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Literary analysis of the story of an hour essay
Literary analysis of the story of an hour essay
Literary analysis of the story of an hour essay
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“The Story of an Hour” is a short story written by Kate Chopin. It is about a woman named Mrs. Mallard, who had to be informed of her husband’s death very carefully because she had a heart condition. After her sister notified her of the accident her husband was in, she cried and locked herself in her room until she started to accept and appreciate her new-found independence. When Mrs. Mallard came out of the room and walked downstairs with her sister, to her surprise, her husband walked in the front door. Mrs. Mallard had a heart attack from an overwhelming amount of shock and joy.
“The Story of an Hour” is one of Chopin’s most renowned short stories based on the usage of many different types of irony. This story is comprised of Mrs. Mallard who finds out about her husband’s untimely due to a tragic accident. Mrs. Mallard is devastated at first when she receives the news of her husband’s death; however, she quickly embraces the idea that she has the rest of her life to live in freedom without the ties of marriage. Ultimately, she finds out that her husband is alive and well when he walks through the front door, but Mrs. Mallard dies of heart disease and the shock that her husband returns home. The theme of conformity and rebellion is most prevalent throughout this story based on Mrs. Mallard’s embracing the idea of the
In the Victorian era, women were confined by societal standards that were created mostly through marriage. The modern concepts of single women, how they support themselves with their own wages, and gain their independence, in this era, are nonexistent unless a woman was to become a nun or wishes to be shunned from society. Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour,” Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper,” and Zora Neale Hurston’s “Sweat” all discuss these restrictions through their protagonists’ personal conflicts. These struggles can be expressed as internal, as with Mrs. Mallard in “The Story of an Hour” and the unnamed narrator of “The Yellow Wallpaper,” or more external such as Delia’s continuous fights with her husband in “Sweat.” All three women,
“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.
Family and friends are an important part of life. In the case of Mrs. Mallard she saw her husband as more of someone that holds power over her In Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour”, the story Mrs. Mallard has to deal with her husband allegedly dying, just to figure out at the end of the story that nothing happened to him and he is still alive. The use of Irony is really what makes this story great. Irony enhances the total effect of Kate Chopin 's "The Story of an Hour" by characterizing the protagonist, supporting the exposition and timeline, and building tension leading to the twist ending.
There are several ways to interpret and analyze this short story and apply each of the four styles of criticism. Strong feminist themes appear throughout, but the other themes of mortality, the need for a sense of self and a yearning for freedom have their roles in examining the formalist aspect. Like any effective tragedy, this story is bitter- sweet and can bring a character to the greatest heights before fate takes it away and brings that person down to the lowest point. Chopin’s life and the culture around her had a definite influence on her writing, using the philosophies created by the naturalist movement to portray what would be the last hour of a young, frail woman’s life.
Kate Chopin’s short story, “The Story of an Hour”, the author’s purpose is to point out the characters’ relationship problems and how they were in marriages during 1894. Kate Chopin, in “The Story of an Hour”, makes a statement regarding the unpleasantness of life for wives in a patriarchal culture. Chopin supports her claim through figurative language, such as irony, imagery, and an oxymoron. Chopin demonstrates an ironic relationship between the husband and wife. The author uses “broken” (page1) to show the reader how Mrs. Mallard really feels.
In the short story, “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, Mrs. Mallard receives the news of her husband’s death, which she initially feels sad about but later sees beyond the bitter moment and feels joyous and free instead. In the end, Mr. Brently Mallard surprisingly enters, alive and well, while Mrs Mallard dies of shock and “happiness”. During these events, the three types of irony ( situational, verbal and dramatic) are prevalent and demonstrated.. Firstly, the short story has many instances that display situational irony. For example, Mrs. Mallard is sorrowful once she finds out about her husband’s passing.
Every person has the right to be and feel free. They have the right to be independent and live happily. Kate Chopin’s, “The Story of an Hour,” focuses on sixty minutes in the life of a young Mrs. Mallard. Upon learning of her husband’s death, Mrs. Mallard experiences a revelation about her future without a husband. Her life, due to heart problems, suddenly ends after she unexpectedly finds out her husband is actually alive.
In “The Story Of An Hour” the author of the story portrays that your freedom isn’t always guaranteed and can easily be taken away. When Mrs. Mallard finds out her husband has died in a train crash she does not want to believe her husband has died and gets sad an very emotional. Considering Mrs. Mallard has a very critical heart condition, her step sister notified her of her husband's death extremely vigilant. When she informed her she “wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister's arms.”
Inanimate Love Louise is a woman who previously lost her husband in a train crash, however, she begins weeps tears of joy when she is informed of his death. In the story, The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin, the main character Louise Mallard is a woman who, instead of feeling guilt and sorrow, feels contentment for the death of her recently deceased husband. Chopin expresses her discontent with her idea of the lack of independence in relationships, and directly correlates Mrs. Mallard to this theme. The author also displays her perspective through the way that Louise is perceived throughout the story, making the story a literature of discontent. To start off, Chopin reveals her inclination for independence in relationships by displaying Louise
“The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin is a story about a newly widowed woman with heart disease, heart disease that could kill her if she got too wound up, meaning too happy, sad, etc. In the beginning, she acted as any newly widowed wife would; she was extremely sad; word was her husband passed in a train accident. Later, she realized that her husband dying was one of the best things that happened to her. She was finally free from his shadow. Once she realized that her life was going to be great without him, he reappeared and she died from her heart disease.
Hour of Freedom “The Story of an Hour” is a short story written by Kate Chopin. It details a wife named Mrs. Louise Mallard, who struggles with a heart condition. After learning of her husband, Brentley Mallard’s death in a railroad accident, Mrs. Mallard deals with grief in many stages. Chopin incorporates many literary devices throughout “The Story of an Hour,” but imagery is the most evident.
The irony in Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” enhances the protagonist’s situation by revealing a deeper meaning. The quote, “She had loved him - sometimes. Often she did not. What did it matter!”
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.
