Story Of An Hour

But I truly respect women and believe us men aren’t anything with out them. Image Obama without

The short story “The Story of an Hour” by Kate O’Flaherty Chopin is about a young woman who is told of her husband’s death and how, in one hour, her life was changed forever. Kate’s life was in some ways similar to that of Mrs. Mallard’s, I believe her true feelings were reflected in her many writings.

The open window in “A Story of an Hour” holds a lot of symbolism towards the emotions that Mrs. Mallard discovers within the story. The open window constitutes as her epiphany moment in the story where she discovers her true feelings and bases her actions off of the freedom she finds when she looks beyond the scenery through the window with new eyes. The open window in Mrs. Mallards home is what triggers her emotional state in which she breaks out of her restraints that her marriage has put her in.

Women are taught from a young age that marriage is the end all be all in happiness, in the short story “The Story of An Hour” by Kate Chopin and the drama “Poof!” by Lynn Nottage, we learn that it is not always the case. Mrs. Mallard from “The Story of an Hour” and Loureen from “Poof!” are different characteristically, story-wise, and time-wise, but share a similar plight. Two women tied down to men whom they no longer love and a life they no longer feel is theirs. Unlike widows in happy marriages Loureen and Mrs., Mallard discover newfound freedom in their respective husband’s deaths. Both stories explore stereotypical housewives who serve their husbands with un-stereotypical reactions to their husband’s deaths.

The Story of an Hour," by Kate Chopin is the tragic story of a woman whose newfound position as a widow gives her strength. She develops a sense of freedom as she embraces her husband's death as an opportunity to establish her own identity. The tragedy is when her newfound identity gets stripped away as the appearance of her husband reveals that he is still alive. The disappointment from this tragedy kills her with a heart attack symbolizing the many conflicts that she faced throughout the story. The conflicts the character faces within herself and society show that the social norms for women were suppressing to their strength and individuality as human beings.

For this story, I will use Mrs. Mallard as the example, and will discuss her challenges and struggles. According to the text, she was “afflicted with a heart trouble," so based on that alone we know that she struggled with delicate health issues. The narrator further described her as, “young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain strength.” The ‘lines’ or wrinkles of repression that he speaks of is most likely caused by the stress of suppressing feelings or emotions in her life. Although she described her husband in a positive light, I do not believe she was happy and/or in love with him. My assumption is based on the fact that she demonstrated an incredible sense of relief when she thought he had passed on.

In Kate Chopin’s 1894 short story The Story of an Hour, a woman processes the announcement of her husband’s death. The story revolves around Louise Mallard, a young, pretty woman who has just received word that her husband, Brently Mallard, died in a train accident. Upon receiving the news from her sister Josephine, Louise immediately bursts into tears, an emotional display that, once spent, prompts her to retreat to her bedroom. After a time, Louise repeats her emotional outburst—this time with excitement at the idea she will be able to live her own life. However, Louise’s joy is cut short when her husband, having been nowhere near the accident, arrives home. Her disappointment is so profound she dies.

In this story, I have found that the themes that have stood out to me is gender and love. These themes have captured a major thematic idea by gender being discriminated against the women and the men. Gender is described as women being weaker than the men and men being the powerful ones. Love is described in this story as independent until it is found. Finding love is a part of life and everybody tries to find it but when it is found, it seems like you have lived you life to the fullest. These examples of the themes can be brought into the real world and can affect how people live their lives.

In "The Story of an Hour," Kate Chopin suggests that in certain scenarios, the death of a loved one may be a blessing in disguise. Possible situations may include an abusive relationship, or an unhappy marriage, as the story suggests. Although the circumstances throughout the story might lead the reader to believe that Louise's husband's death would cause her great pain, ironically, when she hears the news, she feels a sense of euphoria. This suggests that death may not always cause agony.

Kate Chopin’s short story ,”The Story of an Hour” is written in the early 1900’s when women were expected to abide by men. In the story, the narrator Mrs. Mallard was informed by her sister Josephine, that her husband had been in a terrible accident and that he was dead. Mrs. Mallard has heart trouble but when she’s alone she expresses her relief instead of mourning her husband’s death. Mrs. Mallard locks herself in her room for an hour and contemplates what her new life would be like without restrictions. In the end, Mrs. Mallard dies because she has been updated about the accident and finds out her husband actually lived. The short story,”The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins, is written in a time of distress for women in America.

In “The Story of an Hour” we are taken through a journey. The journey is the thoughts and emotions going through Mrs. Mallards (Louise) mind. The journey only takes an hour, so everything moves at a fast pace. Louise seemed to process the news of her husband’s death without an initial element of disbelief and shock. She goes right into the reaction of grieving for her husband. She quickly begins to feel other emotions. At first she does not understand them. The journey is a way that Louise comes to her final thoughts of freedom. She looks into the future and looks forward to living a long life on her own terms.

For this assignment I decided to compare and contrast two short stories, “The story of an hour” written by Kate Chopin and “A good man is hard to find” written by Flannery O’ Connor. Both stories were written by amazing writers who provide a unique style of writing, characters and narration. In the “Story of an hour” Chopin employs specific structural and stylist techniques to exaggerate the drama of the hour. The story is told in different small paragraphs making it easier to read and comprehend. Since the story is considered a short story the structure of the story is made up of short paragraphs, many which only consist of two or three sentences.

“The Story of An Hour” focuses on sixty minutes in the life of a young nineteenth-century woman, Mrs. Mallard. Upon learning of her husband’s death, Mrs. Mallard experiences an epiphany about her future without a husband. Her life, due to heart problems, suddenly ends after she unexpectedly finds out her husband is actually alive. Mrs. Mallard’s actions cause the reader to cogitate a hidden meaning weaved into Kate‘s short story. Chopin had an idea that women felt confined in their marriages, and the idea is brought out through the protagonist’s initial reaction, excessive joy, and new perspective of the world following the upsetting news.

The Story of an hour written by Kate Chopin is the best short-story because theme, characters, point of view, and style show the attitude that some women felt or may feel regarding marriage being repressive in their life and a longing for freedom. The story opens with Mrs. Mallard’s sister Josephine informing her that her husband has been killed. Because of Mrs. Mallard’s heart condition Josephine and Richards, who is a friend of the family and there to help deliver the news, are concerned with how the news will affect Mrs. Mallard. When Mrs. Mallard hears the news to is over taken with grief and locks herself in her room. While in her room she imagines herself in her new life that is no longer bogged down by her duties as a wife. When

“The Story of The Hour” fully answers its title. It is a story about a woman living her last hour. Not so many things happen during that hour, but in contrast, many thoughts fly through main character’s head and a reader can form an accurate portrait of a woman’s life from these thoughts. Somebody tells her that her husband is dead. After that she dives into the whirl of thoughts regarding the impact of husband’s death on her future. Some facts or beliefs make this woman think that her husband’s death is a rather fortunate event. It all ends soon after that, when she sees her husband alive and dies. In “The Story of The Hour” Kate Chopin doubts mere foundation of a thing called “marriage” and suggests an alternative viewpoint based on early examples of a feminist movement.