...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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...Kate Chopin, born on February 8, 1850 was a novelist and short stories author in the later years of her life. She grew up in the mid 1800's, which was during the time of the Civil War. Kate Chopin was not your ordinary, obedient woman in the time of her existence. Women were taught to be submissive and quiet while Kate was taught by her widowed role models to be independent and outspoken. One of Kate's most famous works was "The Story of an Hour" which is centered on a woman named Louise Mallard who is diagnosed with heart disease. Her husband died in a railroad accident and her sister Josephine informs her as delicately as possible because of her condition. At first, Louise Mallard is heartbroken and mourns her husband's death, then as she looks ahead to what her future holds, she realizes that she is...
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...free time with socializing, instead of taking care of family related things. In the lights of these circumstances, the feminist approach has revealed itself in literature. One of the good examples of feminist literature is Kate Chopin’s short story “The Story of an Hour”, which exposes the lack of freedom of women in the 1800s. In her story, Chopin estimates the situation of women in marriage and she looks at the life from a female perspective. Mrs. Mallard, the heroine of the story, is a cardiac patient, who had been told what to do by her husband and could not make choices for herself. In a way, Chopin portrays what it is like to be a woman in the late nineteenth century through an ill protagonist. In the story Mrs. Mallard is told that her husband is dead, even though she is emotional at first, she leaps for joy with the recognition of freedom. However, when Mrs. Mallard learns her husband is alive, which means she will lose her moment of freedom all over again, she dies. “When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease—of joy that kills.” (Chopin 3) Analyzing of “The Story of an Hour” through the historical and feminist lenses, it can interpreted as an illustrating of a woman’s lack of freedom in a male-dominated society. “The Story of an Hour” was written in the Victorian Era, when a wife was responsible for all household chores without...
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...The Story of an Hour Antoine L. Womack ENG125: Introduction to Literature (ADI1431D) Instructor: Magdalena Sokolowski August 6, 2014 This story immediately identifies the main character which is Mrs. Mallard who suffers from heart trouble, by revealing to her that her husband had passed away in a tragic accident the way it was told was handled with great care, due to her own health conditions. Josephine who is Mrs. Mallard sister would be the one to do so and Richard being her Husband friend would also comfort her also with his presence. This short story is very literary capturing because it’s a story that many people can relate to and have experience some type of close death in the family. Also they with the way it was handle to break the news to her about her husband death; this is something that also many can relate to especially if they are also dealing with health issues their self. What also was literary capturing with this story was the way family members and friends took inconsideration to tell her the news about her husband being passed away. Even though the story that was told was very sorrowing the way it was said it seem as if the author put a lot of thought into the way she went about what was said. The details of the grief she felt was very literary capturing in this story. The author of this story also went into great detail to make the reader feel as if they was there and had experience this sad sorrow themselves. The way the author would build you...
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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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...Themes Found in Kate Chopin's Short Stories Kimberley J. Dorsey Stevenson University English 152, Writing About Literature 152-OME1 Charlotte Wulf November 14, 2010 Abstract Many of Kate Chopin’s short stories share the common themes of female oppression. The females in her stories are trying to find a way to escape their oppression and have a sense freedom and individuality. They either commit adultery or fantasize about it as a way to explore their feminine sexuality and obtain a sense of freedom. Common Themes Found in Kate Chopin's Short Stories Kate Chopin, an American novelist and short story writer. Born in 1851 and died in 1904 (cerebral hemorrhage). Chopin lived in Louisiana during her marriage to a Louisiana businessman and began writing after her husband’s death; being left to raise six children alone. Many of her stories are based on her knowledge of Creole and Cajun life during the time she lived there. She is best known for her novel “The Awakening,” considered Chopin’s masterpiece was subject to harsh criticism at the time criticism for its frank approach to sexual themes (Toth, 1988-1999, p. 1). Her attitude seen throughout her writing’s are about a woman’s place as being in the home and her purpose in life is to nurture her husband and children. Being against oppression Chopin chose to write about these issues through fiction, expressing real women. Kate Chopin is considered...
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...CA Essay “Story of an Hour” Kate Chopin’s literary work has touched many reader with an open mind of what many women in the ninetieth century was going through as a woman with no freedom. One of the most commendable aspects of Kate Chopin’s short story “The story of an Hour” is the fact that the author is able to manipulate oppression, freedom and symbolism in a table that is extraordinary compact. SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on The Story of an Hour.” SparkNotes LLC. 2007. http://www.sparknotes.com/short-stories/the-story-of-an-hour/ (accessed September 29, 2013). In the story, Mrs. Louise Mallards was an oppressed wife of Brentley Mallard. She afflicted with a weak heart and good care was taken to give her the news of her husbands death from a railroad accident. Her sister Joseline told her in broken sentences about the loss of Mr. Mallard. Obviously, Mallard reacted to obvious grief and admits that her husband was kind and loving. She knew at the funeral she would "weep again when she saw the kind, tender hands folded in death; the face that had never looked save with love upon her, fixed and gray and dead". However, despite the love between each other, Brentley’s death was a release from oppression. She never described ways he oppressed her, but hinted that the marriages in general stifles both women and men. Also, she suggested that she oppressed him as much as he oppressed her. Mallard thoughts that was going...
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...viewed as equals. This idea of gender equality is not something new. The feminist movement has been an old, progressive one. Many women and men alike have had these gender equity ideas for centuries; this idea is not a new one as pioneers from Sor Juana to Kate Chopin to even the present-day Emma Watson, have stated time and time again, women are faced with oppression by the patriarchal society in many different ways that hurt women and men alike. Kate Chopin wrote many short stories in her time that pushed the envelope for the feminist movement. Two stories in particular were “The Storm” and “ The Story of An Hour”. Both of these stories have a female protagonist oppressed by a male antagonist, which very much can be construed as a commentary of what social normal behavior was, a patriarchal driven society that oppressed any type of female freedoms or expressions. In Chopin’s short story, “The Story of An Hour” the protagonist, Mrs. Mallard was able to imagine a life of freedom when she received the news of the death of her husband. While, Mrs. Mallard was not given the liberty to enjoy her newfound freedom, for her husband did not pass away after all; Chopin writes in such a way that even if it was for just an hour, Mrs. Mallard had the life that every person dreams of. Chopin use of windows and open...
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...Victorian Era Wife 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"...
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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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...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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...Hillary Brewer Professor Woodard- ENG 102 1/26/13 Kate Chopin’s thesis in “The Story of an Hour” Chopin’s thesis in “The Story of an Hour” was that women in the 1800’s lived in a world of patriarchy and chaos. The 1800’s were a time when women worked at home doing house work and raising children. They had not been given the right to vote or be heard like men had. Chopin wanted to express the struggles of what women went through, through the life of Mrs. Mallard. Mrs. Mallard was given the news of her husband’s death which took a large toll on her being that she had a heart condition. Chopin included the detail of Mrs. Mallard’s heart disease to ensure that the reader understands why she fell to her death at the end of the story: “Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with heart trouble.” Chopin included that, “When the storm of grief had spent itself she went away to her room alone. She would have no one follow her.” This quote was given to us to show that Mrs. Mallard had not wanted anyone to see the emotion she was to express. Mrs. Mallard was soon to see the new spring life growing upon the tree tops. Chopin uses words like, “delicious” and “new” to explain the spring time outside the windows. Chopin also uses “blue” to express the sky in which is seen through Mrs. Mallard’s eyes. These adjectives would seem alarming to the reader due to what had just happened in the recent paragraphs. Mrs. Mallard should be grieving her husband’s death, but instead notices how beautiful...
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...6th, 2014 Abstract The following paper discusses and analyzes the work “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin. The story uses the irony of life to show that marriage can be full of undisclosed hatred, suppression, and unpleasantness between partners – a point that remains concealed from the outside world. “The Story of an Hour” is a story about a married couple. The story begins with the wife hearing the news of the death of her husband. The news, instead of sending her into a shock, sends her into a state of excitement. Her excitement remains concealed from the people around her, who assume that she is under great shock. However, her excitement does not last too long, and she again faces news. This time, the news arrives with the arrival of her husband in front of her. Unable to control her feelings of sadness, she falls and dies on the spot. The paper takes into account multiple readings of various authors, compares their stance, and studies their views of the story. The paper establishes the point that time is running very quickly, and the story also revolves around the importance of time. It concludes with the outcome that if married couples trust each other, interconnect well, and resolve their problems, instead of thinking evil of each other, their relation is likely to remain flourishing. “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin The background of “The Story of an Hour” sets its foundations on the moralities of marriage. Marriage is a respected commitment...
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...While reading Kate Chopin "Story Of An Hour", she gives off a very unique message to everyone that reads it. The story follows a woman named Mrs. Mallard and her 1 hour of freedom that she had after she thinks her husband in dead. In Kate Chopin's "The Story Of An Hour", Chopin portrays situational irony along with an exciting tone to express how little women are understood when it comes to marriage and stereotypes. Chopin's uses a celebratory tone in parts of the story expresses how freeing women felt when finally able to be themselves again after a marriage that was tying them down is broken off. When Mrs. Mallard finally realizes that her husband is "gone for good", Chopin writes,"What could love, the unsolved mystery, count for in the face of self-assertion which she suddenly recognized as the strongest impulse of her being! 'Free! Body and soul free!' She kept whispering" (101). The...
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...Comparing “The Story of an Hour” and “The Necklace” Short stories are always very enjoyable to read. They are very concise but mostly have such a deep message resonating throughout the text that the reader is left pondering over an extension of the story to imagine the possible ending if they were novels instead. The works under consideration are meant to be compared because of their unique theme which reflects how two authors can write similar yet distinctive stories in different times. Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” and “The Necklace” by Guy De Maupassant are two such short stories whose themes center around role of gender and marriage with special focus on the female characters. Even though there are similarities, there are also differences which I plan on discussing in more detail, differences such as the two female characters one experiences death while the other a lesson from life. “The Story of an Hour” revolves around the female character Louise Mallard who has been gently told that her husband died in a railroad disaster, news which Richard, her husband’s friend learnt from somewhere. Since Mrs. Mallard is a heart patient she feels very depressed and seeks to sit in solitude as she learns about her husband Brently’s death. As the story unfolds one learns that Louise Mallard is in fact more “free” and utters the word repeatedly as she realizes that she will be independent from this time onwards. She fantasizes her freedom staring blankly out the window knowing...
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