Preview

Story of an Hour Essay Paper

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1168 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Story of an Hour Essay Paper
Story Of An Hour Essay Paper

The short story entitled “Story Of An Hour” written by Kate Chopin is a powerful story about a woman, Mrs. Mallard who is given the horrible news that her husband has just passed away in a train wreck. Devastated by her husband’s sudden death she excuses herself and immediately rushes to her bedroom where we see a different side of Mrs. Mallard’s attitude. She has taken on a different angle of life now, she is upset about her husband’s sudden death, however; she has something to be happy about it. Now that her husband has passed away is Mrs. Mallard happy because she is now her own person? Or is Mrs. Mallard truly upset that her husband has passed?

“Story Of An Hour” was written in 1894, which was in a time period where women did not really have much power or say in anything that went on. Women were really the ones that stayed home and took care of the family and tended to the house, while the husbands went out and worked. Women really stayed out of the lime light and their opinions were never heard or considered. Even though women had desires and feelings, those feelings were never heard of. Women did not dare speak out about their feelings or their rights, it was just not heard of in that time period. Women really lived a life of silence then because they had no voice and they dared not once speak out.

Kate Chopin lived in this type of time period where women really did not have any rights. Chopin wrote stories where the characters were women who were dealt with these types of issues head on. Chopin was well known for writing short stories that centered around women who are faced with these types of society blocks. However in her stories the women usually take on different side. The women in her stories normally choose their own path rather then what is excepted of them in the eyes of the society. In the end it is the women who gets what they truly want our of life.

One major theme in Kate Chopin’s story is freedom. In the

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    A Story of an Hour 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

    In “The Story of an Hour,'' Kate Chopin utilizes an ironic yet melancholy tone and formal writing style to emphasize her views on the woman’s role during the 1800’s. In this short story, Mrs. Louise Mallard, the main character, embodies a woman trapped inside of a marriage and dies when she realizes she will never be free. Mrs. Mallard’s character is that of a fragile, heart troubled wife, who lives her life unhappily for her husband, Brently Mallard, and not for herself. She finally gets a glimpse of freedom and happiness rather than loneliness when she finds out that her husband was killed in a railroad disaster. The feeling, however doesn’t last for long. The doors of freedom abruptly close with the arrival of her husband who is very much alive and the disappointment of his arrival kills her.…

    • 547 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Story of an Hour 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

    The Three Elements In the story, “The Story of an Hour”, was about a lady, Louise Mallard, who finds out…

    • 616 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    A Story of an Hour – Essay Assignement Noah Rieger As the title puts it, “The Story of an Hour” is a story that happens in one hour. This story mostly revolves around one woman, Louis Mallard, who is used to develop many themes in the story. Some of the themes brought up have a different interpretation from what is normally known in the usual circumstances. The themes of freedom and death have been projected quite in a way that gives a reader another understanding different from what is already known. Other themes that are evidently seen are time, freedom and confinement, marriage and emotional regression. The title of the story also shows how so many things can happen within a single hour. In normal circumstances, death brings sorrow, grief, seclusion, guilt, and regrets, amongst other feelings depending on the course of death. In this story, death brings some of these feelings such as sorrow and grief. I argue however, that in this short story Kate Chopin uses death to demonstrate how death can not only cause pain and sadness but also bring joy, independence and freedom.…

    • 1379 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    “The Story of an Hour” Research Paper Are men and women today more liberated then they were a century ago? While reading a critical essay about women authors and in particularly the author of “The Story of an Hour”, Kate Chopin, it described the struggles Chopin faced getting people to read her feminist stories “Chopin seems less atypical in her censure of scribbling women” (Thomas) thus concluding that women were less liberated back then than they are currently. My group and I unanimously believe that yes, men and women are much more liberated than they were a century ago. This is true because men and women have more opportunities. Men and women can also fill non-traditional roles. Women can now have jobs instead of being the typical housewife. Also, men are now not required to work, and can be the spouse that stays at home. Most of the boundaries that were in place a century ago no longer apply to either gender. Some examples from “The Story of an Hour” that support the idea that men and women are currently more liberated is when Louis Mallardwas yelled “Free! Body and soul free!” This statement by Louis shows two things. The first one is that when she was married she felt trapped and controlled by her husband. The second one is now that her husband is dead, she realizes how confined she was, and now she feels completely liberated. “Few other stories say so much in so few words” (Berkove). Another example of this from “The Story of an Hour” is when Louis Mallardwas said “No; She was drinking in a very elixir of life through that open window.” Again, this quote shows that Louis’s husband’s death has released her, and this window is used to symbolize that. Often in literature when a person is looking through a closed window it typically means that the person is, or feels like a spectator to the real world. Oppositely, when Louis is looking through an open window, it shows that she is no longer an observer of the real world, and is now a part of it. In the…

    • 1200 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    "The Story of an Hour" was written in 1894. From the story, what can you deduce about the role of women in late 19th century society. In your response, consider the character of Mrs. Mallard but also her sister Josephine and the behavior of male characters towards the female characters.…

    • 282 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Author Kate Chopin has expressed feminine freedom in two of her short stories: "The Storm" and "Story of an Hour". She was the breakthrough author for female independence and human sexuality. Through these two short stories, Chopin describes the lives of two women who discover their freedom in times where society does not accept women as equal to men. "The Storm" relates love and marriage as a prevention for free full blown passion. "Story of an Hour" relates love and marriage to unhappiness and repression.…

    • 630 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    John ENGL 1302 5 February 2014 Unbounded Sentiment: An Examination of Character Kate Chopin's “The Story of an Hour” details the emotional process of a certain Louise Mallard as she copes with news of her husband's recent death. The story experiences a change of tone partway through, as it soon becomes clear that Mrs. Mallard, while initiatially shaken, is in fact elated by the news of her late husband's untimely demise. One can actually notice Mrs. Mallard's entire mood and outlook shift dramatically during the course of the story, as her true motivations come to light.…

    • 296 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Analysis of Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” Kate Chopin’s “the story of an hour” presents the story of a wife in 1894, in a time when society norms underestimated women needs. The story mainly explores the reaction of a wife, who suffers of heart trouble, to her husband’s death. The story begins with her sister’s and family’s friend’s struggle to break the news to her; the story then transports the reader through the development of Mrs. Mallard’s different emotions. Mrs. Mallard passes from grief, for her husband’s death, to joy, for her freedom, and to death for her husband’s return. The author presents the problems of a 19th century marriage, and how these develop a change in this wife’s feelings in regards to her husband’s death. The story invites the reader to analyze and judge Mrs. Mallard’s behavior; behavior that was developed by her own meaning of…

    • 1397 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The story of an Hour

    • 1185 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The Story of an Hour One of Kate Chopin's most famous stories is "the Story of an Hour." In this story Chopin was brave enough to challenge the society in which she lived because in the first half of the 19th century, women were not allowed the freedoms men enjoyed in the judgments of the law, the church or the government. Married women, could not make legal contracts, divorce a bad husband or win the right to care of their children, and many people believed that the "proper sphere for a woman was the house" (Thomas 21). In her story "The story of an hour" Chopin tries to illustrate the unreasonable life that women were having, and it gives an idea about women who there lives were controlled by men and were unable to control any part of their own lives. The story begins with Josephine kindly tells her sister Mrs. Mallard the tragic news about her husband's death, Josephine was gentle when she was telling this sad news because of Mrs. mallard's heart trouble. However, Mrs. Mallard does not take the news as being sad and miserable. Chopin says, "She breathed a quick prayer that life might be long. It was only yesterday she had thought with a shudder that life might be long" (1), so from this quotation I understands that there is a strange sort of happiness that comes to Mrs. Mallard when her husband passed away, a pleasure that only comes with her feelings of freedom.…

    • 1185 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    1. When and where was the story written or told? What historical, social, or cultural background might be needed to understand or explain what the story is about?…

    • 2180 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Story On An Hour

    • 1370 Words
    • 6 Pages

    “The story on an hour”, A short story published by Kate Chopin In 1894. From the beginning, we as the readers are introduced to the protagonist’s health problem with her heart. Subsequently, her husband has just “passed away” in a railroad accident, and her sister wants to break to her the news as gently they can. So then, right after hearing that, Mrs. Mallard proceeds to feel “wild abandonment” (Chopin 428). That feeling quickly changed as she now began to feel a sense of…

    • 1370 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Kate Chopin There are many women who fought for their rights at the turn of the century, such as Alice Paul, Margret Sanger, and Susan B. Anthony. Kate Chopin didn’t really fight women’s rights; she brought out to light the gender issues that were occurring at the time. Chopin also believed that women should have the same rights as men and used her literature to convey her purpose, which made her a key component to the fight against women’s suffrage. What influenced her work so deeply was the fact that she lived around women most of her life, so she saw many generations of women going through a sexist period of time. Chopin’s works, from books to short stories, gave women a new perspective as strong, confident, and independent, which contradicted the thought of men being superior, which is why many of her books were rejected. Chopin changed the perspective of women at the time by the portrayal of women in her work, the dilemmas each woman had to face, and how women really felt about society.…

    • 920 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The possibilities of freedom for women were unlikely for women living in the 

late nineteenth century. Women were confined and overpowered by men. Kate 

Chopin, a women of the late nineteenth century herself, was a writer living within 

such a society. In "The Story of an Hour" (1894), Kate Chopin uses elements of 

settings--windows and door--in order to highlight the possibilities of freedom and the 

threat of confinement for women in late nineteenth century American society.…

    • 1126 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays