People’s attitudes and emotions are far more diverse and intricate than what we think. Every individual is prone to feel different emotions such as sadness, happiness, and even a mixture of both, as we are all unique in our own way. Because of these complicated emotions, we end up responding to these feelings negatively, which lead us into complicated positions in the long-run. In the short story, “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, we conflict with a similar type of situation- where the main character, Louise Mallard, ironically, in a timespan of an hour, undergoes several stages of mixed emotions after hearing the news of her husband’s death. The three key emotions expressed through Ms. Mallard’s character is grief, impending doom, and then an unexpected exhilaration, leading up to her unfortunate fatality due to an unexplained, “monstrous joy.” To start off with, Ms. Mallard deals with the first feeling of grief, when she is told by her sister Josephine, that her husband’s name has been the name that led the list of …show more content…
She can sense an unpleasant feeling coming her way, yet, she doesn’t exactly know what that feeling is. Like in the quote, as she “[stands], facing the open window” she now feels a “dull stare in her eyes” that is “not a glance of reflection, but rather [indicates] a suspension of intelligent thought”. This reveals that something is creeping up towards her from outside the window, but doesn’t know what exactly that “something” is. Ms. Mallard tries hard to reject this strange feeling of impending doom by “[striving] to beat it back with her will” as she “[begins] to recognize this thing that [is] approaching to possess her”, but she can’t seem to let go of this ominous feeling. Perhaps it is signifying that the presence of her reality and fate of her husband’s truth is approaching closer, as she feels “something coming to her and [is] waiting for it,
Setting exists in every form of fiction, representing elements of time, place, and social context throughout the work. These elements can create particular moods, character qualities, or features of theme. Throughout Kate Chopin's short story "The Story of an Hour," differing amounts and types of the setting are revealed as the plot develops. This story deals with a young woman's emotional state as she discovers her own independence in her husband's death, then her "tragic" discovery that he is actually alive. The constituents of setting reveal certain characteristics about the main character, Louise Mallard, and are functionally important to the story
Initially, Mrs. Mallard reacts with great sadness over the news of her husband’s death. Knowing that Mrs. Mallard suffers from “heart trouble”, Josephine, Mrs. Mallard’s sister decides to “hint” her the news of Brently’s death in “broken sentences”. Josephine assumes that Mrs. Mallard “[loves]” her husband, and naturally
While many women fulfilled their "responsibilities", a large number of women responded to this attempt to define and limit their roles with their own literature and work in the feminist movement”(Ewell). So we are now thinking that Mrs. Mallard was unhappy in her marriage because behind closed doors she now expresses how she really feels, it says “she could see in the open square before her house the tops of the trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life. The delicious breath of rain was in the air…”(p.496). At this point of the story begins to twist, something completely different than the reader expected to happen! So we now come to understand that Mrs. Mallard is actually feeling like new human being, she is being reborn. She is now seeing everything in a whole new way now that her husband has passed she is now free, free of her husband’s shadow. In the same sense we can easily interpret that winter, meaning her husband has died and spring meaning her freedom is yet to come and has now been reborn. In the story Mrs. Mallard is standing before an opened window, an open window may mean several things I interpret it as being vulnerable since she was in despair but it may also symbolize many opportunities for her
In Kate Chopin's short story "The Story of an Hour," there is much hatred. The first hatred detected is in the way that Louise reacts to the news of the death of her husband, Mr. Mallard. Before Louise's reaction is revealed, Chopin turns to how the widow feels by describing the world according to her outlook of it after the bad news. Louise is said to "not hear the story as many women have heard the same." Rather, she accepts it and goes to her room to be alone. Now the person reading starts to see the world through Louise's eyes, a world full of new life.
As any woman would, Mrs. Mallard initially “wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment,” (227) at the news of her husband’s death. Her weeping almost seems forced as Mrs. Mallard’s true character is revealed later on. She is described as “young, with a
In “The Story of an Hour,” Kate Chopin describes the series of emotions a married woman with a heart condition, Mrs. Mallard, endures after hearing about the death of her husband, Mr. Mallard. She assumes that she will be a mournful widow, but she ends up silently rejoicing. It turns out that she was not happily married and the thought of freedom from her attachments of marriage gave her
The story begins with the passage; “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.” The conflict of the story begins here. Mrs.
The symbolism and mental images that are used by Kate Chopin in her work The Story an Hour, gives the audience a sense of Mrs. Mallard’s new beginning emerging right before her through the “open window” (Meyer 15). During this time Mrs. Mallard experiences what the majority of people wish for in their lives, liberty and joy. The significance of her independence is comprehended by her when she spends an hour sitting in a “comfortable, roomy armchair” and goes through a change (Meyer 15). When the author uses the season of Spring, she symbolizes the idea of new beginnings and independence after Mrs. Mallard receives the news of her husband’s death.
Death can create sadness. Death can create suffering. Death can create freedom. In the short story "The Story of an Hour", Kate Chopin uses the death of a spouse to show the effects of an oppressive relationship. An oppressive relationship is when one spouse establishes a pattern of unhealthy control. Although it is not always the intention of the partner to become oppressive, as stated by Kate Chopin," a kind intention or a cruel intention made the act seem no less a crime." (2) It is still controlling and constraining. The demanding and oppressive force of a partner takes away a person’s independence and ability to think for themselves.
The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin is a short yet complex story, describing Mrs Mallard’s feelings. It focuses on the unfolding emotional state of Mrs Mallard after the news of her husbands death, and has overflowing symbolism and imagery. It is an impressive literary piece that touches the readers’ feelings and mind and allows the reader to have a connection to Mrs Mallard’s emotional process. Although the story is short, it is complete with each word carrying deep sense and meaning. It is written in the 19th century, a time that had highly restrictive gender roles that forbade women to live as they saw fit. Mrs Mallard experiences something not everyone during this time has the luck to have; the happiness of freedom that the reader only
In “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, the author depicts how someone can be trapped in an unproductive and unsatisfying reality because of other’s thoughtlessness, exploitation, and domination. When combined with the contemporary society’s belief, presumably the later half of the 19th century, a further understanding of Chopin’s thoughts and feelings can be realized. Mrs. Louise Mallard, the victim and messenger of this story, is the image of such a person. Her relationship with her husband is so oppressive and limiting that even death is considered a reasonable means of escape. The condition of life for Mrs. Mallard is terrible, yet for some reason she doesn’t seem to come to the full
In “The Story of an Hour,” Kate Chopin describes to her readers a young woman’s response to her husband’s death, or at least his presumed death. The opinions readers will draw from this story will vary from person to person due to personal experiences. The experience and wisdom that I have gained through the trails and tribulations of my life help me to understand, relate, and even despise Mrs. Mallard’s character. On one hand, I feel pity for Mrs. Mallard. I think she felt trapped in a situation that she found to be inescapable. She felt lonely, restless, and did not know how to help herself. Yet, on the other hand, I do not feel sorry for
“The Story of an hour” a complex piece of literature by Kate Chopin, has various interpretations to it. This story has, one definite interpretation, which is the following: life has to go on no matter what is happened in the past. In this story, Chopin implies Ms. Mallard’s husband has been very cruel to her in her lifetime. However, she never lets her husband get in the way, finally he dies, and, she thinks she is free although she really is not.
In “The Story of an Hour” (1894), Kate Chopin presents a woman in the last hour of her life and the emotional and psychological changes that occur upon hearing of her husbands’ death. Chopin sends the protagonist, Mrs. Mallard, on a roller coaster of emotional up’s and down’s, and self-actualizing psychological hairpin turns, which is all set in motion by the news of her husband’s death. This extreme “joy ride” comes to an abrupt and ultimately final halt for Mrs. Mallard when she sees her husband walk through the door unscathed. Chopin ends her short story ambiguously with the death of Mrs. Mallard, imploring her reader to determine the true cause of her death.
takes the readers through what Mrs. Mallards husband’s friend, Mr. Richard broke the news first