In Kate Chopin’s short tale, “The Story of an Hour”, the protagonist Mrs. Mallard seems to ride a rollercoaster of emotions and feelings about her husband, Mr. Mallard’s, death. The story begins by informing us of Mrs. Mallard’s heart condition which leads us to believe that the heart condition will affect the story. Many times in the story we see that Mrs. Mallard does not handle situations in the way most woman did in that time. She doesn’t seem to know how to really feel about the tragic situation of her husbands death. Mrs. Mallard goes through so many changes in such a short period of time that some readers would believe it is the amount of drastic changes that caused her to pass of a heart disease…
In Richard Wright’s short story “The Man Who Was Almost a Man,” Dave Saunders, the seventeen-year-old protagonist, assumes that the only way to become a respected, dignified, adult man is to own a gun. Dave is unable to identify himself as a man because the people around him “talk to him as though he were a little boy.” Although Dave eventually buys a gun, his actions prior to and after the purchase of the gun such as his reaction when he is with adult men him killing the mule, and his act of running away from his problems suggest that he is not mature enough to become a man.…
In Kate Chopin's “The Story of an Hour”, Mrs. Mallord experiences multiple emotions. After hearing of her husband's death, Mrs. Mallord goes through different stages of grieving. She experiences grief, relief, and remorse. The first emotion she experiences is grief. “ She wept with sudden abandonment in her sister’s arms” is an example of her sorrow ( Chopin 223). The next emotion she feels is relief. After being married to Mr. Mallord for so long she is relieved to be a free women. She whispers “free, free, free” repeatedly to herself in her bedroom ( 224). She also states “ Free! Body and soul, free” showing her relief of finally being an independent woman(224). After feeling joy of being a free woman, she starts to feel remorse. Mrs. Mallord…
In “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, the main character (Mrs.Mallard) is a married woman. Mrs.Mallard was afflicted with a “heart problem”. The author was not very specific about her troubled heart, which seemed to be a symbol of not just physical, but emotional distress as well. Jaqueline (Ms.Mallards sister) took precaution before announcing her husbands death to her because of that issue. When Jaqueline finally stated that her husband had supposedly died, she weeped momentarily but her grief was gone once she realized a new sense of life that was to be experienced. Ms.Mallard became rather joyful instead. She isolated herself in a room, and as she examined the outside through her window, she discovered a new sense of independence and freedom within her, rather than grief towards her husbands death. “Body and soul free”, she began to say to herself. She was at her highest peak of happiness until later on in the story when it turned out her husband was alive all along. It is ironic that the main character was so ecstatic, that when she saw her husband standing before her, her shock and disappointment at the loss of her new life was so intense that she passed away.…
In “The Story of an Hour”, Mrs. Mallard rejoices her chance to regain her long-lost individuality again after hearing of her husband's death: “They would be no one to live for her during those coming years; she would live for herself. There would be no powerful will bending her in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow creature (Chopin, 11).” She finds these thoughts monstrous at first, but she rationalizes them because of the suffering she endured in her marriage without identity.…
A dynamic character is a major character in a work of fiction that encounters conflict and is changed by it. In “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, the emotional pattern and thought process of Louise Mallard after she is informed of her husband’s death are explored. Over the course of the hour in which the story takes place Louise has a realization about the constraints she feels in her life and in her marriage. By delineating Louise as a flat and dynamic character, Chopin is able to convey her theme that real freedom is found in death.…
In “Story of an Hour,” Chopin explains that a train accident has occurred and the husband was on the train and has died. Consequently, Chopin states “When she abandoned herself a little whispered word escaped her slightly parted lips. She said it over and over under her breath: “free, free, free!” (2). This makes it clear that after she finds out that her husband is dead she is extremely excited to finally be free from her husband. Also, “When the storm of grief had spent itself she went away to her room alone. She would have no one follow her” (1). During this part of the story, Mrs. Mallard locks herself in her room so that she can achieve the physical and mental state she desires. It is believed that she wants to be alone so that she can “grieve” by herself but instead of grieving she celebrates finally having freedom and having the ability to do anything that she wants without the fear of her husband getting on to her. Also, Mrs. Mallard does not want to get lost in the crowd of the people downstairs that are actually grieving because then she may feel the need to feel sorry and began to grieve even though she has made it clear that she is not upset. She is glad to finally be free from the male dominance of her…
In the Deep South women were always known of as housewives. They were not given individual identities but rather a collective personality that all women possessed. Kate Chopin uses this theme of the individuality of women in all of her short stories and other writings. In The Story of An Hour, Chopin expresses this very well, using the character Louise Mallard. As in Chopin’s typical stories, Louise Mallard is a woman looking for her inner self and thinks she found it but goes through a hard time and attempts to overcome it while having a positive outlook on life. However, through her marriage she has been a patient, self-sacrificing, restless woman who believed she was given a chance to change her life around for the better, which ultimately led to her demise.…
In both "The Story of an Hour" and "A Sorrowful Woman," the main protagonist is a woman. Chopin's protagonist Mrs. Mallard is a loving and caring woman who has the desire to have a loving marriage, however societal standards of the time show that even though this is not the case, she must commit to her relationship regardless. Much like Godwin's unnamed protagonist, both women would never abandon their marriage because they feel such a strong sense of responsibility to their role and family. For example, Godwin's protagonist feels guilt for not wanting to be with her son and explains that she's just "not myself anymore" (Godwin, 39). Much along these lines, both women seclude themselves away to deal with their emotional troubles. In "The Story of an Hour," Mrs. Mallard shuts herself away when she mourns the loss of her husband and when she begins to feel glad that he is gone. The sorrowful woman also secludes herself when she cannot stand to see her son anymore. Both women sit near windows in their rooms and watch the world go by them wishing they could be at peace with themselves and find happiness in their relationships. Subsequently, both women also have a need to be freer. Mrs. Mallard feels she is free when she…
The first element to discus is theme. In “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin the theme is the self-independence of women. In the beginning of the story, the main character, Louise Mallard mourns over the death of her husband, Mallard. As the story progresses, Louise Mallard grows as she sees the new found freedom she has been given at the loss of her husband. “… she would live for herself. There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence …” Though, at the end of the story it is brought to light that the death of Brent Mallard was false belief, and her idealism of being free is diminished. With this shock along with her heart problem, she died from a heart attack. It seems Louise feels her inner emotions are trapped and confined through her marriage, home and even heart. “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.” In the time this story takes place a woman’s independence is frowned upon and she probably felt forced into the marriage and having a man in her life instead of being independent and making her own decisions.…
Coming of age is a young person’s transition from adolescence to adulthood. For most this can be a very difficult time and can cause a lot of pressure, especially for teenagers. In Richard Wright’s The Man Who Was Almost a Man, the main character, Dave, thinks he is ready to show everyone that he is a man. Dave wants people to give him more respect and treat him like a man; however, his actions seem to backfire leaving him with less respect than he had before.…
One major theme in Kate Chopin’s story is freedom. In the beginning of “The Story of an Hour” the scene opens up and we are introduced to Mrs. Mallard who has been told that her husband has died in a horrible train wreck. Mrs. Mallard reacts to this news like any other wife would. Yes, she is upset so she excuses herself and rushes off to her bedroom to be away from everyone who has come to see her. While in her room we as the reader see a completely different side of Mrs. Mallard. She in some sense is happy yet she is upset that her husband is dead. However she now…
“The Story of an Hour” written by Kate Chopin, is a short story about a woman named Louise Mallard and her reaction to the news that her husband has died. This news is brought to Mrs. Mallard from her sister, Josephine. Mrs. Mallard does not know how to react at first, and decides to have some time alone in her room. Inside the room, she feels lots of emotions such as sadness, happiness, that come together and ultimately she smiles. However, because of so much excitement, she could feel her heart pumping so fast that at the end of the story when Mr. Mallard enters the house, she dies because of a heart attack according to the doctor. Chopin successfully describes her actions and emotions with very vivid descriptions throughout the entire story. The sad, relief, happy emotions that Mrs. Mallard felt were thanks to his husband death, because his death meant finding independence from him. His role as a character is very significant for this story to continue; and thus I would like furthermore focus on his role and function in this short story.…
At first Mrs. Mallad who has a heart problem hears the news of her husband death, and she feels shocked and sad. Chapion describes it as…..She wept at once, with sudden,, wild abandonment, in her sister’s arms.”(459) However, her sadness doesn’t stay longer, and her feeling changes to joy…”new born freedom.” (460) Sometimes in marriage there may not be a mutual love between the two people who are together, so that Mrs. Mallard is not happy with her marriage life “ There was something coming to her and she was waiting for it, fearfully ”(459), so the news of her husband death makes her happy and gives her freedom. Therefore, Chopin reflects Mrs. Mallard has been trapped by her husband that’s why she says. “Free! Body and soul free!’’(460)…
One word can describe a person, these words are known as character traits. In the nonfiction resource, the main person in the story has a character trait that suits him well, that specific trait is the word determined. The word determined means having made a firm decision and being resolved not to change it. The Ostrich was standing still outlined by the fiery red sun, as the man was aiming his gun determined to make his first kill on his…