Story of an Hour
Arthur Love
20 December 2012
0-Period
Davidson
"The Story of an Hour"
The Age of Realism novelist, Kate Chopin, writes a short story to reveal a negative point of view of marriage. By examining the use of narrator, character and irony in "The Story of an Hour," the reader is left with a feeling that the author is not fond of the institution. Kate Chopin was a pioneer of the realistic literary scene. "The Story of an Hour" had a third person limited point of view. The narrator only revealed information about what was going through Louise Mallard's mind. Chopin executed this point of view considerably well and it enhanced the short story. The third person limited point of view is a great for realistic literature. We all think for ourselves. We aren't psychics and we can't know what everyone thinks at every time of the day! Kate Chopin incorporates this idea in her literature up until the end of the story. The unknown leaves a void for the readers to fill. The last paragraph (20) of "The Story of an Hour" said, "When the doctors came they said she had dies of heart disease -- of the joy that kills." Here readers are expected to create their own impressions on how Mrs. Mallard dies: dead individuals cannot speak, so we will never know for sure, but we can make inferences. The narrator of this story allows readers to gain some insight of their own from the situation. Furthermore, readers only care about Mrs. Mallard's thought process for her unorthodox actions (like in paragraph ten: "She was beginning to recognize this thing that was approaching to possess her, and she was striving to beat it back with her will…) Other characters' thoughts would only confuse readers and add a plethora of unnecessary information. The only way Chopin could better the point of view was if she dove deeper into Louise Mallard's thoughts via first person point of view. We could have gotten more acquainted with Mrs. Mallard and her predicament because she would be telling readers
20 December 2012
0-Period
Davidson
"The Story of an Hour"
The Age of Realism novelist, Kate Chopin, writes a short story to reveal a negative point of view of marriage. By examining the use of narrator, character and irony in "The Story of an Hour," the reader is left with a feeling that the author is not fond of the institution. Kate Chopin was a pioneer of the realistic literary scene. "The Story of an Hour" had a third person limited point of view. The narrator only revealed information about what was going through Louise Mallard's mind. Chopin executed this point of view considerably well and it enhanced the short story. The third person limited point of view is a great for realistic literature. We all think for ourselves. We aren't psychics and we can't know what everyone thinks at every time of the day! Kate Chopin incorporates this idea in her literature up until the end of the story. The unknown leaves a void for the readers to fill. The last paragraph (20) of "The Story of an Hour" said, "When the doctors came they said she had dies of heart disease -- of the joy that kills." Here readers are expected to create their own impressions on how Mrs. Mallard dies: dead individuals cannot speak, so we will never know for sure, but we can make inferences. The narrator of this story allows readers to gain some insight of their own from the situation. Furthermore, readers only care about Mrs. Mallard's thought process for her unorthodox actions (like in paragraph ten: "She was beginning to recognize this thing that was approaching to possess her, and she was striving to beat it back with her will…) Other characters' thoughts would only confuse readers and add a plethora of unnecessary information. The only way Chopin could better the point of view was if she dove deeper into Louise Mallard's thoughts via first person point of view. We could have gotten more acquainted with Mrs. Mallard and her predicament because she would be telling readers