Preview

Kate Chopin's The Story Of An Hour

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
494 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Kate Chopin's The Story Of An Hour
Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” talks about a wife who was afflicted with a heart trouble and felt abused and neglected. Mrs. Mallard was a woman who felt trapped by her husband. She was surprised when she finds out about the death of her husband through a horrible accident and that she was not most often in love with her husband. While most people would have bad emotions about the loss of a husband, Mrs. Mallard felt differently. She felt the death of her husband brought her some source of freedom. This a kind of feeling that she hadn’t felt in a long time.
Everything Mrs. Mallard thought about was how she was going to be free and was optimistic about the future of her life being filled with joy. How was it right for a woman to feel how he felt after being married for so many years? We can only think about the unthinkable but it was obvious that their relationship wasn’t a healthy one.
…show more content…
Mallard sat by her window in her room as her sister knelt before the closed door with her lips to the keyhole begging her sister to open the door. As she sat in her room, she heard, smelt and saw all that was going on outside the window from the tweeting birds, the smell of rain, and the view of the tops of the trees. All of this calmed her down and she continued to be in her free state of mind. She kept whispering to herself “free! Body and soul free!” (Chopin 1984) Once she got the information that her husband was not part of the accident and was alive, it killed her. All of her new found joy and happiness was shut down after someone opened the door and it was her husband Brently Mallard who was presumed to be dead. Her heart condition that she had lived with for year had finally got the better of

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    Chopin uses imagery and descriptive detail to contrast the rich possibilities for which Mrs. Mallard yearns with the drab reality of her everyday life. Chopin uses specific words to give the reader a background on Mrs. Mallard’s position. Chopin uses “Fearfully” to describe what Mrs. Mallard’s reaction is when she finds out her husband is dead and realized that she is on her own. The word “Fearfully” shows that Mrs. Mallard did in fact love her husband. It does this by giving the reader the implication that she was worried about how she would live without him to be there for her. She was afraid to go on without having him there for her. Later on in the story the use of the word “Unwittingly” describes Mrs. Mallard’s mood. This shows that Mrs. Mallard had made peace with her husband’s death, and she is doing what she has to do. Mrs. Mallard is not going to worry about her husband’s death because she has…

    • 1643 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    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…

    • 203 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    This short story is set during the late nineteenth century. The setting in which this work is taking place gives the reader the idea that Mrs. Mallard was stereotypically known as a week and emotional woman. Women during the 19th century spent most of their day at home, while men would be the ones that typically worked and went out to fulfill financial needs for a family. The reader can infer that even though Mrs. Mallards marriage was like an ordinary marriage of the time, she felt as if she was being forced to feel satisfied.…

    • 497 Words
    • 2 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

    Mallard does acknowledge that she will cry at her husband’s funeral when she sees his “face that had never looked save with love upon her, fixed and gray and dead” (Chopin 129). In the same paragraph she also acknowledge the future “that would belong to her absolutely” which she welcomed with arms wide open (129). This paragraph can give insight into two different perspectives, one perspective is that Mrs. Mallard is “arguing her case for the right to feel liberated” (qtd. in Evans, “Story” 99). She is arguing that she will remember her husband’s kindness before she indulges in her new found independence and bright future found from her husband’s death. On the other hand, this paragraph can also suggest yet another internal conflict “between competing perspectives within her own mind” (98). One part of her conflicting mind can be understood through words such as “tender hands” (Chopin 129) and “face that had never looked save with love upon her” which suggest she was contempt with her married life (qtd. in Evans, “Story” 98). The other part of her mind was gently introduced with “transition” (98) words such as “fixed and gray and dead” (Chopin 129). This part of her mind is the new single Louise Mallard, her real name, that is excited for the “years to come that would belong to her absolutely”…

    • 2338 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    “In the blink of an eye everything can change.” These words perfectly describe the short story “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin. In this short story, Mrs.Mallard’s world is turned upside down when she finds out that her husband has died. Within that hour Mrs.Mallard’s life continues to drastically change as she comes to realize that she is free to live her life how she wants. Mrs.Mallard only grieves the loss of her husband for a little while then she can’t help but say over and over that she is free. Although Mrs.Mallard was going to be sad at Mr.Mallard’s funeral she was looking forward to the coming years where her years would belong to only her. Despite the fact that Mrs.Mallard quickly got over her husband’s death her life changed…

    • 153 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory 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
  • Good Essays

    In the short story, Story of an Hour, Chopin illustrates that societal expectations will subdue and repress one’s identity. Firstly, in the very first paragraph it is noted that Mrs. Mallard is afflicted with heart trouble; naturally, one would presume that she is of quite some age, however, in the eighth paragraph it reads, “She was young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain strength.” (Chopin, 8th paragraph) This comes as a surprise to the reader as it was originally inferred that she was much older but now that the reader becomes aware of her age, they are able to deduce how much psychological and emotional strain must have been pressed upon her to have lines that “bespoke repression” at such a young age. As well, Mrs. Mallard may have been inclined to enjoy those first few moments of newfound freedom in solitude, as she would not like anyone to see her in peace after her husband’s death. This sentence accurately illustrates how societal norms have repressed her identity, causing her to even hide from her sister to avoid questioning.…

    • 461 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

    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

    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
  • Better Essays

    Mrs Mallard's Oppression

    • 1541 Words
    • 7 Pages

    In the beginning of the story, Mrs. Mallard is characterized as a fragile woman who suffered from heart problems. Kate Chopin writes, “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 1-2). When the news of her husband’s death was received, a family friend (Richard) and Mrs. Mallard’s sister (Josephine) were very gentle in the way they broke the news to her because of her heart condition. After the news was broken to her, it seemed she would act to her husband’s death in an ordinary way “she wept once with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister’s arm” (Chopin 9). This tells the readers that she is truly is sad about her husbands death. Mrs. Mallard has been so used to the women duties role in the marriage, the news of her husband’s death gave her an awestruck moment of shock. The life she has known up to now will drastically change and this scared her. After grieving with her sister, Mrs. Mallard went to her…

    • 1541 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    In “The Story of an Hour,” a woman by the name of Mrs. Mallard recently hears of the death of her husband, Brently Mallard. The author describes Mrs. Mallard as a gentle, frail woman who has heart trouble (Chopin). When she hears the news, Mrs. Mallard immediately reacts with sorrow and retreats to her room to think about what has happened. While she is brooding in her room, she thinks about how the death of her husband gives her freedom to do whatever she likes. The author states, “She had loved him—sometimes. Often she had not. What did it matter! What could love, the unsolved mystery, count for in the face of this possession of self-assertion which she suddenly recognized as the strongest impulse of her being!” (Chopin). Even though Mrs. Mallard was a very weak and frail person at the beginning of the story, just the thought of freedom liberates her from her sorrow and fills her with immense joy. Mrs. Mallard feel strong, as though she had eliminated her weakness and any self-doubt she had beforehand. However, the twist in the story is that Mrs. Mallard’s husband is actually alive. When her husband returns, her freedom and independence go straight out the door. As soon as Mrs. Mallard realizes this, she falls to the floor, stricken with a heart attack. Mrs. Mallard’s heart attack is a symbol for…

    • 1239 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    In this story Mrs. Mallard is tired of being caught doing the chores that her husband expects her to do; she seeks freedom and liberation. Although death is ought to be a sad time, not all conditions would maintain that statement. For example if someone were suffering horrendously, it would actually be a good thing if he or she died. In the story it shows that Mrs. Mallard died at the end of the story but prior to that event it stated that Mrs. Mallard did actually love her husband, but often she did not. (Chopin 92) The story also suggests that she believed that her husband was frustrated with the marriage and assumed that she was too. This conflict revealed the sign that Mrs. Mallard was struggling for freedom, and when she sees that her husband is alive, she must die. This is the only way to be literally free from his gasp. When she had died of the joy that kills it leaves the reader to wonder about how she had died. Whether from the heart attack or she thought she had finally escaped her husband and is free at…

    • 1050 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays