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The Storm And The Story Of An Hour Literary Analysis

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In short fiction, not only does physical setting show a particular location, time, climate, and culture, but physical setting often symbolizes characters’ emotions. In The Storm and The Story of an Hour, Kate Chopin uses the physical setting to portray her characters’ desire and joy. In her short fiction The Storm, Chopin uses the intensity of the storm to symbolize the powerful lust of Alcée and Calixta. For instance, as they go into the house, “the rain beat upon the low, shingled roof with a force and clatter that threatened to break an entrance” (Chopin 106.) The violent deluge symbolizes their forceful sexual desire which threatens to break down their morality. Calixta feels the uneasiness, a sense of déjà vu, as “Alcée joined her at …show more content…

Mallard who feels free after hearing of her husband’s death. When she goes into her room, “there stood, facing the open window, a comfortable, roomy armchair” (Chopin 179.) The open window illustrates the open opportunities to live her future days without her husband. Furthermore, the comfortable, roomy armchair represents how she feels emotionally comfortable as she is released from her husband’s control. From her window, she sees trees “aquiver with the new spring life” (Chopin 179.) The new spring life symbolizes her rebirth in which she can live all the “spring days and summer days” for herself. From her room, she sees “patches of blue sky showing here and there through the clouds that had met and piled one above the other in the west facing her window” (Chopin 180.) The blue sky represents the light of hope at the end of the tunnel. In addition, that light appears in the west—the direction where the sun sets at the end of the day—it illustrates the end of her marriage, and she now sees the light that is previously covered. When she acknowledges the joy, she feels possessed by it and has to control herself from letting the word “free” escape from her lips. She even “breathed a quick prayer” for a long life in which to enjoy this joy (Chopin 181.) However, the sudden return of her husband has taken away her freedom. The theme suggests the forbidden joy of freedom as Mrs. Mallard’s

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"The Storm" is improper by any generation's standards, particularly for the time that it was written in the year 1898 since it is about an affair. Some of the characters are sexualized, show maturity, and show adults that make decisions that could affect their lives. By having amazing sex outside their marriages, Calixta and Alcée return to have those marriages feeling renewed. The author seems to excuse the adultery by allowing the characters not to be punished, and by having an ending where everyone is happy. Sexuality and desire walk through the lives just like the storm comes through in a single day.

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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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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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Chopin uses women such as Calixta and Clarisse as examples of women gaining their freedom back within marriage. Calixta finds her freedom by having an affair with a man who isn’t her husband, while Clarisse takes a long vacation away from her husband to experience her freedom again. This allows for them to be less pressured from marriage. These women are breaking the boundaries of an ideal marriage, which allows them to no longer feel like their imprisoning themselves and to be open to more opportunities. Women of the nineteenth century have many expectations they live by.

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Chopin makes her strong statement in this quote from the story. Mrs. Mallard has no one to answer to but herself, and she feels liberated that her husband can no longer control her. During the late nineteenth century, women quite frequently had to suppress themselves to the will of their husbands, or to some other man who had a significant amount of control over their lives. Chopin successfully uses vivid imagery, point of view, and irony that gives a different view of marriage that is not typical of today.

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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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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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Janet: Oblivious to the Obvious Due to Mental Manipulation Janet, the main character in McKnight Malmar’s short story “The Storm,” is not only married to a murderer, but also a victim of mental and emotional manipulation. Janet is gullible to Ben’s suspicious actions and does not question him at all, despite obvious red flags. The fact that Janet believes that the storm is making her see things that are not real, instead of putting together the evidence that her husband has displayed, is proof that Janet is used to questioning the validity of her own perception regularly. Ben takes advantage of Janet’s naivety and codependency to the point where she does not question him about anything, but instead, questions her own sanity. It is evident from the very beginning of the story that Janet relies on Ben for comfort.

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Mallard as a character by supplying the reader with a background knowledge of her heart disease. Imagery also helps to convey the theme of freedom used in the story. Freedom is displayed when Mrs.Mallard is yelling “free, free, free!” (7). Lastly, imagery is used to display irony in the fact that Mrs. Mallard dies of “heart disease - joy that kills” (8). In conclusion, Kate Chopin uses imagery to show that the news of a death is easily broken to someone afflicted with heart disease, a feeling of freedom is experienced by someone who just lost their husband and “Heart disease- of joy that

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Chopin use imagery to explain Louise's’ new life and the

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The story also argues that freedom is a very powerful force that affects the mental or emotional state of a person. Chopin argues that only through death can one be finally freed. The author makes strong, yet subtle statements towards humanity and women’s rights. Through subtle symbolism, Kate Chopin demonstrates how marriage is more like a confining role of servitude rather than a

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In the story, Chopin begins with the issue of female identity. The story, just like several other stories, begins with Mrs. Mallard being at home; two assumptions can be made, one she is married, and two, she is probably waiting for her husband to return home. What is particular about it, is how Chopin only mentions her name after she knows about her husband’s death and when is realizes that she is free. By doing this, the author criticizes the fact that women adopted her husband’s name in marriage as a signal of men’s property. This fact could mean that for a woman to recover her identity or freedom is by becoming a

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The Storm Lightning crashes overhead as I race back into the house, dripping wet. I was just returning back from an adventure in the woods. The storm was unexpected, even the forecasters had never expected it. Luckily, I managed to make it back inside safely.

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