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A Hidden Trap In Kate Chopin's The Story Of An Hour

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A Hidden Trap Kate Chopin’s short story, “The Story of an Hour”, was written in 1894 during the era of where a woman was suppose to depend on her husband for everything. Chopin gives the reader an unheard of view of marriage in her short story, by using symbolism to show how to some people, marriage can be like a trap or a role of servitude rather than a loving relationship. Chopin also uses irony at the of her short story when Mrs. Mallard dies, showing that death is not always a form of grief, but it can also be used to symbolize freedom and independence. Chopin starts her short story by introducing the reader to Mrs. Mallard’s heart troubles. Chopin uses symbolism to represent not only Mrs. Mallard’s physical heart condition but also …show more content…

Throughout Chopin’s short story, Mrs. Mallard was only identified by her first name one time, and it was by her sister. The fact that Mrs. Mallard was only identified by her husband’s last name shows how she did not have a personal identity of her own and shows another way that Mrs. Mallard was trapped under her husband’s rule through marriage. Chopin also uses irony in her short story with Mrs. Mallard’s death at the end of the story when her husband returned home alive. “The irony of Mr. Mallard returning alive is like the loaded gun of melodrama” (Ewell.) When Mr. Mallard returns home, Mrs. Mallard was sitting in a comfy armchair thinking of her new found freedom and independence in her husband’s death. “Chopin uses the bedroom to symbolize the place where Mrs. Mallard discovered her joy and the place that she became her own person (Hicks.) Instead of grieving like everyone expected her to, she felt happy in the fact that Mr. Mallard was dead and that she was now free. However, Mrs. Mallard’s new found freedom was shortly lived, because when Mrs. Mallard heard the click of Mr. Mallard opening the door, the click of the lock symbolized her being locked back into her patriarchal trap. With her new found freedom being ripped away from her and her being trapped back under the rule of her husband ultimately killed Mrs. Mallard. The Doctor said that “She died from the joy that kills.”(Chopin 525) , but she died because her heart could not handle being trapped under her husbands rule

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While reading the story, it was clear that Mrs. Mallard was happy for the beginning of her new life and the start of freedom. Chopin uses descriptive diction throughout the story, such as irony, symbol,

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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.

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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.

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The Contrast of The Story of an Hour While Mrs. Mallard is just starting a new life, so to say, for herself, her life she has known comes to an end. She is just able to become “free, free, free!” (57) when she loses her life. Kate Chopin uses contrast with the news Richard’s gave, the way Mrs. Mallard felt in the room and the doctor’s news to show how women perceived marriage in the 19th century in her story The Story of an Hour.

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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.

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Mallard reaches a sense of exuberant liberation. She is overwhelmed with feelings of a newfound freedom. Chopin illustrates this burst of hope once again through nature imagery when she writes, “But she felt it, creeping out of the sky, reaching toward her through the sounds, the scents, the color that filled the air”(Chopin 237). Though Mrs. Mallard tries, she cannot fight the growing sense of freedom that overtakes her. Chopin writes this change as a powerful realization that Mrs. Mallard cannot help but accept.

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In the story “The Story of an Hour,” Kate Chopin demonstrates the role of marriage in defining the individual by contrasting and highlighting the value individuals place on the marriage and love that they consider theirs. "The Story of an Hour" is a short story the author,Kate Chopin, presents a dreadful often unheard of view of marriage. Chopin 's main character, Mrs. Louise Mallard, experiences the happiness of freedom rather than the desolation of loneliness after she learns of her husband 's death. Later

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Self-Identity and Freedom The story of an hour by Kate Chopin introduces us to Mrs. Mallard as she reacts to her husband’s death. In this short story, Chopin portrays the complexity of Mrs. Mallard’s emotions as she is saddened yet joyful of her loss. Kate Chopin’s story argues that an individual discovers their self-identity only after being freed from confinement.

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Another ironical scene is whereby Mrs. Mallard’s husband did not actually die as Chopin writes “He had been far from the scene of the accident, and did not even know there had been one” (70). Mrs. Mallard felt relieved that her husband had died, but when he walks in and she learns that he was still alive, her heart stops working. The irony used in the story makes it compelling and

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(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.

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