"The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin 1. Describe your experience in reading "The Story of an Hour." Did the story surprise you, annoy you, entertain you? Why? Did it hold your interest? Why or why not? In reading "The Story of an Hour" for the first time in high school, it was very confusing for me. It was not until I read the story in the literature textbook in this class that the story was made very clear to me because the text has many side comments that explains the story in a more modern English. This time reading the story, I was very interested in knowing of the thoughts that Mrs. Mallard had in her mind. Her point of view was much clearer and I was able to make connections to the rest of the story because of this clarity. It was very intriguing to me because it held me in suspense throughout the story, which is always interesting in reading literary work....show more content...
What is the narrator's attitude toward Mrs. Mallard? Where do you find this attitude most clearly suggested? The narrator was showing throughout the story a sense of sympathy but mostly was understanding of Mrs. Mallard. This is shown in the way that the author was portraying to the reader of what was going on in the head of Mrs. Mallard, as if the author was agreeing and understanding of the thoughts of Mrs. Mallard. Indeed, this could be proven by looking at the texts and seeing that Mrs. Mallard did not say much during the time that she was in her room. In fact, most of the text comes from the words of the author, who is clearly stating their
When first reading Kate Chopin's "Story of an Hour," one may not typically be surprised at its ending, write it off as one of those creepy "back from the dead" horror stories and forget about it. There is more to this story than simply horror. The author is making a very strong, however subtle, statement towards humanity and women's rights. Through subtle symbolism, Kate Chopin shows how marriage is more like a confining role of servitude rather than a loving partnership.
Mr. Mallard is assumed to die from a railroad accident (Chopin 181). The railroad has been used to symbolize a transition, moving on, and change. The death of Mr. Mallard would be a transition from Mrs. Mallard being some man's wife to becoming her own person. Mrs....show more content...
Out the open window she looks out to the square and notices the new spring life all around (182). This story taking place in springtime symbolizes rebirth, a new beginning, and a fresh start... without Mr. Mallard.
Also out this open window of freedom, Mrs. Mallard is overtaken by the blue sky. The blue sky symbolizes God. As she is gazing into the sky she is strangely comforted by it, as if it were God who was soothing her. Even though Mrs. Mallard felt guilty for feeling glad her husband was dead, the sky made her forget her feelings of guilt (Chopin 182).
"There would be no one to live for her during those coming years; she would live for herself. There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and woman believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow–creature" (Chopin 182). Chopin makes her strong statement in this quote from the story here. Mrs. Mallard has no one to answer to but herself now, she feels liberated that her husband can no longer control her.
After realizing her blessing in disguise, Mrs. Mallard emerges from her room with her sister and descends her staircase (Chopin 183). This is symbolizing her coming down from being high up. She was on top of the world with her new freedom and responsibilities and going down this staircase symbolizes her coming down from her spot on top of the world.
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. The beginning of the story sets the theme for the whole story. We are told about the heart condition that inflicts Louise. This is significant throughout the story. The heart condition is a symbolic way of describing her thoughts of oppression she felt about her marriage. She was trapped and isolated by the marriage. She felt the need to hide these feelings. Women of her era were supposed to be home and under their husbands command. The story has her going through this journey privately. That is significant in the fact that now in her husband's passing, she will be alone. She will need to work through things by herself. She will be able to go through the whole process on her own, without being judged and persuaded to feel differently. She grieves for her husband a very short time. She then begins to feel a sense of freedom. This initially makes her feel guilty and
"The Story of an Hour" is a stark display of female rejection of the norms of society. This work, by Kate Chopin, begins with a woman going through the stages of grief for her husband's death. 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. With respect to word choice, Chopin foreshadows the idea that it was possible that Mrs. Mallard's husband was not dead at all. From the start she describes the news as "possible" (79). To further show this, she chooses to use...show more content...
It is "comfortable" and "roomy" (79). These descriptors help the reader to understand the transition she is going through. Due to the loss of her husband, she now has room to live her life, and to do so comfortably, without the intrusion or imposition of her husband. The outside world is described as being "aquiver with the new spring life" (79). She also describes the feeling of freedom as "creeping out of the sky" (80). It is hard for Mrs. Mallard to accept the new feelings of her freedom. The feeling had to creep due to the fact that her freedom was granted on the premise of her husband's death. This feeling, however, comes out of the sky as to show the new life promised to her, but it is still hard for her to believe that she wanted this freedom more than love. This is further displayed by the use of the phrase "monstrous joy" (80). The juxtaposition of these words shows very well the emotional state of Louise Mallard. The joy she is feeling is something that others could call monstrous, but the prison she was in previously could never be called joyful. Most important is the repetition of the word "free" (80). Muttering this under her breath is a sign that she cannot believe what she is even saying. It is at this moment that she realizes that she is free and can now enjoy her life as an independent person. In resisting this new emotion Mrs. Mallard was feeling, Chopin describes her as "powerless as her two white slender hands would have been" (80).
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"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 anidea 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 first example of the theme arises when the protagonist "wept at once, with sudden, wild...show more content...
Mallard's unexpected bout of joy also supports the theme; if she was not feeling confined, her feelings of grief would not have been replaced by excessive joy. Time moves along, and she continues to whisper "free! Body and soul free!" (Chopin 2). It is further understood that the character was released from a constricted marriage because the words willingly slip roll off her tongue.
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
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Story of an Hour Kate Chopin 's the "Story of an Hour" includes a vast amount of literary devices. Irony, foreshadowing, personification, imagery, symbolism, metaphor and repetition are some of the major literary techniques used by Chopin within this short story about a woman named Mrs. Mallard. Although the story covers only one hour in the life of the main character, the use of these various literary techniques present the theme of the story to the reader in a very entertaining manner. The "Story of an Hour" is primarily a story of greatirony. Irony is first demonstrated when Mrs. Mallard who has a serious heart condition finds out the news about the sudden death of her husband. Although she appears upset and goes to her room...show more content...
This again shows how depressing her life really was with her husband.
Visual imagery is used in the story by Chopin to help the reader create an image of the words and scenes she is presenting in the story. As an example of this imagery she writes: "there were patches of blue sky showing here and there through the clouds that had met and piled one above the other in the west facing her window". With imagery, she also helps us feel the miserable world Mrs. Mallard lived in. "She carried herself unwittingly like a goddess of victory". Chopin also includes symbolism as a literary device when Mrs. Mallard stares out the window of her room. The view through the window is symbolic of a new world with no restrictions and limitations now that her husband is dead. She also used symbolism when she said, "patches of blue sky showing here and there through the clouds." Her ultimate death due to a heart attack is also symbolic of the loss of her love for her husband.
The basic symbol of the story involves the new life she would be able to live alone. Divorce was rare in Mrs. Mallard 's days, but the news of her husband 's death offers her a chance at a new beginning. "She carried herself unwittingly like a goddess of victory." This symbolizes the strength that Mrs. Mallard had during this time period, and shows that she will conquer obstacles in her future.
Chopin uses repetition to emphasize a particular idea. For instance, when she said, "free, Get
In the short story, В« Story of an HourВ», Kate Chopin paints the tragic misfortune of Mrs. Mallard concerning the death of her husband, Brently Mallard. Alone face of this terrible, Chopin reveals the different state of mind of Mrs. Mallard concerning this news. It was her sister Josephine who had the difficult task to tell her this frightful news with caution, "in broken sentences; veiled hints that revealed in half concerning". Along with Josephine, Richard, husband's friend, was there as support and holder of the truth. "It was he who had been in the newspaper office.... With Brently Mallards' name leading the list of killed". In addition, "He had only taken the time to assure himself of its truth by a second telegram." However, despite precautions...show more content...
"There would be no one to live for during those coming years. There would be no powerful will bending hers". She conclusively apprehends the word "free". Because she was free now that her husband was no longer there. Free to do what she wants, free to choose, free to decide what she wants to. However, never did she love him to have the fluidity to be content of the loss of her husband. "Yet she had loved him–sometimes. Often she had not." We could note that Mrs. Mallard and her husband did not have a good relationship. Furthermore, "what could love count for in the face od this possession of self–assertion." Thus, the realization of her freedom of her self–importance was worth that the hegemony that love apply upon couples. Love appears as a restrain, an abandon of liberty and autonomy in the eyes of Mrs. Mallard. And, she was free of love by the death of her husband. Suddenly, the call of Josephine "Louise open the door" resound as a call into the reality . But she was ascertained that she was not dreaming and her new asset was real and eternal. She was a "goddess of Victory". Nevertheless, the reality had not said its last word in its purpose to awake her. While Mrs. Mallard and Josephine came down, "Someone was opening the front door." "It was Brently Mallard who entered", appeared in front of them back from the dead. Seeing the one who was at the origin of her pain all those year, presenting as a ghost who
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.
Titles often give...show more content...
"It was only yesterday she had thought with a shudder, that life might be long." (Chopin 17). ""Poof!"... gave a revealing look at the victims of domestic abuse and how they wrestle with overcoming their fear and their doubts after suffering years of abusive treatment." (Toomer 5) Loureen unlike Mrs. Mallard, witnesses her husband's death first hand during a marital argument. Loureen goes through denial questioning whether her husband's death. She is happy her husband is dead but also feels guilty, because she knows how a mourningwife should react, but the joy of his demise is greater," I should be praying, I should be thinking of the burial, but all that keeps popping into my mind is what will I wear on television when I share my horrible and wonderful story with a studio audience...", Loureen's husband, Samuel, was physically abusive, as revealed by Florence, Loureen's best friend and neighbor. "Did that mother***** hit you again?" (Nottage 1563) This abuse, physical by Samuel and mental by Brently, is what allows Loureen in the drama "Poof!" and Mrs. Mallard in theshort story "The Story of an Hour" to have the shared freedom they feel in the release from their respective abusive relationships. The ending of "Poof!" leaves us with a satisfied Loureen who decides that her husband's death is the best thing that could ever happen. Ironically the man who Get more content
I chose to do my analysis on the short story, "The Story Of An Hour". The themes I see in this story is the quest for identity/coming of age, romantic/love, birth, and death. It is about a woman named Mrs. Mallard. She was an elderly lady and had a heart complications. Her sister Josephine and her husband's friend Richards had to break the news to her that her husband, Brently Mallard, has been killed in a railroad disaster. Mrs. Mallard was sorrowful and sobbed in her sisters' arms. After her grieving process, she wanted to be alone, so she went to her room and locked herself in. As she sat in the window, she seem to be calmer and accepted her husband's death. She was not distressed of what had happened. She began to say the words "free" and her heart...show more content...
Her husband was already dead so what more could happen. What more was she able to do. "There would be no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself. There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow–creature. A kind intention or a cruel intention made the act seem no less a crime as she looked upon it in that brief moment of illumination" (Chopin). I feel like Mrs. Mallard got the feeling as if something is going to happen. Her whole body began to change. "There was something coming to her and she was waiting for it, fearfully. What was it? She did not know; it was too subtle and elusive to name. But she felt it, creeping out of the sky, reaching toward her through the sounds, the scents, the color that filled the air" (Chopin). I feel like that feeling she had was her husband's soul. He was not dead and was on his way home. An interesting thing to me that her room was upstairs and while she was sitting in her chair in her room, she was looking outside at the trees and listening to the birds chirp, symbolizing a place like
True Sadness In the short story "The Story of an Hour" Kate Chopin, the author, presents the reader with an obscure view of marriage. Chopin's main character, Mrs. Louise Mallard, experiences the excitement of freedom instead of the devastation of loneliness after she receives the news of her husband's death. Mrs. Mallard disturbingly finds out that Brently, her husband is still alive. She know knew that her only chance at freedom is gone. The disappointment instantly kills Mrs. Mallard. Published in the late 1800s, the overbearing nature of marriage presented in "The Story of an Hour" may very well reflect, but not restricted to, that era. Chopin tells the story through the narrator's voice. The narrator isn't a spectator, however. The narrator, for example, knows that Mrs. Mallard, did not love her husband (paragraph 15). It is made clear that the narrator, knew more than what could be easily noticed by the reader. Chopin, never informs the reader what Mrs. Mallard is feeling. Instead, as the reader one is forced to observe all Mrs. Mallard's words and actions to understand how Mrs. Mallard feels. Mrs. Mallard feels tied down and trapped in her marriage. The lines of her face "bespoke repression" (paragraph 8). Once Mrs. Mallard receives the news of her husband's death, she knew that there will "be no powerful will bending her" (paragraph 14). There now would be no husband who believes he had the "right to impose a private will upon a fellow creature"
Marriage is a union of two companions who are deeply in love with each other; however, this is not always the case. In Chopin "Story of an Hour" Louise weeps of her husband's death, but then comes to the realization that she was now a free, independent women who no longer feels oppressed by marriage. Louise; however, never gave a specific way in which her husband oppressed her, which Chopin hints thatmarriage suppress both men and women. In Gilman "The Yellow Wallpaper" reveals that gender division had the effect of keeping awoman in an adolescent state of ignorance and prohibiting further development. Gilman critiques the position of women within the establishment of marriage and criticizes the traditional nineteenth century middle–class
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The author of "The Story of an Hour" creates a new aspect of overjoyment but using it in a negative tone. It is clear that while Mrs.Mallard is upset by her husband's demise but is also relieved and now feels that she has gained a new found freedom she didn't have before. The story creates another feel to marriage; it can beautify one sided or devastate two sided love. Nonetheless this does not indicate marriage is negative, although it is not always rainbows and sunshine either. Analyzing what the author is trying to confront readers with is equally easy and difficult, for this story gives little detail and insight of Mr. and Mrs. Mallard's marriage.
The Story of an Hour: Story Analysis "The Story of an Hour" is a great portrayal of how married women felt during the 1870s. This story is a serious representation of how difficult it was to get divorced during that time. Throughout this short story, a woman by the name of Louise Mallard rejoices at the news of her husband's death. Due to her disappointment of seeing that her husband had not actually passed, Mrs. Mallard dies. One might question why she was overjoyed by that upsetting news; however, she was justified in feeling cheerful. In this story, Mrs. Mallard states numerous times how she felt "free". Having this mindset after hearing her husband had passed one has reason to believe Mrs. Mallard and her husband's marriage was not a
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The Story of an Hour
1.There are many themes in The Story of An Hour; 'heart trouble' – which describes not only the physical affliction of Mrs Mallard but also the emotional suffering in her marriage. Three other themes that are prominent within this story are; death, freedom and oppression. Though, the themes of freedom and oppression can be seen as the main themes within this story, as we see the character of Mrs Mallard – a Mallard is a type of wild duck, which can be seen as being symbolic of her need to be free and to live for herself – struggle to cope with the apparent death of her husband. 'She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment', until she was alone in her room where she began to come to the realisation that she had...show more content...
(349 words)
3.The story begins by introducing Mrs Mallard as a woman afflicted with 'heart trouble', 'and this meant that great care had to be taken while she was informed of her husband's death'.
The writer choosing to use the words heart trouble in place of illness or disease, which would have been more precisely descriptive, alludes to the fact that the heart trouble is much more than a physical misfortune, but also the source of emotional turmoil in Mrs Mallard's life – specifically relating to her husband – as the heart is seen as a symbol for love and the epicentre of emotion in the human body.
After hearing of the news of her husband's apparent death, Mrs Mallard is stricken by grief and hastily retires to her bedroom. Here she finds a chair 'facing the window' and as she is in an extremely emotional state the chair becomes a symbol of consolation and safety for the newly found widow. The words 'comfortable' and 'roomy' are used to describe the chair, which is the first sign of any positive emotive language within this story and a complete contrast to phrases previously used, such as 'storm of grief' and 'disaster'. The writer shows us that Mrs Mallard is now battling with her emotions and as she sinks into the chair 'pushed down by physical exhaustion' the chair becomes not only a physical rest, but a symbol of the emotional support that she otherwise
"The Story of an Hour" is a story written in the nineteenth century by Kate Chopin. This story uses powerful symbolism and irony to narrate events and incidences. The title of the text alludes to incidences that happen within an hour. Of course, events that can happen in one hour are innumerable, but Chopin tells about them in one story. The different themes and symbolism throughout the story vary depending on how you interpret the story
The story was set during the spring season and plays out in Mrs. Mallard's house. Within the house, all characters, with the exception of Mr. Mallard, were immobile. Specifically, this signifies death of freedom. Freedom and lack of it as well as time are the major themes highlighted in the text under consideration....show more content...
Mrs. Mallard became sad immediately when she was informed that her husband had died. But within no time, she saw freedom in it and she started rejoicing inwardly. Indeed, she excitedly started saying, "free, free, free" (Chopin 3). Also the fact that the story is told within the confines of a house suggest a lack of freedom.
Symbolism is highly notable in the story. After receiving the news of Mr. Mallard's demise, Mrs. Mallard sulked then recovered slowly considering a good life ahead of her. The aquiver trees she saw through the window symbolized new life. It is also symbolic that the story was told in spring, a season when life starts to blossom. Also, because she claimed to have never loved her husband, Mrs. Mallard's heart disease symbolized marital woes. The use of irony is phenomenal. Mr. Mallard saw a new life without her husband, but that was not to be. It is also ironical that the supposedly dead lives and the living die. Isn't it ironical, too, that joy kills? Irony is also spelled in that the Mallards had never had love, and it could be the reason she loved her husband's
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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. When Mrs. Mallard was looking out of the window all of the outside world seemed to be coming to her indirectly in a way that it reached her faintly and not all at once just like the emotions of her freedom had did. "She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life" (Chopin 476).Mrs. Mallard was not looking at the trees themselves she was looking past them and looking forward to what was ahead of the trees and not what the weather was like at the current moment. This I believe is how she unwarily started to come by her emotions by not focusing on the now but rather on the future without her husband just like she was looking forward on to the spring, such as "But she saw beyond that bitter moment a...show more content...
Mallard's emotions towards the "death" of her husband because of outside inspiration that took apart in her epiphany. When she first discovered her new emotions and did not know that they were tied to how she had felt in her marriage, she had questioned what she was actually feeling "What was it? She did not know; it was too subtle and elusive to name. But she felt it, creeping out of the sky, reaching toward her through the sounds, the scents, the color that filled the air" (Chopin 476).The emotion that she had of the liberation her husbands "death" gave her was reaching out to her from the window and the forethought of a life where she lives as her own
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Interpatation
What Does It Really Mean?
"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.
To prove that Chopin implies Ms. Mallard's husband was cruel to her. Chopin states, "When she abandoned herself a little whispered word escaped her slightly parted lips. She said it over and over under her breath: free, free, free!"...show more content... So now, she is ready to live life the way she wanted to in the first place. Unlike other wives who were still crying, she knew life must go on so she was over the fact that her husband was dead. For her it was better, he is dead because she was going on about being free, free, free.
To support what Chopin is trying to say here is a description of what Ms. Mallard is feeling like at the time of her husbandsdeath: "They stayed keen and bright. Her pulses beat fast, and the coursing blood warmed and relaxed every inch of her body" (para, 11). Now if your significant other passed away would your body be relaxed? In this case, it seems like she is feeling a feeling she has never felt before, very relaxed and calm. In addition, al though out the story Ms. Mallard is caught stating "Free Body and soul free!"(para, 16). This only shows that Ms. Mallard's is more satisfied that her husband has died, than she is upset.
The end to this story enhances Chopin's explanation because once she finds out that her husband is not dead it puts her in so big of a shock that she dies herself. The story gives a reason for her death which said, "When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease – of joy that kills"( para, 23).
This means she knew that she was going to loose all the freedom she dreamt about as her husband strutted in through the doors, so she passed away. However,
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The stories we analyzed during this module have shown us that the narrator always seems to be the victim, especially for those protagonists who are married or in a relationship. The authors were also women, who grew up in a time different than ours, and they only have one option of living, which was as a housewife.
The first story that present us with this issue is "The Story of an Hour", the author tried to publish the story in an era were feminism was frown upon. In the story the protagonist is a married woman who is faced with the sad news of her husband's passing. The narrator in the story is omniscient, but it certainly explains the lady's feelings and thoughts of struggle between feeling sad for the news, but also happy to embrace the ...show more content...
The author, also a women around the same time period than the previous one, wrote the story based on her own personal experience. In this particular case, the narrator is in first person, but as the story evolves, it clearly become an unreliable narrator, because her opinion of reality gets distorted. As many women from the early 1900s, they were oppressed and submissive to their relationship, they were limited to tend their household, spouse and children. The issue with the protagonist was clearly due to depression, however the husband didn't try to help her solve the problem and pretending to know best, as a doctor he was, he just limited her to prescribe her medicine, instead of trying to understand what her real problem was, "John does not know how much I really suffer. He knows there is no reason to suffer, and that satisfies him" (Gillman 153). It all comes down to the woman's needs and the fact there weren't a priority for her husband. Her illness, as it was unattended, it became worst with time, to the point she loses herself in the reality she has created in her mind, which was in fact the motif of the story: the woman trapped in the yellow wallpaper. Also acting as a symbolism, because the fact that she believed that somebody was trapped in it, the truth was she was telling her own story of being trapped in a house, without any help or anybody who understand her
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Understanding the historical context of The Story of an Hour is vital to interpreting the story. The text references the telegram and railroad, setting the story in the 1800s. The culture during the 1800s was vastly different than what it is today. Women were often treated as inferior to men in society, and men were usually the ones in charge at home. Women were frequently silenced and told to "do their husbands' biddings" without protest. For Mrs. Mallard in The Story of an Hour, the societal view of the inferiority of women was her reality. When she heard of her husband's death, she was first overcome with grief. But within an hour, she was overcome with another emotion: freedom. For Mrs. Mallard, she had been in a relationship where she
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In "The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin, there are many different themes that depicts the relationship between Mr. And Mrs. Mallard throughout the story. These themes such as freedom, confinement, loss of self, escape and alienation. These themes shows the life of a woman's life in the mid 1800's, irony and marriage. The apparent death of Mrs. Mallard's husband shows us that she was living a life without freedom, suggesting that marriage in any form is confining.
Upon hearing the death of her husband's, Mrs. Mallard went through many different emotions. The first emotion is grief, the author tried to compare Mrs. Mallard to other women that would've responded to the news of their husbands death with "paralyzed inability" ( "she...show more content...
They was confined with living through a man, a woman was never seen as an equal even in an loving relationship. Woman in this time was basically living there lives through their significant others, they wasn't expected to live life how they wanted just to live life how their men wanted and would end up loosing their selves in the process. The confinement in the story "the Story of an Hour" portrays that Mrs. Mallard was controlled by this marriage. Even though Mr. Mallard Treated her fairly, and she loved him occasionally, she still wanted and out. She wanted to escape this marriage because she felt like she was being controlled by it and she wanted to be herself . She believed that marriages robes people of independence, she also believed that all women and men oppress one another even if they do it out of the goodness of their heart. Everyone needs a break at some point which is why she was so over joyed that she thought that her husband had died. She felt like she was in control again of her life. Usually persons would just say why not get a divorce, but in that time back in the day divorce wasn't anything easy. Society back then is also a confinement because it didn't like change. As we can see that Mrs. Mallard is free different in her conformist society, which is a great taboo. In the story Mrs. Mallard never given a first name throughout the story, Mr. Mallard is given a