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Story Of An Hour Title Analysis Essay

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Engraved in Stone Every person wants his or her life to be more than just a dash between two numbers, so the title that marks the headstone needs to symbolize something much greater. The name carved into the stone once made that individual whom he or she was. A name is the first thing given at birth and the word(s) used to remember and locate someone after death. In life and in death, names are everything. Names define things, and they define Louise Mallard. Woven into “The Story of an Hour,” the qualities and importance of a name are associated with Mrs. Mallard, Louise, and a wife. Although all three of these names belong to a single person, the identity of Louise Mallard is viewed much differently with each title. “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin asserts that identity is defined by independence through the changes of Mrs. Mallard’s name throughout the story. …show more content…

Being known as Mrs. Mallard is accustomed to Louise, but the desire for that seems to be missing. After hearing of her husband’s death, she feels a “possession of self-assertion which she suddenly recognized as the strongest impulse of her being” (14). She believes that freedom can finally stand as her first name. Bondage and oppression are lifted from her shoulders, or so she thinks. Louise thinks she is free from the binding of her marriage, but the whole time her life remains constant, despite her unawareness. Reguardless of the way society tries to exalt the identity found within a name, no social convention should have a say in Louise’s identity. Because of the uniqueness and the time that she has owned her name, it is still important to her. In spite of the importance, what defines Louise Mallard is what she would do with her life if ever given the chance to be independent. Her identity, as well as all of society, is not recognized by what will be carved into stone when placed six feet under but by what was done with that

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Unsurprisingly, this article discusses the emotions in Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour.” S.S. Jamil shows the irony in stereotyping women as overemotional, when the conventional roles Louise Mallard lives in force her to suppress her emotions. Jamil suggests that this is the cause of Louise’s heart trouble, since psychological health does affect physical health. The self-assertion that Louise discovers is permission to be herself, since emotions are a substantial part of who we are. The narrative of this article paints Louise as the victim and society as the culprit.

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Someone who will cherish them for all eternity. In a close examination of the way Louise Mallard, the protagonist of “The Story of an Hour”, and Delia, the protagonist of “Sweat”, react to their encounters with their marriages demonstrates that authors Kate Chopin and Zora Neale Hurston both use short stories to tell similar stories about the difficulties of their emotional states in their marriages. First, it is seen that Louise Mallard is an unchanging character who values her freedom from her marriage. Throughout the story it becomes obvious how self-centered Louise Mallard is.

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The reader soon discovers, this feeling that comes to Mrs. Mallard is joy and relief, she feels this because she can now finally be her own person. Mrs. Mallard comes to the realization that her husband had been oppressing her for years, “There would be no powerful will bending..”, and she was finally free of that. Before the passing of her husband, Mrs. Mallard was scared of living a long life because of the treatment she received from him. After his passing she had a much different outlook, “There would be no one to live for her during those coming years; she would live for herself.” This shows that Mrs. Mallard was excited to now live her own life without being told what she was to do.

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In both The Story of an Hour and Hills Like White Elephants, the authors Kate Chopin and Ernest Hemingway describe women and the desire to express themselves and be free and how men influence their decision making. Women strive for a sense of freedom and independence and have the yearning to convey themselves freely. In Kate Chopin’s and Ernest Hemmingway’s stories, the authors suggest the two female main characters in their stories feel suppressed for liberty. Louise Mallard in The Story of an Hour is sick and very lonely. She is

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“The Story of an Hour” is written by Kate Chopin. The main character in this story is Louise Mallard, a married woman in the 19th century who has a heart defect, she receives news that her husband died in an accident. After hearing the news of her husband she goes into solitude into her room where she finds herself not has sad about her husband but feeling some relief that she can live her own life and gains a new sense of freedom that she will have in the later days to come. This is where the theme of freedom comes in, this is seen using many literary elements throughout the story some of these would be foreshadowing, irony, and symbols to show Mrs. Mallard new- found freedom from her “late” husband.

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She exists in a time when women are classified as objects of beauty and property, and her heart trouble suggests that she is fragile. Louise’s initial reaction to the news of her husband’s death suggests that she is deeply saddened and grief stricken when she escapes to her bedroom. However, the reader is caught off-guard with Louise’s secret reaction to the news of her husband’s death because she contradicts the gender norm of the 19th century woman. Her contradiction to the stereotype / gender norm is displayed when she slowly reveals her inward

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In Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” demonstrates the personal growth of the dynamic protagonist Louise Mallard, after hearing news of her husband’s death. The third-person narrator telling the story uses deep insight into Mrs. Mallard’s thoughts and emotions as she sorts through her feelings after her sister informs her of her husband’s death. During a Character analysis of Louise Mallard, a reader will understand that the delicate Mrs. Mallard transforms her grief into excitement over her newly discovered freedom that leads to her death. As Mrs. Mallard sorts through her grief she realizes the importance of this freedom and the strength that she will be able to do it alone.

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Mrs. Mallard’s actions cause the readers to contemplate a hidden meaning woven into the story line. Mr. Mallard is assumed to die in a railroad accident, leaving Mrs. Mallard devastated. Instead of feeling sadness or grief, Mrs. Mallard actually feels free. "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 women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature" (Page 499).

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During the time that this story took place married women were highly dependant on their husbands. The problem that is encountered with Mrs. Mallard is that she lacks the joy of Independence. At the beginning of the story freedom to Mrs. Mallard seems like an awful idea because she has been restricted in multiple ways such as the house, her marriage etc. Despite the love that is shared between a husband and a wife Mr. Mallard’s death seems to come as a release from oppression to Louise. As stated by Chopin “ There would be no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself.

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Literary Analysis “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin introduces us to Mrs. Mallard as she reacts to the sudden death of her husband. Chopin describes Mrs. Mallard’s emotions as sad, yet happy that her husband has been killed. Kate Chopin’s “ The Story of an Hour” argues that when a person is controlled and made to live under another person their mental state of mind is affected. The story also argues that when that person is freed from the controlling person their true self can finally be achieved. Kate Chopin portrays these themes by the use of character development; plot control, and irony throughout the story.

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Growing up as a woman has been quite difficult in this generation, however, growing up around thirty years ago must have been more difficult. Back in the 1900’s, women had different social norms to deal with in society. Women had to stay at home, be housewives, do the laundry, and cook while men went out and worked to obtain money for their family. In Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin, she tells the struggles that women went through back in the 1990 's and the social norms that women had to go through. Chopin addresses many instances of symbolism to portray the feeling Mrs. Mallard has about her own thoughts and experiences with or without a man in her life.

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Mallard’s emotional journey. From her initial reluctance to her ultimate freedom, Mrs. Mallard reflects nature’s everchanging beauty. Chopin conducts a symphony of imagery that pieces together the life and death of Louise Mallard. It is evident that Chopin uses Louise Mallard’s story to convey her perception of women and men’s roles during the late 1800’s by showcasing her acceptance of the freedom that could only be gained by a single woman. The descriptions used in Chopin’s work are a marvelous representation of her character’s struggle with inner conflicts.

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Identity is often a cornerstone in a many important works of literature. The struggle of a protagonist to reconcile with their identity and the expectations or restrictions that accompany this struggle often mirrors real life endeavors and makes important critiques on social structure. The essay A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf makes an influential claim that a woman’s identity as lesser than a man’s in society prevents her from the opportunity to fill her role as a writer while the novel The Bell Jar written by Sylvia Plath describes a woman’s struggle to reconcile with her expectations as a woman in the 1950s. Both pieces make a statement about the impact of identity and its influence on the women faced with the consequences of these societal expectations.

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The story of an Hour Critical Analysis through a Psychological Perspective using both Freud and Lacan’s theory approach. In the beginning of the story, the Chopin informs the audience of Mrs. Mallard serious heart condition. Her friends and family were worried how to break the news to her of her husband’s death. After giving it much thought Mrs. Mallard was given the news as gently as possible of her husband’s death.

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