Summary and Response to "A Story of an Hour"

Summary and Response The desire of freedom definitely comes with an immense price. In “The Story of an Hour,” Kate Chopin describes her main character, Louise Mallard, as a freedom seeking housewife, trapped in an unwanted marriage with her husband Brently Mallard. She soon after gets granted the gift of freedom when she finds out her husband had been in a train accident, which ironically Kate Chopin’s father died of the same tragic death. With Kate Chopin’s unique writing style, she has been a major influence in literature for decades. According to Feminist Writers, “she opened her 19th-century female readers’ eyes to a familiar world [they] had never know.” Authors S. Selina Jamil and Daniel P. Deneau both analyzed the story and gave their opinions on how the emotions of Louise affected internally and externally. With two different viewpoints on the short story, both authors provide valid points when scrutinizing the direct variation when it came to Louise’s motives. When reading “The Story of an Hour,” one is drawn into the troubling tale of Louise Ballard and how she reacts to her trying times as a thought to be widow. The ending throws the reader for a loop and is completely unexpected, but that’s Kate Chopin’s writing style. The story is unpredictable, enjoyable, and controversial, and definitely leaves the reader satisfied.
S. Selina Jamil responds to the piece of work, “The Story of an Hour,” completely different than Daniel P. Deneau. Deneau describes the story as a sensual experiences internally occurring within Louise in his critical essay called “Chopin’s The Story of an Hour.” Deneau places much emphasis on the passage that concludes that Louise has become “free” (Chopin 247). Then he concludes that she forms a sexual unity with the supernatural. “With no male aggressor-partner named in the text, only a “something,” readers naturally will speculate. For me, two possibilities exist—both supernatural…” (Deneau). From then on Daniel P. Deneau infers

Cited: Basch, Norma. “Invisible Women: The Legal Fiction of Martial Unity in Nineteenth-Century America.” Feminist Studies 5.2 (1979): 346-66. JSTOR. Web. 15 March 2012. Chopin, Kate. “The Story of an Hour”. Literature and the Writing Process. Ed Elizabeth McMahan et al. 9th ed. Upper Saddle River: Pearson, 2011. 246-247. Print. Deneau, Daniel P. “Chopin’s The Story of an Hour.” The Explicator 61.4 (2003): 210+. Academic OneFile. Web. 14 March 2012. Dolan, R. J. “Emotion, Cognition, and Behavior.” Science 298.5596 (2002): 1191-94. JSTOR. Web. 15 March 2012 Jamil, S. Selina. “Emotions in The Story of an Hour.” The Explicator 67.3(2009): 215+. Academic OneFile. Web. 14 March 2012.