Kate Chopin's The Story Of An Hour

The point of view being used in Kate Chopin’s Story of an Hour is a non-participating omniscient third-person narrator. By using this kind of narration, Chopin is not limited to just one characters point of view. Being an unidentified outsider can be very beneficial to the reader because we know something that the main character doesn’t and that can cause great anticipation, which usually increases the reader’s interest. Since Chopin decided to use this technique, it is much easier to go into great detail about what the widow, Mrs. Mallard is thinking. In this case, the author is revealing Mrs. Mallard’s unexpected happiness that came with knowing that her husband has passed.

A woman's role in society is ever-changing. For many year's women were subjected to strict societal norms, ideals and were defined by the male figures in their lives. Gender roles and relations still make themselves apparent in society's perpetuating inequality, whether through traditional beliefs adapted over the years or societal norms embedded into all aspects of life, including literature. As time passes, women have striven to set their own standards and are now able to stand unapologetically tall in society. Many different factors have aided in allowing women to rebel and evolve against conformity, one significant element being literature. More specifically, literature that breaks barriers for women in allowing their portrayal to defy degrading roles and literature that brings the expectations of women in society to light.

Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” represents a primitive perspective of marriage by presenting the reader with a woman that is thrilled that her husband passed away. This is conveyed through the language used to describe Louise’s emotions as she shifts between numbness and euphoria at her instant individuality. The narrator relates what she sees in simple text, but when her emotions are described, the words are bright and potent. This implies that Louise has an unaffiliated life that is numb to the outside world and her alone time is invaluable to her. The environment surrounding her is only minimally described, but the narrator describes the image in her head as an oasis. The view outside of her room is paradisiacal like her mind, but

Kate Chopin’s “The Story of An Hour” was published in 1894 in Vogue, during a time when women do not have any legal rights. They have low education level and have no opportunity to work; what they can do is stay at home and manage the family. All their lives, they rely on their husband. Women at that time do not think about why they should be treated this way; they were being silenced by society. Kate Chopin uses the character Mrs. Mallard as the representative of all women who wants freedom at that time, and she criticizes the way society treats them, yet the difference of Mrs. Mallard’s values compared to society’s makes her become egotistic and her death end up not changing people’s mind of how to treat women properly.

Looking at the early and late 19th century paintings, one can see that majority of them showed women and children in their respective roles. Motherhood was revered and something to be honored and commemorated. The women were seen only in the roles of wives, mothers and caretakers and society considered this their appropriate place. Women who were single were termed as 'spinsters ' and were not given the same status in society as married women. In the story of an hour, the author, Kate Chopin describes the emotions of a woman who is married and tied down to this oath for the rest of her life. The author uses the ways of the society during that time to construct a story that accurately reflects the feelings of majority of women of that

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.

Considered one of American’s foremost feminist authors, Kate Chopin addresses issues challenging to the social and gender roles of the late 1800s. She celebrates women who seek their own identity and focuses on individual journeys of self-discovery. Her short story “The Story of an Hour” has a unique structure in that it adheres to a realistic premise, yet contains a protagonist who represents idealism. Faced with the news that her husband has died, Mrs. Mallard takes ownership of her own emotions and strength to control her life. However, her emotional revelation emerges only upon her husband’s supposed death. Chopin juxtaposes physical death with emotional freedom, suggesting actions and feelings are determined by social, psychological, and emotional forces instead of individual will. In order to show the fragility of Mrs. Mallard and her idealism, Chopin creates a microcosm in Mrs. Mallard’s bedroom of solidarity; a world of freedom and choice within the bedroom and the world of deterministic forces on the other side of the door. Through the setting, Chopin explores the dichotomy between the desire to change one’s situation and the possibility to change one’s situation.

Within the past century, the United State and the world has undergone a dramatic revolution in the status and empowerment of women in society, as women search for and fight for selfhood. “Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin questions social conventions concerning marriage and women’s independence. “Story of an Hour” illustrates the themes of the quest for identity and the subjugation from romantic love through the depiction of the open window, death, and “heart trouble,” symbolizing Mrs. Mallard’s transformation from her newfound freedom from the subjugation of marriage. Mrs. Mallard is portrayed sitting “facing the open window,” as she contemplates the death of her husband, and soon comes into the realization of the freedom she has attained.

“The story of an hour” by Kate Chopin was a story that was ironical yet profoundly deep. As a student I have been asked to read “a story of an hour” many times, and every time I’m surprised by how I enjoy it. People can read thousands of stories in their life times and only a handful will every stand out to them, stories that can draw out an emotion or spark a thought are the ones that will standout more. For me and “a story of an hour” the thought of freedom is what draws me the most as a teenage I would feel a deep and heavy cage that traps me in its invisible snarl. It is hard to explain why one feels that way many a times feelings are just a way of showing frustration. Mrs. Mallard I assume has many frustrations, and she associated her imprisonment with her marriage to her husband. In many versions Mrs. Mallard says he is not a mean man and she did have feelings. It is just an unexplainable blanket of depression that anyone can fall through. Like a cold or an unsuspecting wounds one cannot prevent what one does not know of until it becomes apparent .as the story progresses I add more of my own emotion and slowing I draw a bridge that connects me to the basic feel of the story. In the begging I am just an outsider looking in not yet connected with their feeling, then the realization hits one and so does mine, and finally when Mrs. Mallard freedom from her is taken yet it is not. This is what make the story believable the unchained freedom of feelings that is taboo for

People have different reactions to divergent situations; it really depends what they are going through. In the narrative Story of an Hour, by Kate Chopin it talks about a woman who has heart issues and receives the news of her husband getting killed in an incident. Mrs. Mallard doesn’t know how to react to the news; later on her husband shows up in her door and she gets killed. What could have caused her to die in an instant without an explanation? In the narrative Story of an Hour, Kate Chopin's expresses in her writing that, even if what was desired wasn’t there, then contentment will sometimes appear; the author uses dialogue, setting and imagery in order to convey the theme by describing what had caused her loss of life.

Don’t be quick to jump to conclusions, not everything is what it appears to be. Kate Chopin’s short story, “The Story of an Hour” is a great representation of this. Chopin’s story is about the thoughts of a woman named Louise Mallard, after she is told that her husband has died in an accident. The use of an omniscient third-person narrator helps the reader understand what all the characters are thinking. The setting correlates the title and the duration of the story, all events in the story took place within an hour. The irony adds depth to the story, in the beginning Louise thinks her husband has died, but then, she dies herself in the end. Chopin’s use of narration, setting, and irony clearly summarizes the

Kate Chopin provides her reader with an enormous amount of information in just a few short pages through her short story, “The Story of an Hour.” The protagonist, Louise Mallard, realizes the many faults in romantic relationships and marriages in her epiphany. “Great care [is] taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband’s death” (Chopin 168). Little do Josephine and Richards know, the news will have a profoundly positive effect on Louise rather than a negative one. “When she abandoned herself,” Mrs. Mallard opened her mind to a new way of life. The word usage shows that the protagonist experienced a significant change. This life wouldn’t be compromised by her partner’s will, which will enable her to live for

Foster’s How to Read Literature Like a Professor discusses many topics and insights that can be found in literature. Foster explains how each are used and the purposes they serve while providing numerous examples. Many of Foster’s insights can be found in Kate Chopin’s “The Story of An Hour” which was written during a time in history when women were often restricted by society and marriage. The story speaks of a woman who felt freed from the burden of marriage when she thought her husband died, only to die the moment she realized he was actually alive. Foster’s insights about weather, heart disease, and flight that are evident in “The Story of An Hour” greatly influence the story’s interpretation in several ways.

A metaphoric story, a common for female writers of the time wishing to be more than just a Mrs., Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” examines the freedom of being single and independent yet lacks the realities and long term effects of such independence. The third person narrative allows the reader to feel the joy Mrs. Mallard experiences at the news of her husband’s death and the use of simple prose only heightens the experience. Details of her freedom are described in colorful descriptive words. Yet the sadness of his death seem to be just a small detail.

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