Top-Rated Free Essay
Preview

Brently Mallard

Good Essays
749 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Brently Mallard
“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. Even though he does not appear until the end, Mr. Mallard plays a very important role in this short story. The reason for all the chaos and all Mrs. Mallard’s emotions is because of the news that her husband is presumed dead. His ‘death’ was the primary source of the development of this story. Moreover, Mr. Mallard represents a middle social class in the 19th century. His family and he himself were definitely not working class, and this is suggested in the story through the expensive objects in the house. They had lots of windows, chairs with cushions, and a door that could be opened with a latchkey, and could even afford to call doctors. He could afford everything a married couple needed, but why would someone who had him as a husband feel so free after hearing the news of his death? Mrs. Mallard needed and wanted some freedom in her life. She was tired of pretending to be a woman who devotes herself to her husband, she wanted a life of her own; do whatever she felt like doing. Consequently, she became so happy after learning that her husband has passed away that even she died of “heart disease-of joy that kills” according to the doctors. This was the case for many women during this period. According to a website about Chopin’s works and biography, this story was originally published as “The Dream of an Hour” in 1894. The reason why the word ‘dream’ was changed to ‘story’ might be because this kind of story could only happen to a few people in the late 19th century. However since liberty for women started to increase, this once called ‘dream’ turned into ‘reality’ and thus, into a story. One other interpretation of the role of the husband in the short story is that Mr. Mallard can be seen as society itself and society’s expectations. His wife, Mrs. Mallard, represents individuals who have been so oppressed by society that this oppression later on comes to be a disease that is carried for the rest of their lives. Comparing these characters with a society and the people living in it, these individuals are not able to live alone when they want to break out of society (shown through the death of Mrs. Mallard). Humans are beings that cannot survive alone; and thus, we need a group of people, a society. Nevertheless, we always have something to complain about in the society we live in. Chopin lived in an age where women and men had clear roles in society. Men were the ones who worked and financially supported the family; middle class women supported the family by staying at the house, taking care of the kids, doing the laundry, etc. Women in the 19th century could not even dream about studying for a high degree or even having a job outside the house. It was a male-based society and because of this, the boom of feminist people began to rise. Chopin thus successfully expressed women’s feelings through her literary work, “The Story of an hour”.

Bibliography

Koloski, Bernard. "Kate Chopin 'The Story of an Hour ': When "The Story of an Hour" was written and published. '" KateChopin.org. Kate Chopin International Society, 1 Oct. 2011. http://www.katechopin.org/the-story-of-an-hour.shtml#characters. 14 Oct. 2011.

Bibliography: Koloski, Bernard. "Kate Chopin 'The Story of an Hour ': When "The Story of an Hour" was written and published. '" KateChopin.org. Kate Chopin International Society, 1 Oct. 2011. http://www.katechopin.org/the-story-of-an-hour.shtml#characters. 14 Oct. 2011.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    English 102 Fitction Essay

    • 1129 Words
    • 5 Pages

    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…

    • 1129 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    This short story describes the main character, Louise Mallard, as we see her “metamorphosis” throughout Chopin’s work of fiction. “The Story of an Hour” refers to Mrs. Mallard’s life where she gains her liberty. This scene, where Mrs. Mallard will supposedly grieve for her husband, deliberately exposes a lot on her character and her new discovery of living. “The Story of an Hour” makes us see some perspective on a married woman who opens up herself and shows her true feelings deep down there, for what we called “inner-self”. Chopin’s use of foreshadowing and irony gives us a look of what is to come in the story. One specific example of this is when Chopin portrays the character so calm after the death of her husband. Chopin portrays this conflict to be very wearing on the…

    • 1643 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Edna and Mrs. Mallard are both victims of the 1800s, they both show that by their displeasure in being married. Edna shows her displeasure in novel by frolicking around with other men, and by openly disagreeing with her husband which at that time was a social faux pas. Mrs. Mallard showed her displeasure by simply liking the fact that she was finally free of her husband. She cried for him a little, but then in his death she finally recalled things that she hasn’t noticed lately. She hears the birds twittering and the wind rustling which remind her of her life, and how now with her husband dead she can finally live her life the way she wants too. Edna realizes that she wants to live her life when she first understands her role in life and doesn’t want to accept that all she will ever be is a housewife, this happens after she acquires her new ability to swim, that she finally sees that she wants to live. Edna tries to gain her freedom by becoming someone other then a housewife; she starts to paint again and sells her art. After that she buys herself a nice little apartment which she can call her own. This signifies her creating her identity. Mrs. Mallard’s dream of being free of her husband also sets her apart from other women of her time.…

    • 834 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    To begin with, Mrs. Mallard is said to have a troubled heart. The story begins with friends of the Mallards preparing to inform Mrs. Mallard that she is now a widow. Her husband was thought to have died in a railroad incident. She was said to have a troubled heart and they were having trouble on figuring out a way to break her the news. Although Mrs. Mallard heart problems are physical which one can assume its health related, it also can symbolize how unhappy she was in her marriage. It also can indicate her unhappiness due to her lack of independence and freedom. Mrs. Mallard is also a symbol in this story because she represents the women of her time frame that where married had restrictions and couldn’t have independence because the man controlled everything.…

    • 567 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Her elusive search from freedom and self-identity is finally over with her husband’s death. While her husband is alive, she feels she must live for him, and only when he dies does she feel her life once again become her own. Mrs. Mallard even prays at one point, hoping for a long life so she could then enjoy her newfound independence. It is marriage itself that she finds so oppressive due to the fact one is not independent anymore and most live for someone else and is so bound to that person for…

    • 661 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mallard is given the news of her husbands’ death from her sister, Josephine. She reacts just as anyone else would, she weeps immediately, and is stricken with grief. She falls into her sister’s arms for comfort. Then as she composes herself, she goes to her room alone. It is at this point that the story takes a strange twist. Mrs. Mallard sees the blue sky out her window. She feels the breeze flowing in from the outside. She smells the rain that was still in the air. We are told that she feels something coming towards her. She waits fearfully. It is “too subtle and elusive to name.” What could it be wonders the reader? Then it hits us unexpectedly. The thing coming towards her is her freedom. She whispers free, free, free. She is described as having a monstrous joy. Her husband would no longer repress her. She was free at last. She prayed that her life would be long, something that she had not wished for since her marriage.…

    • 710 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    No Name Woman Analysis

    • 751 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In “The Story of An Hour,” Kate Chopin uses imagery and irony to show a wife’s newfound freedom and joy upon hearing the news of her husband’s death. At first, Mrs. Mallard…

    • 751 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour”, was published over a century ago in 1894, but even with its age the story manages to be relevant in modern times. Upon first glance the short story is fleeting at only two pages in length and lasts for only an hour and due to this it could be seen as simple. This short story tells the tale of Louise Mallard, who has heart issues, learns from her sister Josephine that her husband, Brently Mallard was killed in train accident. Upon hearing this terrible news, she immediately started to cry before retreating to her room. In her room Louise Mallard goes through a profound awakening. Sometime later, Josephine goes and gets Louise from her room and upon going down the stairs; Louise is shocked to see her reportedly dead husband coming into their home. Mrs. Mallard suddenly dies, which doctors attributed to her heart troubles. Although at first this story seems simple, but surprisingly “The Story of an Hour” is a deep and symbolic story, full of irony and feminist themes of freedom and self awareness.…

    • 2454 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mallard's Awakening

    • 427 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Kate Chopin’s,”The Story of an Hour,” is an ironic and symbolic story as it portrays an innuendo of repression through the example married women. Chopin’s short story begins with Mrs. Mallard becoming lurid as she hears of her husband's death. Consequently, Mrs. Mallard underwent changes from depressed to an elated state of emotion. Chopin displayed Mrs. Mallards’ grievances and attitude towards freedom through her diction. Just as Mrs. Mallard perceived that she gained her freedom, news was delivered to her stating Brently Mallard was alive. Without hesitation Mrs. Mallard died not only because her freedom was gone, but because she felt guilty when she happily reflected upon her husband's death. Presumably, the cause of Mrs. Mallard's death was heart disease, thus making Chopin’s…

    • 427 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Mrs. Mallard’s expression of overbearing devastation that ended her life accounts for the rash behavior she shows through her grief. Her death, as a result, is the icing on the cake and topped off all of the unorthodox demeanors she express leading up to it. It is mentioned previously that the news of Mr. Mallard’s death was broken carefully to the fragile hearted Mrs. Mallard. There is an unexpected revelation when Mrs. Mallard hears the news of her husband’s death, and she felt relief rather than despair. She reacts by, “abandon[ing] herself a little whispered word escaped her slightly parted lips. She said it over and over under her breath: "free, free, free!"” (443) Mrs. Mallard is excited to have finally gotten a chance to be her own person. She begins planning and looking forward to a life of freedom without the constriction marriage included. Her excitement would be short lived due to her husband’s reemergence, which was yet another unexpected twists to the plot. Seeing her husband alive and realizing that she would not have the freedom she longed for ended hope for the life she wanted. “It was Brently Mallard who entered, a little travel-stained, composedly carrying his grip-sack and umbrella. He had been far from the scene of the accident, and did not even know there had been one.”(444) Mrs. Mallard’s reaction, and the final event of the…

    • 1279 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    There are many different tones, themes, characters, and symbolism in the short story “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin explains the story of a negative view of marriage by showing the reader with a woman who is overjoyed that her husband has died, also the characters in the story itself goes through multiply changes from fear to depression to finally freedom. The lone character, who goes through the most change be far throughout the entire story is the main character Mrs. Louise Mallard. This transformation doesn’t just help change the character of Louise Mallard, further the themes of the story and solidify the tones that the author are trying to set for the story.…

    • 1111 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mrs Mallard Dynamic

    • 418 Words
    • 2 Pages

    “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”(Chopin 278). This is the first sentence in “ The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin and in this sentence we can tell an already broken women will be grieving. Mrs.Mallard is the protagonist of this story and as well as a dynamic character who is changing rapidly.…

    • 418 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Kate Chopin’s non-fiction work “The Story of An Hour” gives a detailed account of what Mrs. Mallard feels after heartbreak. Mrs. Mallard is inflicted with heart trouble as her husband dies. She feels there are freedoms and opportunities for her to take advantage of along with the grievance of her husband’s death. These complex issues are accounted for in her brief characterization of her last hour of life. Ironically her husband did not pass away, but she still creates a tragic ending.…

    • 400 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    story of an hour poem

    • 1160 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Cited: Kate Chopin . “ The Story of an Hour”. Literature An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. X. J. Kennedy, Dana Gioia. 12th ed. N.D, 2005.2082-2099. Print…

    • 1160 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Once Mrs. Mallard accepts the feeling, even though she knows that her husband had really loved her, she is ecstatic that she will never have to bend her will to his again. Now that her husband is dead, she will be free to assert herself in ways she never before dreamed while he was alive. She recognizes that she had loved her husband sometimes, but that now she would be free in body and soul. She begins to look forward to the rest of her life when just the day before she shuddered at the thought of it.…

    • 396 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays