Chopin wants the reader to realize that in her time, women were stereotyped in a male dominated society. After hearing about her husband’s passing, Mrs. Mallard began to have a sense of peacefulness coming from the outside world. This doesn’t mean that she was happy about the death of her husband, but she felt a newfound independence. Stereotypically, married women were considered to be housewives during the early 1900s. Women were told by their husbands what to do because in those times it was believed that men had higher authority than women.
Stefani Helm Mrs. Barker P8 Story of the Hour Story of the Hour tells us about Mrs. Mallard, also known as Louise who suffers from a heart condition. Her sister and her husband’s friend Richard came to tell her that he died in a trainwreck. Throughout the Story Kate Chopin illustrates to the reader Mrs. Mallard’s transformation during bleak and blurred hour by using imagery, diction, and figurative language. “Into this she sank, pressed down by a physical exhaustion that haunted her body and seemed to reach into her soul.”
This revelation is profoundly ironic, as it subverts conventional expectations of mourning and highlights the complexities of marriage. One article argues that Chopin's use of irony challenges traditional gender roles, particularly women's emotional dependence on their husbands (Ahmetspahi and Damir 26). Through Mrs. Mallard's sudden shift from grief to exhilaration, Chopin critiques the societal norms restricting women within marriage. This irony accelerates Mrs. Mallard's burgeoning sense of self-awareness and liberation. Secondly, symbolism permeates Chopin's narrative, enriching the text with deeper layers of meaning and significance.
The poetic elements and rhyme helps contribute to the humor of the story. The figurative language what the story helps us picture what the story is trying to show us. For example “And the greasy smoke in an inky cloak went streaking down the sky.” The imagery in that sentence helps us see what the story is describing.
When her husband walked through the front door she was so overcome with sadness that her heart couldn’t take it so she died. This shows just how bad that she was treated because she died when she found out her husband was alive. Through the use of plot twist Kate Chopin showed how women were treated unfairly throughout her
Chopin's then uses descriptive language to show Louise’s excitement when she has had time to take in the news. When Louise is by herself in her room, she looks out the window and notices "patches of blue sky showing here and there
(Chopin) The same window were she had found her freedom. Louise is imagining her days that she will control as her own. The spring and summer days, she prays that her life will be long. Even though days before she shuddered at a long life knowing it will be in the hands of Mr. Mallard.
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.
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).
Chopin also describes Mrs. Mallard as “young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain strength”. At the beginning Mrs. Mallard is thought of as being controlled, and weak. In the 19th Century, when this story was written, husbands controlled their wives. Perhaps Mrs. Mallard wasn’t like most women of her time. After she hears of her husband’s death she morns for what feels like only a moment.
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.
Kate Chopin wrote a story about Mrs. Mallard, a married woman who suffers from heart problems and also has to cope with her husband recent passing. Mrs.Mallard, she showed sincere grief about her husband passing. However, looking back at how controlling her husband Mr.Mallard were in their marriage, Mrs.Mallard felt a sudden joy when processing her husband death After her sudden emotional change, Mrs Mallard felt liberated when she started thinking about what her life would be like without Mr.Mallard, but regardless of the happiness she feels, she knows that once she sees her husband in corpse that sadness will return. Through her writing, author Chopin readers/ audience would be women who feel trapped and controlled in their marriage. Anger, loneliness and heartbroken are feelings that women who're coping with the death of their loved one feel.
We know this is the case because of the words Kate Chopin uses to illustrate the scene outside Mrs. Mallard’s window as well as the progression of her thoughts and feelings after hearing the “tragic” news. Kate Chopin frequently uses symbolism
Kate Chopin introduces her main character as “Mrs. Mallard” to signify her being married. However, within her marriage, she loses herself. Being married, she took her husband’s last name and became a wife. In a way it changed her personality. She was no longer her own self, she was someone else’s “property”.
(Chopin, the Story of an Hour)” It would be prudent to believe by the way Mrs. Mallard was crying that indeed she was devastated about her husband’s tragic death.
