The Story of an Hour, the author Kate Chopin focuses on the theme of finding one’s self identity and becoming free and independent as an individual. The theme becomes emphasized in the sentence “But she saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely. And she opened and spread her arms out to them in welcome. There would be no one to live for her during those coming years; she would live for herself” (202).
This sentence expresses Mrs. Mallard’s change of emotions when she realizes she is finally free and able to make her own decisions.
Mrs. Louise Mallard is the protagonist who has a heart condition that causes her death at the end of the story. Her husband Brently Mallard is rumoured to be dead after the reports of a railroad disaster, which causes Mrs. Mallard to sulk in her bedroom. Chopin describes these feelings by writing “She sat with her head thrown back upon the cushion of the chair, quite motionless, except when a sob came up into her throat and shook her” (202).
Later, Mrs. Mallard realizes that the significance of his death meant freedom. Both Richards, one of Brently’s close friends, and Josephine, Mrs.
Mallard’s sister, who told Mrs. Mallard the news were with her in hopes of comforting her for her loss. At the end of the story Brently comes back home which causes Mrs. Mallard to become so surprised that she suddenly died because of her heart condition. Symbolism is an essential part of The Story of an Hour by using symbols such as spring that symbolizes rebirth and a new beginning. Both Mrs. Mallard’s heart condition and the springtime hold deeper meaning. Mrs. Mallard’s heart condition symbolizes distress both emotionally and physically.
The Essay on Weak Heart Story Louise Life
Did joy kill her? Yesterday I read one of Kate Chopin! s stories, ! ^0 The Story of An Hour. ! +/- This story told us about a woman named Louise Mallard who had heart problems. One day Louise heard her husband was killed in a train accident. She was sad at the beginning. After a short while, she begins to think about a new life. All the sadness and hopelessness turned to happiness and joy. She was ...
Emotionally, bad news affects Mrs. Mallard much more severely than it would affect one without a heart problem. “She did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance. She wept at once with sudden wild abandonment, in her sister’s arms” (201).
This shows that Mrs. Mallard does not take the news like others do, instead she wildly cries in her sisters arms. If one cries wildly, there is no sense of control over how they are feeling. Physically, Mrs. Mallard’s heart condition is the cause of her death.
Seeing that Mrs. Mallard’s heart is so weak, she dies instantly of surprise and shock when she sees that Brently is in fact alive. The season spring symbolizes a fresh start and the regeneration of life. Because The Story of an Hour takes place in the spring, it sets up the “rebirth” of Mrs. Mallard to become free and make her own decisions in life without worrying about her husband’s opinions. Therefore, the setting being springtime fits perfectly with the theme of story: finding one’s self identity and becoming free and independent as an individual.
In The Story of an Hour, Chopin uses foreshadowing in the form of pathetic fallacy when the environment outside is being described as the beginning of spring and being happy. When Mrs. Mallard first walks into to her room, she becomes extremely upset by the fact that her husband is gone. As she is looking through her window, the description of spring and joy is filling the reader’s mind by sentences such as “She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life” (201).
Therefore by describing the season spring, foreshadowing is being used to inform the reader that Mrs.
Mallard will have a change of heart, and her negative thoughts become positive thoughts. Usually, if something horrible happens in a story, the environment is depressing. It is dark, cold and rainy. As one reads on in the story, they realize that Mrs. Mallard sees the death of her husband as an opportunity to re-invent herself and live more freely which is similar to what the reader infers from the depiction of spring. The ending of The Story of an Hour is quite ironic when Mrs. Mallard dies caused by shock and her heart condition. Chopin tells the story of how Mrs.
The Term Paper on Mrs Mallard Blindman Reader Story
Phil Case ley A Comparison of Two Short Stories by Kate Chopin- "The Story of an Hour" and "The Blindman" I have been studying two short stories written by Kate Chopin - "The Story of an Hour" and "The Blindman." Kate Chopin wrote both stories in the late 19 th Century at a time of great technological development and industrialisation, this caused a rift between the rich and the poor. Both stories ...
Mallard deals with, and what her thoughts are on the death of her husband Brently Mallard. Mrs. Mallard is devastated at first, but eventually realizes that she has the ability to do whatever she pleases and no longer has someone else controlling her life. She becomes excited and overjoyed with these ideas and “she opened and spread her arms out to them in welcome” (202).
Mrs. Mallard is eager to begin her life that belongs absolutely to her and hopes that she lives such a life for a long time, as it is described by Chopin, in the line “She breathed a quick prayer that life might be long” (202).
However, what is ironic is that her life does not continue for long. Immediately after she goes downstairs and sees that her husband Brently is in fact alive, she becomes immensely shocked and instantly dies as a result of her heart condition. “She had died of heart disease – of joy that kills” (203).
This indicates how Mrs. Mallard is so overjoyed about her independence, that it results in death after Mrs. Mallard learns that independence does not exist for her.
