...The Story of An Hour Mary Smith Eng 125 Introduction Literature Molly Slavin (TA) August 1, 2011 The Story of An Hour Through out my study of literature it has taught me a lot about the different concept and structure of it. Learning to keep your mind focus on the different point of views that the authors provides you with can be very confusing, especially when you not into this kind of work of art. But as I started to read more in this class, it shows you how to affect yourself more with the passion of literary. Just to learn how to identify the theme of the story give the reader a message, it could be about life, society, or the human nature. The word theme can be define as “A topic of discourse or discussion, An idea, point of view, or perception embodied and expand upon in a work of art, or A short composition assigned to a student as a writing exercise.” (Webster’s II New Riverside University Dictionary). Even though understanding literature can be difficult for some people to comprehend, learning to identify the theme and the literary elements helps you to focus more on developing it meaning. Research states that the theme is a broad idea, message, or moral of a story. It even goes to say that it is the central message of a literary work. But mainly to me whenever I want to identify the theme in a story I think of it as the main idea, or ask myself what the author is saying in the story. As I read the text the author “explain”? the theme as been define as “A...
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...The story of an hour Like many contemporary women living in the nineteenth century, Mrs. Mallard in “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin bore social ties of traditional requirements. Under the strict control of social requirements, married women’s lives were formed around their husbands. They were happy with their husband’s happiness and sad with their husband’s depression. They were regarded as the properties of their husbands even in daily lives. Kate Chopin did not directly express women’s dependence, but the readers could realize this truth through the chaos in Mrs. Mallard’s mind. After her instinct reaction when hearing the news of Mr. Mallard’s death like “wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister’s arms” (p.106), there was something a little bit hopeful and happy appearing in her feelings. Then, “she did not stop to ask if it were or were not a monstrous joy that held her” (p.107). For one moment she was afraid to allow herself to be joyful about her freedom "she was striving to beat it back with her will" (p.106). This showed us that Mrs. Mallard was a product of her time and was dependent on society rules. We often need a whole life to comprehend one person’s soul and desire. Though, sometimes, in only a while, we are able to realize some meanings of life. In “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, in just one hour, Mrs. Mallard’s thought and feelings revealed profoundly the desire for freedom of women in the nineteenth century. Through only one hour...
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...English 123 A06 O.Ogundipe Cong Yin 1343685 Mrs. Mallard’s unhappy marriage in “the story of an hour”by Kate Chopin In Kate Chopin’s short story “The story of an hour”. Chopin keenly explores the status being of married women back in the late 1890s that they were isolated, not tolerated for seeking freedom for themselves, and the pathetic values of the society they have to deal with. Mrs. Mallards in the story who gains and loses her freedom in an hour suffers from her marriage. When her sister Josephine told her the death of her husband, she “wept at once” and realized that the freedom was belong to her in the future(Chopin 15). Then she became excited and believed the rest of her life would be joyful. However, at the end, her husband’s return destroyed her hope. Her dream to freedom shattered and she lost the freedom she just acquired. The great contrast between her ideal life and reality killed her. Moreover people did not understand the truth of her death and believed that she died of “joy that kills”(Chopin 16). Obviously, Mrs. Mallard has an unhappy marriage because she does not have freedom in a male dominated word. Also, comparing with other women, Mrs. Mallard looks forward to the freedom eagerly which makes her marriage more torturous .Also, she has a contradiction which she loves her husband and freedom while she could not have both. The contradiction makes her a complex person and confused about her marriage . Mrs. Mallard suffers from her marriage due to...
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...In writing her short story titled, The Story of an Hour, Kate Chopin uses the environment to clue in the reader that things are not as they appear given the tragedy that Mrs. Mallard just endured. Louise Mallard is the young wife of Brent Mallard. She suffers from a heart ailment. News arrives one day that her husband is killed in a railroad accident, so her sister and a friend proceed to tell her cautiously. The new widow does express sorrow upon hearing the news; however, it is short lived and Chopin, the author, begins to give clues as to how Louise truly feels. The clues are subtle and if not paying attention the reader may not give a second thought about the grieving widow looking out the window and what she sees. the writer begins to give cluesone of irony where the reader is lead to believe there is a tragic accident, a dead husband and a grieving widow. The story quickly takes a turn and we are pulled into the thoughts of the wife who is actually not heartbroken over the death but relieved and eager to live her own life. The story ends as she discovers her husband did not perish in the accident but is very much alive. The despair that she will have to continue to live a life that is not what she wants is too much to bare and it is said that she died of heart disease, of joy the moment she saw him. If only they knew the truth. The story is written with an unlimited narrator style. The narrator seems to have information about what every character is...
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...In “The story of an hour” by Kate Chopin, The protagonist Louise Mallard is a young woman who has a lot of conflicted feeling due to the news of her husband Brently’s death. The narrator is using different irony to express the mood of the story. And though the irony, readers can have a perfect glance of what truly occur in the story. In the whole story, it filled with different emotions of sadness, freedom and joyful. Like at the beginning it mentions Louise is so shock and sad when her sister Josephine tells her that her husband died in a railroad disaster. She weeps and wild abandonment in her sister’s arm immediately. It shows that she can’t accept her husband is leaving her. But after she went into her room by herself, she can feel her new life is coming. She can’t cover her feelings that she feels freedom in her deep heart. ““Free! Body and soul Free!” She kept whispering.”(Chopin 338) It can totally show her freedom and joy in this sentence. Also she believes that she will have a new life without her husband. However, after she walked down stairs and saw her husband standing in front of the door, she died of heart disease-of joy that kills. Actually she doesn’t die of joy as the doctor said, she dies of disappointed. She can’t imagine that her hope suddenly disappears. The overall mood of this story is very depressed, first the protagonist is so sad at once she heard the horrible news, then she feels joy and freedom when she being alone, finally she dies by the disappointment...
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...Trevin R. Montgomery Mrs. Williams ORM 400 - MCMI 5 July 2011 The Heart of “The Story” Kate Chopin’s “The Story of the Hour” gives the reader an up close and personal account of a woman’s devastating and liberating experience when she is informed of her husband’s death. Chopin wrote during a time immediately following the women’s suffrage movement. She took a very liberal approach to explaining how women felt and how women dealt with the issues facing them. In “The Story of the Hour” we watch Mrs. Mallard and her through process as Chopin develops the themes of love and oppression. The short story begins with Mrs. Mallard being informed of untimely death of her husband in a tragic train accident. The characters informing her are cautious of their relay of devastating news due to Mrs. Mallard heart condition. Chopin immediately begins to show the theme of love. As the reader and the characters continue to think about Mrs. Mallard’s heart, Chopin begins to express her heart condition is one of a physical and literal sense. Mrs. Mallard is a loves her husband and is immediately struck with grief when she learns of his death. She daydreams of the times that they shared and how her life may be insignificant without someone to share love. At the same time, she then begins to think about the love she has having a life of independence and not having to share with anyone. Just as quick as Chopin develops her theme of love, she subtly addresses the theme of oppression. ...
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...The Story of an Hour In the short story, The Story of an Hour I was able to pull two main themes. Love and Alienation is depicted throughout the entire story. Not only is love the theme but romantic love. The first theme love is exemplified in more than one way. In the beginning of the story, it explains how Mrs. Mallard has heart troubles and that they try to break the news of her husbands death sequentially as possible. Stating “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.” (Chopin) The first sentence of the story automatically portrayed love; it was obvious she would take the new of husband harshly because she loved him. Upon hearing the news Mrs. Mallard had a “paralyzed inability to accept its significance.” (Chopin) The news hit Mrs. Mallard hard and she cried in her sister, Josephine, arms. After accepting the matter of circumstances, Mrs. Mallard left to be alone. This is where the alienation plays a part in the story. Instead of accepting the comfort of family and friend, she decided to be alone. Maybe this was her way of dealing with grief, being alone and silent was her best remedy. Sitting alone in a room consisting of a chair and a window, Mrs. Mallard sat there and continued to think about the event that just occurred. At first, it seemed as if Mrs. Mallard just needed alone time, but later on in the story it seems as if something is coming over her. She...
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...individualism as well as glorification of all the past and nature, preferring the medieval rather than the classical. It was partly a reaction to the Industrial Revolution, the aristocratic social and political norms of the Age of Enlightenment, and the scientific rationalization of nature. It was embodied most strongly in the visual arts, music, and literature, but had a major impact on historiography, education, and the natural sciences. It had a significant and complex effect on politics, and while for much of the Romantic period it was associated with liberalism and radicalism, its long-term effect on the growth of nationalism was perhaps more significant. Part 2: Story of an hour After reading the story assigned called "Story of an hour" I've came to the conclusion that this literature is Victorian. In the story Mrs. Louise Mallard is...
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...The story of an hour Characterization: 1) Protagonist: Louise Mallard Antagonist: Men and women who share the opinion that married women’s lives ought to revolve around their husbands’. 2) The transformation Mrs. Mallard experiences upon receiving the news of her husband’s death’: grief realization of her freedom fear if her monstrous joy reconciliation with her genuine feelings towards her husband’s ‘death’ and her new-found freedom embracement of her new life in a celebratory manner Mrs. Mallard’s crying and her eyes are the motifs through which Mrs. Mallard’s transformation is illustrated 3) Other points to note: the similes in paragraphs 7 (a child who has cried itself to sleep) and 18 (a goddness of victory) illustrates the empowerment of Mrs. Mallard and that she regains her femininity after the death of her husband (the patriarch) Narrative point of view: Limited omniscient narrator, from Louise Mallard’s point of view Theme: The story is about the stifling nature of marriage, women’s repression of their own desires to search for and assert their identities, and the oppression of women in patriarchal society. The story is also about empowerment of women and the unlikelihood of women’s status and femininity being celebrated the ways they deserve. Conflict: 1) Louise Mallard’s genuine feeling (wanting to embrace her husband’s death in a celebratory manner) VS. proper response/manners a woman is expected to show after her husband’s...
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...The Story of an Hour The role of a woman today in a good loving marriage is that of a partner. She is equally intelligent and capable of bringing to the partnership everything that her husband can. Society today has accepted that husband and wife are equals in a marriage. Sadly in the 1800s women were not viewed the same in marriage. Women were expected to be subservient. Their roles were defined by a patriarchal society. This is not to say that love did not exist in marriages. Although one could question how can you love someone and treat him or her as an object or instrument. Divorce was not an option for woman, which led many to feel oppressed and trapped in life. We can sense the feeling of oppression from Mrs. Mallard in the text. The way she begins to process her husbands death and what this means to her future is understood when she lets the word free escape her mouth. “Free! Body and soul free! she kept whispering” (Chopin 477). She begins to feel her life become hers. “ She breathed a quick prayer that life might be long. It was only yesterday that she had thought with a shudder that life might be long ” (Chopin 477) . She now looked forward to a long life where she could be independent and free to express herself, whereas before she dreaded how long she would live in this trapped existence of marriage to Brently. Mrs. Mallard is not completely callous to his death. We do feel that with these feelings of freedom there is grief and a love for Brently...
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...“The Story of an Hour” Brian Williams English 125 Melissa Eidson April 8, 2013 “The Story of an Hour” I have chosen to describe the theme for “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin in 1894. Theme in fiction is associated with something abstract, something broad. The theme in a story is associated with an idea that lies behind the story. I will give great insight on identifying two of the literary elements in the short story that contribute to the theme. The point of view and symbolism will be the two literary elements, I will provide with examples. Explaining how the selected literary elements affect the narrative theme will be a vital point to this literary work. The theme of Chopin’s piece is essentially a longing for more freedom for women. Chopin reflects her rejection of the “postures of femininity” through her character’s descriptions. She describes her as young with a fair calm face whose lines bespoke repression. Men in the 19th century looked for young and calm attributes in a wife. They wanted a submissive woman to tend to their needs as Chopin’s description suggests. Chopin says that Mrs. Mallard would live for herself. Mallard believes she will be free of marriage, and won’t be repressed as aforementioned any longer by her husband. Chopin displays her character as having a joyous moment after the death of her husband because she is let go being forced into her femininity. Chopin displays a need for more independent women in this piece, suggesting that wronged...
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...In Kate Chopin’s “Story of an Hour” Mrs. Mallard receives news of her husband being involved in an accident which caused his death. Mrs. Mallard had a strange reaction to her husband’s death, she first felt devastated but then began feeling relieved. She felt relieved that she didn’t have to please him or worry about what he thought of her. In the inauguration of “Story of an Hour” Mrs. Mallard obtains the news of her husband’s death. She is shattered with this news, “She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister’s arms.” (pg. 236, para. 3, lines 2-3). She did not know how to act in response to her husband’s death. As soon as she got a hold of herself “she went away to her room alone. She would have no one follow her.” (pg. 236, para. 3, lines 3-4.) Mrs. Mallard was stunned as to what was happening, she could not cope with the devastating news. She “stood, facing the open window” (pg. 236, para. 4, line 1), waiting for a sort of sign, when suddenly “there was something coming to her and she was waiting for it, fearfully.” (pg. 236, para. 9, line 1). At this point Mrs. Mallard “recognize (d) this thing that was approaching to possess her, and she was striving to beat it back” (pg. 236, para. 10, lines 1-2). When she finally stopped fighting “a little whispered word escaped her slightly parted lips.” (pg.236, para. 11, lines 1-2). She repeated the word “over and over under her breath: “Free, free, free!” (pg. 236 para. 11, line 2). She finally felt free, she...
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... “The story of an hour” is a short story written by Kate Chopin. According to Wikipedia, she was born Katherine O’Flaherty on February 8, 1850, in St. Louis, Missouri. She was an American author of short stories and novels. She is now considered by some to have been a forerunner of feminist authors of the 20th century. “The story of an hour” was written on April 19, 1894 but was originally published in Vogue on December 6, 1894 as “The Dream of an Hour”. It was first reprinted in St. Louis Life on January 5, 1895 as “The story of an Hour”. The reason behind the title of the short story is because the whole story is within an hour. The structure Chopin chose for the story fits the subject perfectly. The story is short, made up of a series of short paragraphs, many of which consist of just two or three sentences. Likewise, the story only covers only an hour of in Louise’s life. It starts with the wife Louise Mallard finding about the death of her husband Mr. Brently Mallard. She reacts with obvious grieving stages, but what’s odd about her reaction is once she’s upstairs by herself and she starts thinking, Louise Mallard begins to feel an unexpected sense of exhilaration. She felt a sense of freedom, a sense of Independence. At the end of the story Mr. Brently Mallard walks in and she dies. Doctors said she died because of the happiness she felt by seeing him. Kate Chopins’ short story, “The story of an hour,” makes the statement that humans...
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..."The Story of An Hour" - Câu chuyện của một giờ Admin on Wed Oct 06, 2010 1:51 am Câu chuyện của một giờ Biết bà vợ ông Mallard bị bịnh tim mọi người rất cẩn thận, khéo léo khi báo tin cái chết của chồng nàng. Ngườibáo tin là Josephine, chị của nàng, bằng những câu đứt quảng đầy ngụ ýnửa bộc lộ, nửa che dấu. Richards, bạn của người chồng, cũng có mặt, kềbên. Richards nghe tin này lúc ông ta đang ở trong văn phòng của một tờbáo vừa đúng lúc tờ báo này nhận được tin về tai họa xảy ra trên đườngxe lửa, và tên Brently Mallard đứng đầu danh sách “người chết.” Ông ấycẩn thận chờ cái điện tín thứ hai để biết chắc chắn đó là sự thật, vàcẩn thận ngăn ngừa không cho những người kém tế nhị mang tin buồn đếncho gia đình này. Nàng không nghe câu chuyện giống như nhữngngười đàn bà khác nghe cùng câu chuyện, bằng cái tê điếng sững sờ vàkhông chấp nhận tầm quan trọng của sự việc. Nàng khóc òa ngay lập tức,rồi thình lình, ngã nhào buông thả bất kể vào trong vòng tay chị mình.Khi cơn bão tang thương nguôi dần, nàng bỏ vào phòng một mình. Nhấtđịnh không cho ai đi theo. Đối diện cửa sổ là một cái ghế bànhkhá rộng và đầy tiện nghi. Nàng ngồi lún sâu vào ghế, như bị đè bẹp bởicơn kiệt sức đã ám ảnh cơ thể và dường như vói tận vào linh hồn củanàng. Nàng có thể nhìn thấy trong quảng sân rộng trước nhà lànhững ngọn cây đang run rẩy với cuộc sống mới của mùa xuân. Mưa nhẹ nhưhơi thở thật ngon lành trong không gian. Dưới đường phố, người bán rongđang rao hàng. Những nốt của một bản nhạc người nào...
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...home, Cook, clean, and take care of the children and her husband. Many females with a low education tend to follow their husbands commands. These circumstances are shown to us In The Story Of An Hour, by Kate Chopin, she explains in her short story how men and women observed life. Men were responsible of certain things and women were responsible of certain duties as well. This was normal for a typical matrimony in the late 1800’s. In this short story the protagonist, Mrs. Louise Mallard, lives with her husband, Mr. Mallard, in a rural setting. There has been a railroad disaster in which people think Mrs. Mallard husband was involved and died. Kate’s sister Josephine does not know how to tell her sister about the incident since Louise suffers from heart problems. Once Louise finds out about the incident, her first reaction is to cry and run to her room. Kate Chopin uses positive description to describe the room. Even though she had just gotten the news of her husband passing away, we can see all the positive things that Louise observes outside her open window. This shows that she is sad since she is crying, but at the same time it’s the readers first indication that she feels a sense of Freedom now to observe anything out there in the world. She feels free to make choices of her own. As the story goes on, she has mixed feelings; and we...
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