need to be honored, “Until Death due us Part”. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty Versus The Story of an Hour In “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” Walter is an elderly American man who is retired and has nothing better to do but to follow his wife around. Walter daydreams about a life that he wishes he had. The focus of this story is to represent a fantasy world opposed to a reality. “The Story of the Hour” presents a much more dramatic effect. This story reflects upon a...
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...Gender Roles and/or Marriage ENG 125: Introduction to Literature In Guy De Maupassant's, "The Necklace" and Kate Chopin's, "The Story of an Hour" the characters are females who struggle with inner conflicts. Many differences as well as likenesses are identified between the two characters, which would like to make major changes in their life. “The settings of the stories take place in the late 1800's, which during this time women were restricted from doing many things such as: working outside of the home, they were controlled by their spouses, and they had to be subservient females”(Wikipedia). Mrs. Mallard is the main character in "The Story of an Hour" and Mrs. Loisel is the character in "The Necklace." The type of tone the writers chose for the main characters were discontent women, who yearned for a better life than their current one. Guy de Maupassant's "The Necklace" is the story of Mathilde Loisel, who resents her current lifestyle. When Monsieur Loisel presents his wife with an invitation to a formal ball, she bursts into tears because she has nothing elegant to wear. Mathilde's husband agrees to let her buy a gown, and, following his suggestion, she borrows a beautiful necklace from a friend. As a result, she has a wonderful time at the ball. Upon returning home she realizes that she has lost the necklace she borrowed from her friend. The Loisels replace it with a similar one, for which they enter into debt for ten years. One day Mathilde sees her old friend and...
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...The Tale of Two Stories Sheri O'Connell ENG125: Introduction to Literature Instructor: Heather AltfeldFisher September 25, 2011 The Tale of Two Stories Thesis Statement This paper compares two short stories, "The Story of an Hour" (Chopin) and "The Necklace" (Guy de Maupassant). "How little a thing is needed for us to be lost or saved?" [ (Clugston, 2010) ]. Both stories portray two different yet alike women. Both women struggle to find their independence. Both women find trouble just when they believe they have 'succeeded' in their search. Introduction The poem “the Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin is an impressive literary piece that attracts the feeling of the readers, as well as their minds. However, the story is very short and precise, but it is rich and complete, and every word of the poem has a deep thought and meaning (Charters 2003). Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour" deals with a young American women's unanticipated sense of reprieve and independence upon hearing of her husband's death which enabled her to breathe the contentment during the last moments of her life with an anticipation, self esteem, and self consciousness. Mrs. Mallard's delight within her is termed as freedom in this story. (Jamil, 2009, 157) Guy de Maupassant's "The Necklace" deals with a young woman who struggles with wanting what she can't have and the consequences for trying to be something she is not. Mathilde struggles with her low social and economic class, she dreams of...
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...Tony Dass Prof Shaw Egl 2219 March 2nd 2016 Kate Chopin who had an Irish father and a French-creole mother, she was born on February 8, 1850 in St. Louis, Missouri. The O'Flahertys were members of the Creole social elite and were fairly well-off. When Kate was very young, her father Thomas O'Flaherty died in a work-related accident. He left behind a family of four generations of women all living in the same house. Kate was very close to her maternal great-grandmother, Madame Charleville, who first introduced her to the world of storytelling. Madame Charleville spoke only French to Kate and told her elaborate, somewhat risqué stories. Family tragedy surrounded the young Kate. When she was eleven, Madame Charleville died, and her half-brother George was killed while fighting in the Civil War for the Confederate side. Yet, Kate seems not to have completely despaired; she earned a reputation as the "Littlest Rebel" when she tore down a Union flag that had been tied to her front porch by Yankee soldiers. Had Kate not been a young girl at the time, the incident might have resulted in serious consequences, but since she was, her act became famous as local legend. While attending a Catholic high school, Kate studied both French and English literature and became an accomplished pianist. She attended numerous social events and became very popular in St. Louis high society. She also became interested in the movement for women's suffrage although she never became very politically active...
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