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.
Often she had not. What did it matter! What could love, the unsolved mystery, count for in the face of this possession of self-assertion which she suddenly recognized as the strongest impulse of her being!” (2). Mrs. Mallard’s relationship with her husband seems to not be happy and upon his death, she has a shift of mentality and starts to experience joy and hope instead of grief.
Today, most people would assume that the reaction to a loved one’s death would be immediate grief; however, that would not be the case in the late 1800s. In Kate Chopin’s “The Story of An Hour” women were expected to grieve differently than men. The story conveys the main character Mrs. Mallard’s distress and joy after she discovered the supposed death of her husband. The story does not demonstrate Mrs. Mallard following the stages of grief that would be expected when grieving over her husband. In spite of the fact that Mrs. Mallard was grieving she was likewise encountering joy and satisfaction since she then realizes that she is currently free.
What common themes bond together the literary works of the 1800’s? Frederick Douglass and Kate Chopin both realized that people were not being treated fairly and thus it influenced their writing. Through personal experiences and observations Frederick Douglass conveyed how African Americans in My Bondage and My Freedom were treated unfairly. Kate Chopin used the plot to show how women were treated unfairly in “The Story of an Hour”. My Bondage and My Freedom by Frederick Douglass tells of some of the experiences he went through as a slave.
The characters in Kate Chopin’s stories are either dynamic an or static because each woman has their own personality. One of the woman’s finds her inner self after the tragic accident of her husband, the other woman just relieves the past but does not have any major change in her character. The last woman her personality came out and had to deal with temptation. Kate Chopin’s “Story of an hour” Mrs. Mallard is a dynamic character due to the fact that a transformation to her character had occurred when she found out about her husband’s death. She received the news from her sister, “great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband’s death” (Chopin).
Mallard, and the girlfriend want to communicate how they feel and do not want to be constrained. Chopin was a feminist which encouraged her to write The Story of an Hour. Women do not want to feel possessed and want to be self-asserted (Chopin, 2004). Women are told to respect their marriages and must abide to society. Mrs. Mallard feels free of duties when she understands that her husband has deceased.
(526) Mrs.Mallard begins to see through as an independent woman rather than one confined by marriage. She can live for herself now and not so much for her husband. After she found out that he passed she was way too excited for freedom. In “The Yellow wallpaper” the narrator was almost normal.
"The Story of an Hour": Rhetorical Appeals "The Story of an Hour" is a rather sad and short essay, but is filled with description and the main rhetorical appeals. Such as logic, credibility, and emotion; the writer Kate Chopin does an excellent job at displaying these. Therefore aiding her in expressing what it is like to be a wife and the struggles of marriage in the late 1800 's. She also expresses that you can never really know the truth unless you really look, and it took the death of her husband to realize that she was unhappy in her marriage.
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.
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.
The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin and the Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Stetson were both written by women to express how they were treated in their time period. Both of these stories were criticized because they challenged the belief that a woman should not be just a docile wife. These two pieces of literature utilized symbolic imagery, repetition, and dramatic irony to convey the common theme shared that women are opressed by the standards of society. In Chopin's Story of an Hour, Mrs. Mallard sees the outside world through the only window in her room.
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.
Chopin writes, “She could see in the open square of her house the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life... there were patches of blue sky showing here and there,” (Chopin 307). This quote is implying that even when Mrs. Mallard got the news of her husband’s death, the world is still going on and she has a whole new life ahead of her being a single
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.
Although it is a short story, it has lot of elements making it a successful story. Chopin’s story has many prevalent themes that are showcased. The idea of forbidden happiness was one major theme present. When Brently Mallard dies, Mrs. Mallard comes to the realization that she is now an independent woman. Although she has to keep this joy private, she tries her best to hide this contentment, Her resistance to her true feelings show how forbidden her emotions are and that society would never accept Louise’s true emotions.