Preview

Intro and Body paragraph for “The Story of an Hour”

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
361 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Intro and Body paragraph for “The Story of an Hour”
Question: What does Kate Chopin’s short story “The Story of an Hour” communicate about how feelings of freedom can influence one’s perspective?

Often the feeling of freedom can influence ones perspective on many situations; this influence can often cause feelings or emotions considered wrong by the social norm. In the short storyThe Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin the main character, Louise Mallard proves this. At first she is devastated by the news of her husbands death. Later on she starts to struggle with her inner emotions, and attempts to sort them out in solitude. Finally she realizes her true perspective on the matter of her husband’s death. Therefore we can conclude that the feeling of a newfound freedom influenced Mrs. Mallard’s perspective. Finally she realizes her true perspective on the matter of her husband’s death. We see this is a gradual realization as in the beginning Mrs. Mallard weeps “with a sudden wild abandonment”, but once in her room she sobs like a child “continues to sob” in sleep after crying to sleep. After the realization she would cry at the funeral there is no further thought of tears, telling us just how happy she is and believes she will be without her husband. With this newfound sense of delight, She prays, “life [will] be long” when only a day before she “shuddered” at the thought. Not only is she happy, but also she is exited and looking forward to her days of independence. There would no longer be a “powerful will bending hers”, Mrs. Mallard believes as she walks “Like a goddess of victory”, only to fall in defeat at the sight of her husband, alive and well. These extreme circumstances have let Mrs. Mallard have a taste of a feeling otherwise forbidden. This thought like a poison consumed her eventually killing her when Mr. Mallard comes home. Over the course of the hour, the feeing of freedom changed Mrs. Mallard’s outlook on the situation, it caused her to feel the exact opposite of what was expected, showing that

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    There are many different tones, themes, characters, and symbolism in the short story “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin explains the story of a negative view of marriage by showing the reader with a woman who is overjoyed that her husband has died, also the characters in the story itself goes through multiply changes from fear to depression to finally freedom. The lone character, who goes through the most change be far throughout the entire story is the main character Mrs. Louise Mallard. This transformation doesn’t just help change the character of Louise Mallard, further the themes of the story and solidify the tones that the author are trying to set for the story.…

    • 1111 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Her elusive search from freedom and self-identity is finally over with her husband’s death. While her husband is alive, she feels she must live for him, and only when he dies does she feel her life once again become her own. Mrs. Mallard even prays at one point, hoping for a long life so she could then enjoy her newfound independence. It is marriage itself that she finds so oppressive due to the fact one is not independent anymore and most live for someone else and is so bound to that person for…

    • 661 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Kate Chopin is an American author from the late 1800’s, who wrote the short story, “The Story of an Hour”. She uses a pathetic appeal to invoke her audience’s emotions. She emphasizes certain emotions to get her readers to actually feel what it is like to be relieved of being trapped in a marriage where you do not have your own free will.…

    • 1142 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Published in 1894, “The Story of an Hour,” has endured longer than the title would indicate and is a declaration of the support of independence for women from its author Kate Chopin. Having read this story before in other courses, and having spoken at length about how Chopin was in support of the idea of woman’s suffrage even before the suffrage movement caught hold, this story leaves a lasting impression and resonates deeper with me every time I read it. Chopin uses her work to illuminate the joy of independence and the oppression that marriage can bring. Whether intentional or unintentional, her message is not only meant for women but, extends to men as well. It is a timeless theme that anyone can learn from in every age. By her use of various literary elements such as, structure, and style, and the use of rhetorical devises such as pathos Chopin creates a work that provokes deeper though and asks a reader to delve into the emotional struggle of her character Mrs. Louise…

    • 679 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mallard's Awakening

    • 427 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Kate Chopin’s,”The Story of an Hour,” is an ironic and symbolic story as it portrays an innuendo of repression through the example married women. Chopin’s short story begins with Mrs. Mallard becoming lurid as she hears of her husband's death. Consequently, Mrs. Mallard underwent changes from depressed to an elated state of emotion. Chopin displayed Mrs. Mallards’ grievances and attitude towards freedom through her diction. Just as Mrs. Mallard perceived that she gained her freedom, news was delivered to her stating Brently Mallard was alive. Without hesitation Mrs. Mallard died not only because her freedom was gone, but because she felt guilty when she happily reflected upon her husband's death. Presumably, the cause of Mrs. Mallard's death was heart disease, thus making Chopin’s…

    • 427 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mallard's Loneliness

    • 537 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In the short story “A Story of an Hour”, Mallard is portrayed of being alone due to the “death” of her husband. That “alone” feeling starts to clear away as she notices that she was confined and followed everything that her husband told her to do. Even though Mallard was confined in a room, she starts to see how her husband was acting like a dictator and was moving Mallard as a puppet. At first, when she thought how freedom was coming towards, she dreaded it. But, as freedom arrives and enters her mind, it fills Mallard with an overpowering joy and comfort that she’s not controlled. Yet, she still experiences this mental and emotional freedom still in a small confined room all by herself when staring at the window. “She said it over and over…

    • 537 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mallard's Freedom

    • 756 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Freedom: “The power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint”. Freedom and free will are all about one’s right to do what one wants without any barriers or obstacles in the way. It is a freedom of choice. This idea of freedom is a present and constant theme in “The Story of an Hour”, written by the exquisite author Kate Chopin, who uses literary techniques like point of view and irony, while using a historical and feminist lense to enhance the reader’s engagement and the story itself.…

    • 756 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin, the idea that independence is something that many humans want to accomplish and maintain in their life is expressed. The reason for this is that achieving a life that is established purely on self-determination is a natural instinct for humans. Kate Chopin expresses this idea in The Story of an Hour through characterization, but more clearly through Louise Mallard. Mrs. Millard had just heard the news that a railroad accident has killed her husband by her sister Josephine and her husband’s friend Richards. She wept and stormed into her room after hearing the terrible news. There she sat in a chair and looked out the window. That was the moment were she had an epiphany that revealed that she had now gained independence.…

    • 833 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Kate Chopin was a novelist and American short story writer. In 1894, Chopin wrote a particularly intriguing short story, The Story of an Hour, about a woman who was trying to escape society’s judgemental image of women. In Chopin’s story, Louise Mallard, the protagonist, feels distressed and restricted because of the expectations society holds for women as subordinate to men. When the protagonist’s husband supposedly dies, Louise finally feels free to make life choices independently and not have to conform to how society wants her to be. Although Chopin’s description of freedom is the freedom for Louise to be independent and think individually, her idea of freedom from society's expectations and stereotypes connects to Douglass and his story. Freedom from society’s view on the privileges that people have and how they live their lives is one theme that unifies Chopin and Douglass’ thought-provoking stories and also is constant “living theme” in my…

    • 755 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In “The Story of an Hour,” Chopin described Mrs. Mallard’s desire for freedom in symbolism. She wrote, “There were patches of blue sky showing here and there through the clouds that had met piled one above the other in the west facing her window.” The clouds are the interference from freedom and the blue sky is the freedom. Mrs. Mallard wanted the patches of blue sky so badly! She spent much of her time agonizing over the marriage she was trapped in. The mother in “A Sorrowful Woman” did the exact same thing by isolating herself from her husband and child in hopes of a glimpse at freedom.…

    • 535 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    An Hour Response

    • 496 Words
    • 2 Pages

    When Mrs. Mallard hears the new's about her husband's death she is appalled and surprised. The passage states, Mrs. Mallard "did not hear the story as many women have heard the same with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance." She wept in her sister's arms with wild abandonment, and once the storm of grief had spent…

    • 496 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mallard's Oppression

    • 957 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” focuses on Louise Mallard, the wife of Brently Mallard, who has just discovered that her husband has been killed in a railroad disaster. Overcome with grief, Mrs. Mallard hides away in her room for an hour reflecting on what life will become like without her husband. Once realizing that she is free from her oppressed marriage, Mrs. Mallard becomes elated. Upon discovering her newfound freedoms, Mrs. Mallard departs from her room only to find that her husband is still alive. Because Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” occurs during a time in which women’s freedoms were trumped by oppression, Chopin uses a series of symbols, and an omniscient third-person point of view to show that women longed to escape…

    • 957 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    In “The Story of an Hour,” a woman by the name of Mrs. Mallard recently hears of the death of her husband, Brently Mallard. The author describes Mrs. Mallard as a gentle, frail woman who has heart trouble (Chopin). When she hears the news, Mrs. Mallard immediately reacts with sorrow and retreats to her room to think about what has happened. While she is brooding in her room, she thinks about how the death of her husband gives her freedom to do whatever she likes. The author states, “She had loved him—sometimes. 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!” (Chopin). Even though Mrs. Mallard was a very weak and frail person at the beginning of the story, just the thought of freedom liberates her from her sorrow and fills her with immense joy. Mrs. Mallard feel strong, as though she had eliminated her weakness and any self-doubt she had beforehand. However, the twist in the story is that Mrs. Mallard’s husband is actually alive. When her husband returns, her freedom and independence go straight out the door. As soon as Mrs. Mallard realizes this, she falls to the floor, stricken with a heart attack. Mrs. Mallard’s heart attack is a symbol for…

    • 1239 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Once Mrs. Mallard accepts the feeling, even though she knows that her husband had really loved her, she is ecstatic that she will never have to bend her will to his again. Now that her husband is dead, she will be free to assert herself in ways she never before dreamed while he was alive. She recognizes that she had loved her husband sometimes, but that now she would be free in body and soul. She begins to look forward to the rest of her life when just the day before she shuddered at the thought of it.…

    • 396 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    In Kate Chopin’s “Story of an Hour”, young Mrs. Brently Mallard discovers the news of her husband’s death. Once the shock and grief wear off, she comes to an important realization. “’Free! Body and soul free!’”(Chopin 2). Louise finally is free, without her husband’s name bearing down on her and out of the clutches of domesticity. She no longer needs to act like the perfect wife at home, constantly taking care of the house and looking after her husband’s every need. She can live for herself like she always wanted. “There would be no powerful will bending hers” (Chopin 2), and she would no longer be the victim of submissiveness. Her husband no longer had the superior power, which all men were granted at the time of birth, to control and dictate her every move to the point where she was just like a small child that needed guidance and direction. But, in the end her joy is all for naught. Brently is not dead. And Mrs. Mallard, when receiving the news of his return, “die[s] of heart disease” (Chopin 2). The thought of being pushed into that submissive state of being that she had just escaped from ultimately caused her premature…

    • 1008 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays