The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin

In the past many decades the definition of what a marriage means changed dramatically in some areas. For the author of both stories, Kate Chopin, she wanted the reader to get something out of the story. She likes to explore all types of themes in her stories such as, racism, the roles of women, and adultery. With these themes and messages she struggled to have most of her stories published. In many of her stories she passed along these messages through the manner of a marriage. In her short stories “The Story of an Hour” and “Desiree 's Baby” she showed just how different marriages could be as well as how similar they can be. Chopin portrays the lives of the main characters, Louise Mallard from “The Story of An Hour” and Desiree Aubigny

Foreshadowing is a literary device used by authors to hints at what will happen later in the story. In the short story, “The Monkey’s Paw”, there is a monkey paw that has a spell on it and the person who possess it can make 3 wishes. “The Leap” is a great story about a mother and her daughter's journey through life and despite tragedy they stay together. In each story there are many examples of foreshadowing. Two examples of foreshadowing from “The Monkey’s Paw” are “A fine crash from the piano greeted the words,”(Jacobs pg 36); “Herbert sat by the fire alone in the darkness , gazing at the dying fire, and seeing faces in it . The last face was so horrible and simian that he gazed at it with amazement” ( Jacobs pg 36). Examples

For the wife, Louise Mallard, this was an awakening of a new life. This new life is cut short as the information that led her to believe this news turns our false. Kate Chopin reveals that even the desire for love is trumped by the need for freedom and independence, through her use of precise diction and syntax, and symbolism. (rewrite)

In “The Story of an hour”, Kate Chopin uses the tone mercurial to represent the foreshadowing of the unpredictable change of mind conveyed by the literary devices imagery and diction.

Kate Chopin’s The Awakening should be seen as depicting the discontentment that comes from self-gratification rather than the glorification of delighting in one’s fantasies. Chopin describes the central idea of one who is seeking to please her personal needs and desires and, in the process, neglects to notice how her actions affect others. The protagonist, Edna, is not able to find peace or happiness in the accepted daily life that a woman of her era and social status should have. The fulfilling of her desires could essentially cause social ostracism for her, her husband, and her children, yet she is unable to find repose in living the typical social Victorian life. The final resolve of her “awakening”

Throughout the story this book displays great usage of many techniques help the reader understand and relate to the story. One technique that was constantly used was foreshadowing, foreshadowing is a technique that hints future events in the plot to allow the reader to predict and relate to future

When one has been bound under someone’s will without knowing, once given freedom one may feel as if they no longer have to answer and or obey ever anyone ever again. This may bring upon a feeling of hope, joy, and or satisfaction. In the “The Story of An Hour” Kate Chopin introduced the character Mrs. Mallard, who was recently given the news that her husband was in a terrible accident and pronounced dead. Throughout the story Mrs. Mallard seemed to displayed many different emotions. Chopin develops suspicion in the passage by using the literary techniques such as paragraph structure, irony, and foreshadowing. Let’s first take a look at how the different structures of the passage really gave suspension to the story line.

The main sentence in the story is the most clear utilization of the method in the whole short story. Something awful is going to happen to this woman. Eventually in the story, she is most likely going to kick the bucket of a heart assault. There are different evidences as the story comes that something terrible will happen, yet than we are persuade that maybe everything will be good. Mrs. Mallard is shockingly eased at her spouses passing, and a section or two later, we completely comprehend why. Some could contend that Chopin deceives us toward the end with a shock finishing. While there is some stun there, I think the first sentence goes about as an amazing hint of what is to come. It is the guarantee of the story, and Chopin conveys, however not in the way we're anticipating. It's unobtrusive in light of the fact that it's so clear and the show of her past life helps us overlook the guarantee of her heart condition, yet Chopin utilizes the guarantee as an astounding foretell of what happens toward the end of great

Mrs. Mallard’s roller coaster continues to climb to the peak as she begins to feel “something coming to her”, she does so “fearfully”, as she is not clear on what “it” is that is coming. In her article Jamil indicates, “The ‘it’ that [Mrs. Mallard] feels emerging from nature is the vision, or perception, of [Mrs. Mallard’s] freedom, which occurs through [Mrs. Mallard’s] aroused emotions” (217). Chopin thoughtfully deduces that Mrs. Mallard’s actualization of self is “too subtle and elusive” to be grasped with rational thought and that “it” can only be initially “felt” intuitively and then “it” can be processed emotionally (1). As Mrs. Mallard begins to acknowledge what

Although she tried to deny the emotion approaching her, when Louise looks out the open window she experiences a feeling of liberation. Chopin describes the liberation of the window by saying, “she could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life” (236). While looking outside of the window, Mrs. Mallard relates to nature’s new spring life as she now experiences new emotions of freedom from her marriage. Since Mr. Mallard’s death ends the confinement Mrs. Mallard feels, the open window demonstrates her now free, open life full of new opportunities. As Wimmer states in his article, “this 'openness,' then, is really itself a symbol of the boundless possibilities Louise can experience with her newfound independence.” She realizes she can live her

The last example occurs during and after Mrs. Mallard watches the “tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life” (Chopin 1). This shows that the character’s image of the world is already changed since she was informed of her husband’s death. In the twelfth paragraph, Chopin uses her character’s new perspective of the world to exemplify the confinement women felt. The character understood she had “no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself” (Chopin 2). Mrs. Mallard’s thoughts revolve around her limitations during marriage. She soon realizes that she would have “no powerful will bending hers” (Chopin 2). Mrs. Mallard was likely controlled her entire marriage; and now she is released from her husband’s dominance. Before opening the door for her sister, she was thinking about “all sorts of days that would be her own” (Chopin 2). The character looked forward to her new life ahead of her because of the new freedom she has gained; she thought about the future that involved her freedom from marriage. Mrs. Mallard eventually says a prayer to herself

Everyone who reads a story will interpret things slightly different than the person who reads it before or after him or her. This idea plays out with most every story, book, song, and movie. These interpretations create conflict and allow people to discuss different ideas and opinions. Without this conflict of thought there is no one devoting time to debate the true meaning of a text. Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” tells about a woman who is informed of her husbands death, processes the emotions, and becomes content with this new status as an individual person – losing all the expectations that society expected her to live by within a marriage. This story however is written in a way that the reader has the final interpretation of the text. There are many different interpretations on not only the reason for the main character’s death, but also on the overwhelming emotions that she faces.

In literature, shaping the reader's expectations is a common component in making them understand the message the story conveys. When a reader has an idea as to how the story will progress, the author can then control the reader's perception of the text by using a turning point to meet said prediction or create a sudden plot twist. In Kate Chopin's ´The Kiss´, the main character Nathalie, a composed young woman, is concerned that the life she desires is jeopardized when her affair is revealed to Brantain, the man she wishes to marry. This story contains many turning points that affect its plot and the reader's impression; however, one of the most important occurs during Nathalie and Brantain's wedding when Harvy rejects Nathalie, contrary to

Chopin uses common household features as a metaphor for Mrs. Mallard’s exclusion from the outside world. When she first learns of Brently’s death, Louise looks out an open window into an open square. Next, Chopin chooses to use treetops a quiver with new spring life as the first thing Louise sees prior to having her revelation, with a description of the delicious breath of rain in the air. Spring, of course is when things grow anew, and we know that water, as a a symbol cleanses ill pasts. This type of rich symbolism, returning to form, helped Chopin to make her story into simply “an hour”. As well, Chopin, makes use of parting clouds to provide Louise a blue sky, again, freedom like the

The Awakening by Kate Chopin is a novel full of symbolism which reveals much of the deeper meaning in the story. Within each narrative segment there is often a symbol that helps to add meaning to the text, and the understanding of these symbols is essential to a full appreciation of the story. These symbolic elements help the reader to make a connection between Edna’s world and her eventual awakening. Throughout the novel there are a huge number of symbols but three of the most meaningful symbols used are birds, houses and the ocean.