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Story Of an Hour
Kate Chopin was an American writer whose deeply feminist views often influenced her writing. In "The Story of an Hour," Chopin (1894) explores Mrs. Mallard's reaction to the news of her husband's death and the emotional rollercoaster that she experiences during the brief hour after she hears her husband has died and before she learns her husband is actually still alive. Chopin's (1894) "The Story of an Hour" touches upon themes of oppression and the tone of the story follows the reaction that Mrs. Mallard after hearing her husband has died.
The plot of "The Story of an Hour" revolves around Mrs. Mallard and her physical, emotional, and psychological reaction to the news that her husband has been tragically killed in a "railroad disaster." While many would expect Mrs. Mallard to be devastated and grief-stricken, her reaction is quite the contrary. Chopin (1894) describes Mrs. Mallard's reaction as, "There was something coming to her and she was waiting for it fearfully…When she abandoned herself a little whispered word escaped her slightly parted lips. She said it over...
Mallard was in her married life, but also goes to show that women did not have many options to be free and many times, they had to wait until their husband's died in order to do what they wanted with their lives. Moreover, Mrs. Mallard's oppression is evident as she looks to her future. She is not worried that she will be grief-stricken, but rather "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" (Chopin, 1894).
The strongest indication that Mrs. Mallard felt oppressed in her marriage is evident in her psychological reaction to her husbands presumed death. Mrs. Mallard strongly believes that "there would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature" (Chopin, 1894). Chopin clearly asserts that women during this time were often forced to give up their free will to…
References
Chopin, K. (1894). The story of an hour. English Department at Virginia Commonwealth
University. Accessed 15 June 2012, from http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/webtexts/hour/
Mallard locks herself in her room and looks to nature for consolation, a situation that seems to dissolve the tension that she was subjected to, and Mrs. Sommers goes on a shopping and fun spree that ends up in the movie theatre. Finally at the end of the three stories there seems to be a successfully resolved situation for the tension that was, Calixta seems at peace with the
She actually loved Brently very much and her first impulse at the news of his death was to cry. Also, she was perfectly aware that she would also cry at his funeral, considering that they loved each-other and that she was accustomed to living next to him. Brently was actually caring and loving toward her and one might believe that Louise's concern about her having been freed is morally
Kate Chopin "The Story Hour" 1) what impact story? 2) What? 3) What questions? 4)…. ID Summarize short stories by Kate Chopin "The Story of an Hour" In this story, the protagonist Mrs. Mallard is mistakenly informed that her husband died in a railway accident. Her first impulse, after being stunned by the shock of the event, is to celebrate that she is free. Like so many women of her class during
Kate Chopin (1850-1904) was born Katherine O'Flaherty in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1850. She didn't begin her writing career until after 1882, the year in which her husband, Oscar Chopin died (Toth). She spent several years publishing short stories, based on the Creole and Cajun cultures of Louisiana, where she and Oscar had lived. Her first novel, At Fault, was published in 1890. It was her second novel The Awakening
Kate Chopin's short stories "The Storm" and "The Story of an Hour" both offer messages of hope for women trapped in patriarchal relationships. The two short stories are framed with a feminist social commentary, while offering completely different perspectives on the ways women can achieve self-determination within the dominant culture. The two main characters of "The Storm" and "The Story of an Hour" are married; but their relationships are noticeably
Kate Chopin "Free! Body and soul free!' she kept whispering." Mrs. Louise Mallard dealt with the death of her husband in an unusual and ambiguous way. At first she wept, "at once, with sudden, wild abandonment." The narrator of Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour" notes that Mrs. Mallard did not react with paralyzed shock as many others would have but rather, with a "storm of grief." Mallard's initial response