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Louise Mallard Killed Critical Analysis

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The emotions of Louise Mallard set the plot of the story. After the death of her loving husband, Mrs. Mallard, locking herself in a room, was overwhelmed with sadness after finding out tragic news of a death. She soon started thinking of her life after and began seeing the happiness that awaits her future. Her excitement sooner led her to death.
The newspaper headline read “Brently Mallard Killed”, after the tragic railroad accident. After finding out about her husband's death from her sister Josephine and Richard, her husbands friend, Louise Mallard was shocked and couldn’t find the emotion to express, she was more numb than anything at the time. She felt alone and like she had nothing left, crying, in her sister's arms. “It was he who had
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In the story of “Harrison Bergeron”, George and Hazel Bergeron’s son is murdered, but because of the world they live in they cannot mourn the way normal parents might. The reader must conclude their own thoughts on what they think is right or wrong with how George and Hazel reacted to Harrison’s death. These are some things the reader must know and take into consideration to make a fair judgement of the two parents. George Bergeron had well-above average intelligence but was required by law to wear a special small handicap transmitter that would send sharp waves of random sound every twenty seconds, impairing him the ability to use his intelligence. He also was required to wear a forty-seven pound bag of birdshot which was padlocked around his neck.

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She learns of her husband’s death in an accident and falsely finds a renewed joy for life as she is free from the burden of marriage. Tragically she goes to the front door as it is being opened with a key, to find Mr. Mallard still alive, causing her to die of heart

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Toni Morrison’s 1987 novel Beloved is a multiply narrated story of having to come to terms with the past to be able to move forward. Set after the Civil War in 1870s, the novel centers on the experiences of the family of Baby Suggs, Sethe, Denver, and Paul D and on how they try to confront their past with the arrival of Beloved. Two narrative perspectives are main, that of the third-person omniscient and of the third person limited, and there is also a perspective of the first-person. The novel’s narrators shift constantly and most of the times without notifying at all, and these narratives of limited perspectives of different characters help us understand the interiority, the sufferings and memories, of several different characters better and in their diversity.

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The story begins with Mrs. Mallard getting the news that her husband had died in a terrible train accident. At first Mrs. Mallard was racked with grief for the loss of her husband. As the story progresses, Mrs. Mallard says, “There was something coming to her and she was waiting for it, fearfully. What was it? She did not know.”

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Many stories use these elements of writing, strong symbolism appeals the senses and explains the strength of the emotions the character is experiencing. There is a lot of strong symbolism and imagery in this story that also goes along with situational and dramatic irony which both appear in the story. When Brentley Mallard ends up being alive at the end would be the situational irony because it was the opposite of what happened, even though it was foreshadowed he was not dead. The dramatic irony is her dying of “joy”. These literary elements lead to the theme of freedom that Louise was

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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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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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When Richard’s heard the news of her husband’s death, he assumed Mrs. Mallard would be devastated. While everyone knew Mrs. Mallard was “afflicted with heart trouble” (57), him and her sister, Josephine, wanted to give her the news with “great care” (57). Josephine broke the news to Mrs. Mallard in “broken sentences”

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Louise’s victory in accepting her husband’s death is a feeling that she now cannot live without. The ultimate death of Louise Mallard is one that represents physical and emotional defeat. In this dramatic short story, Chopin uses imagery to sew together a tapestry of emotions all encompassed in an ill-stricken widow. Works Cited Chopin, Kate. “The Story of an Hour.”

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However, we can not blame her because people are usually must be very confident and sure about someone’s death before informing others: “...the newspaper office when intelligence of the railroad disaster was received, with Brently Mallard's name leading the list of "killed." So, she did not have a reason to not believe in Brently's death. However, when she saw Brently, she might think that it is the end of her very short and truly happy life. Consequently, she had so many pessimistic thoughts instantly, that her weak heart could not handle it. Clearly, at this moment impulsive thoughts pressed on her heart how marriage pressed on her life, and she just could fight it, and death takes her

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Mallard, has just been informed that her Husband, Mr. Mallard has passed away. Though Mrs. Mallard feels sorrow, she soon discovers the bright future she will lead with the absence of her antagonizing husband. She begins to think of all the things she will be able to do, that she was restrained from by her husband for so long. It's almost as if at that very moment, a burden was taken from her, and she could finally move on with her life. In the end, her husband returns and the shock of losing her precious future vanishes, causing Mrs. Mallard to have a stroke, and ultimately dying.

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If the last line of “The Story of an Hour” is taken in the literal sense, it can be perceived that Mrs. Mallard was not oppressed and was ecstatic that her husband was alive, ultimately being killed by the excitement. Although the latter it is a logical presumption, the thoughts and actions of Louise Mallard reinforce the argument that the true meaning behind this story is one of marital oppression. She blatantly stated that she welcomes the upcoming years free from her husband with open arms. Louise Mallard’s internal dialogue following her husband’s death suggests oppression and her reaction to her husband’s death was hardly one of a distraught wife. It is true that the blame doesn’t

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We think that the form of the “Imaginary” mentioned in Lacan’s psychoanalytic theory of Mrs. Mallards family and friends “imagining” that the devastated new of Mr. Mallard’s death would cause her a heart attack, however later on in the story it was mentioned that she was in fact relieved to know she was a free woman of her marriage. Consequently, the reality of Mrs. Mallard’s thoughts, perceptions and feelings were not the same as others may have assumed or imagined to be. Based on stereotypical standards of society this was misunderstood because a wife should feel an enormous pain for the death of her husband. As the story continues, when Josephine whose Mrs. Mallard’s sister told her about the death of Mr. Mallard, instead of reacting in shock as “many women would’ve (Chopin, The Story of an Hour)” done so, Mrs. Mallard “wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister’s arms.

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