ENGL220 Assignment 1 MINJI KIM Setting in the late nineteenth century, Kate Chopin’s The Story of an Hour illustrates a woman’s emotional changes after she heard of her husband’s death. Although it is written long before and it is just a short portrayal of an emotional repression of a woman of that time, The Story of an Hour still is a thought-provoking story even for the contemporary readers. Louise, who has heart problem, is carefully told that her husband, Brently, is killed in a railroad accident. She goes upstairs to her room sobbing. Looking outside the open window, she feels the spring air, and suddenly feels the unexpected joy.
The Story of an Hour Chelsea Boehland Intro to literature Larry Holden (ABG1318K) 5/13/2013 The short story of “A Story of an hour” by Kate Chopin (1894) was about a woman with a heart condition hearing about an accident that took her husbands life. The tone of the story started out sad, you felt for Mrs. Mallard, the horrible sadness you feel when you lost a loved one. But the tone changes as Mrs. Mallard is sitting in her room, staring out the window, thinking to herself. It’s the sudden thrill of freedom in death that she sees. This is where the tone goes from sad to excitement, that she is free to live her life, without I assume her husband.
Although Mrs. Mallard loved her husband the overwhelming thought of a life without him brought about emotions that she had buried inside which was a sense of freedom. The theme of this story comes together as Mrs. Mallard descends to her room to be alone. Mrs. Mallard was a sickly women afflicted with heart trouble. Her ailment was known to her family and friends. When the word come down that her husband had been in a train accident and feared dead her family and friends knew to break the news to her as easily as they possibly could.
“The Story of an Hour” describes the series of emotions Louise Mallard is feeling after hearing of the death of her husband, who she believes has died in a railroad disaster. “The Story of an Hour” follows Mrs. Louise Mallard and an hour of her life, during which her husband has died in a railroad accident. Upon receiving the news, she seems to be thrown into a downward spiral of emotions mourning for his death. As she falls deeper into grief, little hints are revealed that her mourning is progressing into the joy of her freedom. Great care was taken to tell Louise Mallard, who has a heart problem, of her husband’s death, Brently Mallard, during a railroad disaster.
The narrator’s words give a great portrayal of the relationship between the false news and how Mrs. Mallard’s thoughts formed. The narrator explained how she didn’t take the news in the manner that others did, she was unable to grasp its terrifying impact. Then later explains how Mrs. Mallard tried to fight it but then embraced the excitement she was having about her husband’s death and what was to come for her (Chopin, 2011, para. 3 and para. 10-11).
A young girl reaching out to her parents, who could never appreciate her being their daughter and physically, emotionally, and mentally it caused her to commit suicide. The author begins a brief description of the college student killing herself and her body was not discovered until two days later under a deep cover of snow. Her suicide note contained an apology to her parents for having less than a four point grade average. In the poem “Suicide Note” The speaker said “Dear mother and father/I apologize/for disappointing you/I’ve worked very hard/ not good enough/harder perhaps to please you” (lines 4-9). Due to the fact that her grades were not good enough to please them, it hurt her and it affected her mentally.
The story end suddenly and unexpectedly: she descended the stairs and saw her husband safe and sound staying at the doors. The sudden heart attack killed her. This text writes into a narrative composition with descriptive elements. We could subdivide it into four parts: - introduction: when we knew that Mrs. Mallard have some health problems with her heart; - exposition: when her sister Josephine told her about death of Mr. Mallard; - climax: when author told as about the mixed feelings of the main character; - denouement: when she finally dies. "The Story of an Hour" wrote into mix of literary and colloquial styles.
It has also caused drastic changes to her friendship with the neighbors whom she had spent countless hours in their backyard, reenacting the death of Henry VIII’s wives. “We weren’t really friends, anymore. And neither of us said a word to the other, not a single word.” It is here very clear how the friendship between the two girls were lost in high school. Though it’s very commonly seen that childhood friends lose touch when they get older, and especially when they reach high school, it’s hinted that it may be because of Terry’s death. Terry was described as being the most entertaining when reenacting and he passing away is highly likely the reason they stopped playing.
Mrs. Mallard like all other women in this era have lived for their husbands and their families. They were only allowed to acquire dreams of becoming a wife and a mother. They were not allowed to aspire to anything more or at least it was not looked upon in a good manner. Another way that Chopin is getting her message across in her narration is the way she has Mrs. Mallard reacting to the news that her husband has died. “She did not hear the story as many women would have heard the
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.