Story Of An Hour Rhetorical Analysis
Dylan Stabbe
Professor Sahar Siddiqui
English 101A
6 August 2015
It has been commonly believed that marriage is the point in a woman’s life where who she is as a human is defined and validated. Once she feels that she is ready, she can then define herself once again through marital expectations such as having children, having a home, and living as part of somebody else. Woman had the explicit role to do this in the past. The problem with this traditional belief is that basing a life around marriage was the only role a woman had in the past. Mrs. Mallard does not seem to of gone through the period of discovering herself before her marriage to Mr. Mallard. In “Story of an Hour, Kate Chopin uses irony and repetition to show that the confinements …show more content…
If they thought highly of them, then their reaction would be hysterical. In, “The Story of an Hour”, Mrs. Mallard reacts much differently when the news of her husband’s death is revealed to her a “storm of grief had spent itself,” (562) at first, but her grieving process stops quickly. She then continues to realize that Mr. Mallard’s death means that she is given a new chance of freedom. Chopin shows the irony by emphasizing that Mr. Mallard was a kind husband who did not mistreat Mrs. Mallard. The way that Mrs. Mallard responds would be fitting for a woman who had endured years of abuse and a loveless marriage; however Mr. Mallard’s “ face had never save with love upon her,” (562) but because of her unhappiness towards her restricting marriage his kindness was not important. . Daniel Deneau writes in “An Enigma in Chopin’s ‘The Story of an Hour,’” that he believe that sees Mrs. Mallard’s reaction as, “something sensually stimulating and relaxing, and, of course, spiritually illuminating” (655). She could never …show more content…
Mallard. Due to this injustice, she did not greet marriage wholeheartedly but with happiness and regret. However, during their marriage Mrs. Mallard was unable to experience the joy that living for ones’ self brings which is why she reacted to the news in such a strange way. Her previous days were only hers partially, and with her new life they would be her own. The realization of her new life brought her sensations that she would had never experienced. Thoughts of her new life bring back something as monumental as her desire to live. It is ironic that such a sudden shift in mindset was just as quickly snatched away by something as permanent and unfair as death. Kate Chopin incorporates Mrs. Mallard’s demise to ironically illustrate the fact that after the one time in her life that she felt the real happiness that her confining marriage had stolen, her freedom as a woman was swallowed up by death. The only time in Mrs. Mallard’s life that she truly seems to feel free and determined to live is in that short hour before she realizes her husband had not died. Chopin creates this ironic truth to illustrate that before her death Mrs. Mallard never felt she was her own person because of the duties she had to fulfill as a wife. Her sense of individuality became lost in her expectation and also aided in the tragedy of her
Professor Sahar Siddiqui
English 101A
6 August 2015
It has been commonly believed that marriage is the point in a woman’s life where who she is as a human is defined and validated. Once she feels that she is ready, she can then define herself once again through marital expectations such as having children, having a home, and living as part of somebody else. Woman had the explicit role to do this in the past. The problem with this traditional belief is that basing a life around marriage was the only role a woman had in the past. Mrs. Mallard does not seem to of gone through the period of discovering herself before her marriage to Mr. Mallard. In “Story of an Hour, Kate Chopin uses irony and repetition to show that the confinements …show more content…
If they thought highly of them, then their reaction would be hysterical. In, “The Story of an Hour”, Mrs. Mallard reacts much differently when the news of her husband’s death is revealed to her a “storm of grief had spent itself,” (562) at first, but her grieving process stops quickly. She then continues to realize that Mr. Mallard’s death means that she is given a new chance of freedom. Chopin shows the irony by emphasizing that Mr. Mallard was a kind husband who did not mistreat Mrs. Mallard. The way that Mrs. Mallard responds would be fitting for a woman who had endured years of abuse and a loveless marriage; however Mr. Mallard’s “ face had never save with love upon her,” (562) but because of her unhappiness towards her restricting marriage his kindness was not important. . Daniel Deneau writes in “An Enigma in Chopin’s ‘The Story of an Hour,’” that he believe that sees Mrs. Mallard’s reaction as, “something sensually stimulating and relaxing, and, of course, spiritually illuminating” (655). She could never …show more content…
Mallard. Due to this injustice, she did not greet marriage wholeheartedly but with happiness and regret. However, during their marriage Mrs. Mallard was unable to experience the joy that living for ones’ self brings which is why she reacted to the news in such a strange way. Her previous days were only hers partially, and with her new life they would be her own. The realization of her new life brought her sensations that she would had never experienced. Thoughts of her new life bring back something as monumental as her desire to live. It is ironic that such a sudden shift in mindset was just as quickly snatched away by something as permanent and unfair as death. Kate Chopin incorporates Mrs. Mallard’s demise to ironically illustrate the fact that after the one time in her life that she felt the real happiness that her confining marriage had stolen, her freedom as a woman was swallowed up by death. The only time in Mrs. Mallard’s life that she truly seems to feel free and determined to live is in that short hour before she realizes her husband had not died. Chopin creates this ironic truth to illustrate that before her death Mrs. Mallard never felt she was her own person because of the duties she had to fulfill as a wife. Her sense of individuality became lost in her expectation and also aided in the tragedy of her