A Story Report On The Story Of An Hour

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A Story Report on the Story of an Hour The Story of an Hour is a short story selected from The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction (4th Edition). New York: W. W. North & Company, Inc. pp277-279. The author of this story is Kate Chopin (1851-1904), an American woman writer. The short story relates that Mrs. Mallard, a young woman with a heart trouble, is extremely shocked twice within an hour and dies eventually. Although the plot of this story is not very complicated, it is well worth savouring. Mrs. Mallard is afflicted with heart condition. One day Mr. Richards, a friend of Mr. Mallard assures himself that Mr. Mallard has died in a railroad accident. Then he accompanies Josephine, Mrs. Mallard’s sister, to inform Mrs. Mallard about the sad message. Josephine tells Mrs. Mallard as gently as possible the news of her husband’s death. No sooner has Mrs. Mallard learned it than she bursts into tears. Then she locks herself alone in her room. In the room, she sits in front of a window suffering an agony and falls into contemplation. Through the window she can feel the beauty of the outside world. Gradually Mrs. Mallard relealizes that there is something coming to her. It is freedom. She does grieve for her husband’s death, but she sorely desires freedom. Worried about her sister Josephine knocks the door and begs her to open it. Finally Mrs. Mallard opens the door and goes downstairs together with Josephine. Richards is waiting at the bottom. Suddenly the front door is open. It is none other than Mr. Mallard. Seeing his sudden return Mrs. Mallard is astounded. When the doctor arrives, she has died of heart disease that is regarded as a result of joy. In The Story of an Hour Kate Chopin uses an omniscient narrator to tell this story. The protagonist of this story is Louise Mallard. She is successfully portrayed as an attractive and unconventional woman with a
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