...In the “Story of an Hour” symbolism means:the use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities. The “Story of an Hour” has a lot of symbolism some of them are pretty obvious. Symbolism can be expressed through ideas, sound, or imagery. Once you start understanding symbolism you can untangle a lot of puzzles in stories and learn why all those objects and items have a meaning in the story. Symbolism has being around for years and it has always being around it just takes wise people to notice them. Symbolism can give you a doctrine of history and why all those items have those meanings. Summary of the “Story of an Hour” has more like a twist at the end. At first Mrs. Mallard was at happy with her normal life. When Richard her husband’s friend...
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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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...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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...through your consciousness. In “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, we see this scenario played out in a woman’s life during one emotion-filled hour. Louise Mallard is a woman afflicted with heart problems who, upon hearing the unfortunate news of her husband’s death, is thrust into a moment in time when the life she has come to know suddenly begins to take on a whole new meaning. Interwoven in this timeless tale are themes of self-assertion, oppression, repression, and freedom at a time when woman were anything but. Through her use of irony, symbolism, suspense, and descriptive narratives, Chopin masterfully captures the essence of one woman’s plight in “The Story of an Hour”. The use of irony is an effective literary tool Chopin uses throughout her story to keep the audience cognitive of the contradictions inherent in people and situations. Early on, we see an example of situational irony when we are told Louise Mallard, after being informed of her husband’s death, “Did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzing inability to accept its significance” (215). We are further told, “She wept at once, with wild abandonment, in her sister’s arms” (215). Louise appeared to everyone in the house to be extremely sad and goes upstairs to be alone in her room. Normally, this is a very typical reaction after having lost a loved one. However, once Mrs. Mallard is alone, she is not saddened by the passing of Mr. Mallard but rather relieved: “She saw beyond...
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...being extremely mad. Louise Mallard had a different reaction when she had received the information about her husband death involving a train accident. Richards, a close friend of Mr. Mallard, knows that Louise does have heart trouble. So when relaying the information, they “ break to her as gently as possible the news of her husbands death (Kate Chopin IP1).” Going to her room, Louise locks herself in. Now standing there she’s finds a “roomy armchair” facing an open window. The sadness she’s feeling is gradually turning into joy. Kate Chopin “The Story of an Hour” Louise Mallard experiences rare emotions when grieving, which leads to her ironical death. To begin Mrs. Louise Mallard suffers from a heart condition and when asked to believe the story of her husband’s departure, “she did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept significants (Kate Chopin IP3)." Her response was one-off; Mrs. Mallard sobs once and then locking herself in her room. Once sitting in her room she lets her mind run crazy, thinking of what she will do without Mr. Mallard? Could she ever do anything without him? However "There was something coming to her and she was waiting for it fearfully..creeping out of the sky, reaching Puhlmann 2 towards her through sounds, scents, and colors that filled the air(Kate Chopin IP9)." Louise originally shattered, but thinking she begins to like what her future might be like without Mr. Mallard. In this time period...
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...Submitted by: Shambhavi Eng (H) III year 334 Comment on the irony of The Story of an Hour. Kate Chopin is most famous for her short stories and a novel, The Awakening. One of the most recurring themes in her works is marriage and how it affects women. She wrote works of feminist nature before the feminist movement had even begun. The Story of an Hour is a short story centred on a young married woman as she reacts to the news of the death of her husband. It covers the one hour of Louise Mallard’s life, in which she is told of her husband’s death, deals with it, realises that she is free, finds happiness and freedom, loses it and dies. Mrs Mallard was afflicted with a “heart trouble” and so, the news of her husband’s death was broken to her gently. Her immediate reaction was to weep with “sudden wild abandonment” and then later, she goes up to her room to be alone. There she comes to terms with the realisation of her freedom and experiences great joy. When she finally goes downstairs, she sees her husband walking in through the door and dies of a heart attack which, the doctor’s said, was brought on by the joy of seeing her husband alive. The irony here is that the heart attack was brought on not by the joy of seeing her husband alive, but by the loss of the joy of freedom, on seeing her husband alive. Once the news that Mr Mallard is dead reaches Mrs Mallard, the “true woman” inside her, the wife, the “Angel in the house” part of her, dies along with him...
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...September 2014 An Argument for the case of “The Story of an Hour” The decision to keep “The Story of an Hour” instead of “Hills like White Elephants” is an easy one based on the plot, the characterization and the conflict that these stories have. “The Story of an Hour” is a short story with an interesting plot with a dynamic character that has personal conflict, while “Hills Like White Elephants” has no real plot, there is not much information about the characters at all and the conflict is minimal at best. The textbook would be of better service to the students if “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin remained in it. “The Story of an Hour” is a story about a married woman named Louise Mallard who was known to have a heart condition. This is the first sentence in the story so the plot is introduced right away. Immediately the reader knows that she has a heart condition and her husband had died. The story goes on to describe her sadness and then the awakening that she has when she realizes that she is free of her marriage. The author describes the emotions that Mrs. Mallard goes through. For example, she sums up the emotions of Louise Mallard when she says “She breathed a quick prayer that life might be long. It was only yesterday that she had thought with a shudder that life might be long” (Chopin 654). The plot thickens as the front door opens and her presumed dead husband walks through the front door. However, in the story “Hills like White Elephants”, the plot is never...
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...“The story of an hour” The short story ”The story of an hour” written by Kate Chopin, is a story about a woman called Mrs. Mallard, she is told by her sister Josephine, that her husband died in a train accident. The way she reacted in front of her sister was very dramatic, but when she was by herself in her room she was not being sad, miserable or devastated, but in a way very relived. In the text we follow Mrs. Mallard’s feelings, about herself and her husband. Kate Chopin wrote “ The story of an hour “ in 1894, which was in a time period, were the women had no rights. In 1894 the gender roles were deadlocked; the women was suppressed by their husband, in family relationship, and in the political and legal sense. The husband had the final say, in all decisions. It was him who ruled over the family’s finances, and decided where the family should live. The woman took care of the house, the children, and was responsible for the housekeeping. The man’s role was to support his family. The woman’s role was to give birth, take care of the home, and assist the husband. At the time the male gender role was portrayed as the strong, powerful, deciding and intelligent gender. Where as the woman, was portrayed as weak, without influence, insensible and the husband’s subordinate (placed under the man). Louise Mallard is a strong, powerful, intelligent and independent woman. She knows how she should behave in front of her husband, family and society. But how she feels and think, is anything...
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...The story of an hour, is about Louisise Mallard, a women with heart trouble that learned her husband died in a railroad disaster. Lousise sister, Josephine, did not tell Mrs.Mallard straightforward that he was dead, but instead veiled hints. Mrs. Mallard husband friend Richard, was one of the first to know, but wanted to make sure it was true before breaking the news. Once Richard found out that it was true, he still did not want to tell Mrs. Mallard. Mrs. Mallard immediately started crying, but then was bumrushed with the emotion of being free. Her freedom of an hour ended when her husband walked through the door. Mrs. Mallard was in so in shock that her heart ended up giving her trouble and she dies. According to Online Philosphy Club, in a free society, wach and every person has legal control or ownership of their own body and mind. Losing something or someone does not always have to mean a bad thing. Mrs. Mallard first name was not mentioned until later on when her sister called her fby her first name. The thought of not being called by your first name would leave a person struggling with their identity. Mrs. Mallard went through a hour of so many different emotions. At first she was sad ;then she felt relief and a new life ahead. She starts to imagine the smaller things that most people take for granted. It seemed Mrs. Mallard husband was full of expectations when it came to a women and/or his wife. Fulfilling the role of a woman became draining for Louise. But it was...
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...“The Story of the Hour’ by Kate Chopin is story about a young women who has been married to a man for some time when she finds out he was killed in a work accident. She almost has the sensation of being free before her husband walks through the door, unhurt and alive, only to kill the young woman upon sight. Being taken out of context it can be presumed that the young woman's husband was a very unfriendly man and not a good husband. This young woman has a moment in time where she is free from her husband and appears to become a renewed person for a brief time. I believe that the young woman has been freed from the husband only to regain the innocence she once had but her husband had taken away from her and continued to do so. Innocence is...
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...The Irony of Louise Mallard’s Widowhood In “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, the author disturbs the reader through the character of Mrs. Mallard. Mrs. Louise Mallard is a coldhearted woman who is happy at the news of widowhood, unbeknownst to her family and friends. Mrs. Mallard’s train of thought throughout the story is unexpected and shocks the reader at every turn, but teaches the reader a few things about relationships in the process. Situational and dramatic irony are created through the interpretation of Mrs. Mallard’s reaction to her husband’s death and through her own untimely death. Two different events in this story shock the reader through situational irony. Situational irony occurs when the reader’s expectations of the story are met with an unexpected occurrence, something that the reader wouldn’t have guessed would happen. The first incident takes place shortly after the main character, Louise, is told that her husband has died in a railroad accident. Her immediate reaction is predictable; she clings to her sister and sobs because her husband is dead. When a person loses a loved one that person goes through a mourning period to grieve for the loss and to cope with the death. What the reader is unprepared for, however, is not this display of emotion directly after the news of the accident. Rather than devastated by his death, Louise is overjoyed. Rather than absorbing the news as some women, “with paralyzed inability to accept its significance”...
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... “The Story of an Hour.” A beautiful, young, fair skinned woman died of heart disease. How could someone so young and potentially full of life have a heart disease that would kill? The question is though, what kind of heart disease did she die from, physical or emotional? Louise died from an emotional heart disease, in other words a broken heart. Some would say Mrs. Louise Mallard from “The Story of an Hour” was relieved when she heard her husband had been killed in a tragic accident and she died when she saw her husband clearly alive walk in the front door, her heart shattered at the realization she would no longer be free. Louise was relieved when she heard the new that her husband had died because she had always felt trapped. Back in this day and age, making marriage meant for some women a form of slavery. “When she hears the news of her husband’s death, Mrs. Mallard’s obliviousness to the beauty of life breaks down under the powerful impact of emotion.”(Jamil.pg215) Before this moment she didn’t even think there was a reason to live anymore. But now as she sits in the bathroom daydreaming out the window she can see all the possibilities. In an article by Jennifer Hicks called “An overview of “The Story an Hour”” it makes a very good point that “Mrs. Mallard is not “paralyzed” by the significance that she is alone.”(Hicks) Which also shows that she was not in shock like some readers may think by hearing the shocking news of your husband’s death. Mrs. Mallard did indeed...
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...Story of an Hour: The need to be free “Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin is about Mrs. Louise Mallard, a woman with heart troubles, her husband Brently Mallard who had her under his bondage, Mrs. Mallard sister Josephine who cared very much about her and treated her gently and Mr. Mallard’s friend Richard who was the bearer of the news of Mr. Mallard’s death. When Mrs. Mallard got the news of her husband’s death, she was heartbroken at first and she wept. After some time alone in her room with the many thoughts that flooded her, Mrs. Mallard finally realized that she was living in captivity and now she was finally free. On her way to the door she saw her husband who is supposed to be dead, alive at the bottom of the stares and her heart gave way, her sudden need for freedom was...
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...Aristotle plot structure developed the four elements use to create events in the story. It tells the reader captivating and visualizations of what goes on in the overall story. What makes plot appealing is not what happen in the story but why did it happen.1 “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopkin uses the four basic elements. Writer uses the four components to create pieces of the stories to captivate the reader’s attention. The four elements are exposition, complication, climax, and resolution. Using “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopkin, is a prime example of the four elements that is use to create the plot of the story. The first element of plot structure is exposition. “The exposition is the information needed to understand the story”. 1 In the beginning of the story the protagonist, Mrs. Louise Mallard was known for her heart problem. Josephine her sister and Richard, who is Mrs. Mallard’s husband friend did not know how to break the news to Mrs. Mallard that her husband is dead. It was stated in the newspaper that Mr. Brently Mallard’s name was listed in the railroad disaster. The exposition gives the great detail of the story. When there is exposition there is complication that introduces the problem of the story. Complication is the second element of plot structure. “The complication is the catalyst that begins the major conflict”.1 After Mrs. Mallard was told that her husband is dead; she weeps in an instance and ran into her room. She wanted to be left alone trying...
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...Comparing and Contrasting “The Story of an Hour” and “How I Met My Husband”. Lora Cruse Ashford University ENG125 11/20/2014 In this essay I will be comparing and contrasting two great short stories. One being “The Story of an Hour” written by Kate Chopin in 1854 and the other being “How I Met my Husband” written by Alice Munro in 1974. The two short stories share the theme of gender roles/marriage. That being said,, I will be going over plot, point of view and tone. Sometimes women feel like they are trapped in their marriage, and sometimes women cannot wait to become married. Kate Chopin's “The Story of an Hour represents a negative view of marriage. Every individual takes a different approach when enduring the loss of a loved one. Whether it is bursting into tears or being miserable. When a wife loses a husband, she typically tends to be in a state of depression. The feeling of losing your significant other is a piercing agony going through one's heart, but in this case the feeling of loss can turn into someone's freedom. For Louise Mallard she had an erratic reaction when she was informed that her husband had been allegedly killed in a train accident. She locks herself in her room and sits in front of the window in desolation. She begins to ponder how her life will be without her husband. The sorrow that Mrs. Mallard felt in the beginning slowly turns into joy. “Free body and soul free!” (Chopin...
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