Mallard's contrary emotions. She receives the news of her husband's death in the house she shares with him. The house represents the boundaries that marriage has placed on Louise Mallard as well as society's expectations as to the role of a wife. Louise retreats to her room, closes the door and is drawn to the open window. Her journey begins as she stares out the window and notices as if for the first time the sights, sounds and smells surrounding her. The trees are "all aquiver with new spring life- (171). She notices the clouds, but focuses on "one of those patches of blue sky- (171). Oddly she focuses not on death, but on life. .
The closed door and opened window are significant. The closed door places a barrier between Louise and her sister, who is imploring her to open it. On one side of the door is her repressed past and on the other is her new life of independence. The open window is symbolic of her new life which will be "Free, free, free!- of the restrictions and expectations of marriage (172).
In the privacy of her room Mrs. Mallard contemplates her conflicting feelings towards her husband and her views on marriage. She is realistic about her feelings for Mr. Mallard: "She had loved him "sometimes. Often she had not- (172) and acknowledges she will cry again when she sees him in his casket. Mrs. Mallard's thoughts drift to marriage: intentions, kind or cruel, and "the powerful will bending men and women believe they have a right to impose- upon each other (172). Men and women are not opposed here, but universal in their feelings of dissatisfaction with life and love and the struggle to persevere in spite of conflicting emotions. The narrator even hints that perhaps Mr. Mallard feels the same marital suffocation as Mrs. Mallard when we are told that he "never looked save with love upon her, fixed and gray and dead- (172).
Mrs. Mallard's conflict in the room is that between fantasy and reality, also known as the grass is always greener' syndrome.
Kate Chopin uses many different elements to create the theme of "The Story of an Hour." ... The theme of "The Story of an Hour" is the frailty of life. Irony is the first element of "The Story of an Hour." ... There are also several instances of foreshadowing in "The Story of an Hour." ... The final instance of foreshadowing in "The Story of an Hour" occurs when Mr. ...
The Story of an Hour By Kate Chopin Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour" could be interpreted in several different lights. ... In my perspective, I believe Kate Chopin wanted each of her readers to compare her story to his or her own relationships as he or she read "The Story of an Hour." The story seems to have been written back in a time when divorce was not an answer to marital dissatisfaction and women were expected to act and react in a certain manner when it came to marriage and the female role within it. ... The next moment, she finds herself looking at her husband standi...
In Kate Chopin's short story, The Story of an Hour depicts a short hour of a woman's life. This story has little dialogue and little information which keeps the reader guessing and anticipating what is going to happen next, thus, making it a very creative story. ... Louise sits in a chair facing the window for an hour in her room. ... The little the dialogue and action in the story, the better the story was. The Story of an Hour kept me wanting to read more. ...
The Story of an Hour (By Kate Chopin) Born in 1851 in St. ... "The Story of an Hour- is an early work of Kate Chopin, telling of a woman trapped and possibly abused in a repressive marriage. ... The story begins not by introducing the main character (Mrs. ... Next, Chopin turns her focus on Mrs. ... - This is the turning point of the story. ...
The conflict within the plot is what takes the story from one gear to the next. ... The structure of the plot and setting in "The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin allows the reader to visualize the story as it is happening, and it also identifies the conflict of self-assurance as it occurs. ... The setting of "The Story of an Hour" takes place in an hour within an American home. ... "The Story of an Hour" divulges in the mind of the main character, Mrs. ... Although the setting of the story takes place within one single hour, as the plot thickens, the evidence o...
"The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin, is the story of a passionate woman who is held back by her husband from reaching her full potential. This story line strikes a strong comparison to John Steinbeck's, "The Chrysanthemums". ... In these short stories, the main characters Elisa (The Chrysanthemums)and Louise (The Story of an Hour) both live in the shadow of their husbands. ... Louise felt this joy of freedom for less than an hour. ... Elisa follows similarly to Louise with her unhappy traditionalism and unseen tears next to her husband in the car ride to town. ...
"The story of an hour- is a story written by Kate Chopin, an American author. ... For the next two years she lived at home, surrounded by smart, independent and single women. ... In Kate Chopin's short story, The Story of an Hour, many ironic elements are used to help the reader understand the fate of the main character, Mrs. ... The Story of an Hour, in Cassill, R.V., ed., The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction, sixth edition, New York: W.W. ... Kate Chopin's use of irony in her short story, "The Story of an Hour," stands in direct contrast to the subtle manner in which she tells t...
Kate Chopin's "Story of an Hour" is a sad tale of a woman trying to escape her future. ... The next thing a reader observes is the way Chopin introduces the characters, for example Mrs. ... Within an hour she looses her beloved husband but, finally receives the freedom she has wanted all her life. ... "The story of an hour" is a short story where we observe a tragedy in a making. ... Her freedom doesn't last long; within an hour Louise learns that her husband is alive. ...
Chopin's "The Story of an Hour" is filled with sexuality. ... The females in her stories, such as Calixta in "The Story of an Hour" experience great feelings and experiences rather than men. ... This is thought to be her inspiration for the affair in her work "The Story of an Hour.... Within the next decade, after beginning to write poetry and fiction, she had published twenty poems, ninety-five short stories, two novels and eight literary criticisms. ... Another example of the role of women in Chopin's works is in "The Story of an Hour....
