Free Essays on The Story of an Hour

The Story of an Hour In Kate Chopin’s short story â€Å" The Story of an Hour,† there is much irony. The first irony detected is in the way that Louise reacts to the news of the death of her husband, Brently Mallard. She is immediately overcome with sadness. However, once she is alone she allows herself to experience her feelings of joy at the prospect of being free from â€Å"repression.† She is no more able to staff off the feeling that was approaching her than trying to stop the waves from hitting the shore. Basically stated we are powerless over our feelings. First, one can state that no matter how hard we try we cannot keep a feeling from coming over us. Louise’s’ feelings come from deep within her soul. Physical exhaustion followed her first storm of grief. At first she did not know what was coming to her. She could not even give it a name. When she started to recognize it, she was trying to beat it back with sheer will power. Only to find that will power is no match for the total encompassing of feelings. Once she had abandoned herself the word â€Å"free† had escaped from her lips. She did not deliberately want if but it had come anyway. Unmistakably, a joy over took her. Not that she would not be sad again, but for now she was like a bird let out of the cage. Mrs. Mallard was a good example of Shakespeare’s line â€Å"To Thine own self be true.† She did not allow guilt to rear its ugly head but instead just felt her feelings. She allowed no one to witness her self-assertion. But, it was the strongest impulse of her being. As she was projecting spring and summer days to come, a feeling that her life would be her own gave her a contentment that she had not felt in a long time. She grows excited and begins to fantasize about living her life for herself. The term â€Å"new spring life,’ breath of rain and countless sparrows were twittering in the eaves† put an impression as if she longed for tha... Free Essays on The Story Of An Hour Free Essays on The Story Of An Hour The Story of an Hour In Kate Chopin’s short story â€Å" The Story of an Hour,† there is much irony. The first irony detected is in the way that Louise reacts to the news of the death of her husband, Brently Mallard. She is immediately overcome with sadness. However, once she is alone she allows herself to experience her feelings of joy at the prospect of being free from â€Å"repression.† She is no more able to staff off the feeling that was approaching her than trying to stop the waves from hitting the shore. Basically stated we are powerless over our feelings. First, one can state that no matter how hard we try we cannot keep a feeling from coming over us. Louise’s’ feelings come from deep within her soul. Physical exhaustion followed her first storm of grief. At first she did not know what was coming to her. She could not even give it a name. When she started to recognize it, she was trying to beat it back with sheer will power. Only to find that will power is no match for the total encompassing of feelings. Once she had abandoned herself the word â€Å"free† had escaped from her lips. She did not deliberately want if but it had come anyway. Unmistakably, a joy over took her. Not that she would not be sad again, but for now she was like a bird let out of the cage. Mrs. Mallard was a good example of Shakespeare’s line â€Å"To Thine own self be true.† She did not allow guilt to rear its ugly head but instead just felt her feelings. She allowed no one to witness her self-assertion. But, it was the strongest impulse of her being. As she was projecting spring and summer days to come, a feeling that her life would be her own gave her a contentment that she had not felt in a long time. She grows excited and begins to fantasize about living her life for herself. The term â€Å"new spring life,’ breath of rain and countless sparrows were twittering in the eaves† put an impression as if she longed for tha... Free Essays on The Story of an Hour The Story of an Hour â€Å"The Story of an Hour† is about a woman who finds the liberation to live for herself through her husband’s death. Kate Chopin’s main character, Louise Mallard, is an ordinary housewife who has a heart condition. When her husband dies in a train wreck, her sister Josephine and her husband’s friend Richards rush to her to break the news as gently as possible. When the news is broken to Louise, she immediately burst into tears and clutches her sister. After Louise calms down, she goes to her room to be by herself. She is still very upset, sobbing every now and then, but as she looks through the window, she is disturbed by her feelings, â€Å"this thing that was approaching to possess her†(Trotter 150). She is beginning to feel the freedom of being able â€Å"to live for herself†(Trotter 153) instead of her husband. She tries to reject this feeling at first, but then starts to give into it until it is a â€Å"monstrous joy†(Trotter 156) that consumes her. When she finally leaves the room in triumph, she finds out that her husband is alive. She dies from the shock of finding out her husband is alive. The doctor ironically said, â€Å"she died from the grief that kills.†(Chopin 446) Kate Chopin is known for writing controversial works in a time when they were not accepted. In that sense this story is very comparable to her other works. Her characters are always commits sins that often made her contemperaries cringe, whether reading private mail (Elizabeth Stock’s One Story†), deceiving well-meaning nuns (â€Å"Lilacs), smoking illicit hallucinogenic ciggarettes (â€Å"An Egyptian Ciggarette†), condoning murder (The Godmother†) or rejoicing at a husband’s death (â€Å"Story of an Hour†). Kate Chopin foreshadows Louise’s strange feelings about her husband’s death right from the start. Chopin writes, â€Å"she did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inab... Free Essays on The Story Of An Hour The Story Of An Hour Back in 1894, the American writer Kate Chopin wrote the short-story "The Story of an Hour". Chopin, born O’Flaherty, wasn’t renowned as a writer during her time, but she has achieved recognition in the 20th century especially with her 1899 novel "The Awakening". Her stories about strong women have really been paid attention to in relation to this century’s sexual liberation debate. This short-story revolves around what goes through a person’s head when informed that a close family member has perished. Louise Mallard is a young, yet married woman who suffers from heart trouble, and that’s why her closest relatives feel that they have to break the news to her as gently as possible. (Bender, p.257-66) Immediately after hearing the shocking news, Louise starts crying, and storms into her room. Since Louise spends the majority of the short-story in her room, this is the setting of the story. Noone really knows early in the story how Louise really feels about her husband dying. But the author certainly gives some evident hints. The fourth paragraph’s content, which revolves around the period of time where Louise has just entered her room, is fairly surprising. Everyone would expect Louise to weep with agony and pain, but instead she sits calmly down: "There stood, facing an open window, a comfortable, roomy armchair." The notes of a distant song which some was singing reached her faintly, and countless sparrows were twittering in the eaves." All these descriptions are beautiful images of life, making the reader quite confused until Louise’s reaction is explained. As Chopin puts it: "She said it over and over under her breath: ’free, free, free!’" This feeling; freedom, is obviously something Louise hasn’t felt for a really long time. As Chopin puts it; "What could love (..) Louise now has more positive energy and vitality than ever, and even calls herself a "Goddess of victory". Her sister, Josep... Free Essays on The Story Of An Hour Kate Chopin uses many different elements to create the theme of â€Å"The Story of an Hour.† Irony, symbolism, and foreshadowing are important elements that create the theme. The theme of â€Å"The Story of an Hour† is the frailty of life. Irony is the first element of â€Å"The Story of an Hour.† The main irony in the story is that Mrs. Mallard has a new life created and then destroyed for her, all in an hour. She sees a life of freedom ahead of her because of the death of her husband. This new life is then horribly ripped away from her when he walks through the door alive. His appearance then kills her. Another example of irony is that her new life was created by death. Her husband was listed as killed in a railroad accident, and she saw his death as a fresh start on a free life. â€Å"She saw that beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely,† says Chopin. The third irony is the fact that she does feel joy at the death of her husband, which is normally quite unexpected. Even her sister and her husband’s friend Richard expected her to be heartbroken, and they were fearful for her health. Instead she was so happy, it killed her when he appeared alive. Finally, after hearing of his death, she prayed that her life would be long when â€Å"only yesterday she had thought with a shudder that life might be long.† Soon after, she dies. Even the title of the story is ironic when the end result of the story is known. A new life was created and destroyed all within an hour, showing how frail life is. There are also several instances of symbolism in this story that help the theme of frailty of life. The â€Å"new spring life† that Chopin mentions symbolizes the new life that Mrs. Mallard feels for herself. The way that Richards and Mrs. Mallard’s sister break the news to her symbolizes the way women were viewed during Chopin’s lifetime. In those days, women were viewed ... Free Essays on The Story Of An Hour â€Å"The Story of an Hour† by Kate Chopin gives us a very interesting look at how an hour can be such a long time. This story is filled with irony. Every time that you think that you have the plot figured out, Chopin tosses in another twist that throws our minds for a loop. As I read this story the first time I thought how strange, but as I read it again and again I started pick up bits and pieces of what the author was trying to convey. When I first began reading the story I believed Mrs. Mallard to be an older woman. I thought this because we are told that she is afflicted with a heart trouble. I realize that having heart trouble does not ultimately mean old, but that is just the way our minds work. I was surprised to find that Mrs. Mallard was actually a young woman, described as having â€Å"a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression.† She was young in age, but did she feel old? Did she feel that her life meant nothing? We find out the answers to these questions as we read on. Mrs. Mallard is given the news of her husbands’ death from her sister, Josephine. She reacts just as anyone else would, she weeps immediately, and is stricken with grief. She falls into her sister’s arms for comfort. Then as she composes herself, she goes to her room alone. It is at this point that the story takes a strange twist. Mrs. Mallard sees the blue sky out her window. She feels the breeze flowing in from the outside. She smells the rain that was still in the air. We are told that she feels something coming towards her. She waits fearfully. It is â€Å"too subtle and elusive to name.† What could it be wonders the reader? Then it hits us unexpectedly. The thing coming towards her is her freedom. She whispers free, free, free. She is described as having a monstrous joy. Her husband would no longer repress her. She was free at last. She prayed that her life would be long, something that she had not wished for sinc... Free Essays on The Story of an Hour Love Wasn’t Love is sacrifice of one’s self for the people you care about most in your life. Love is a choice to do what is best for another person. There are times when choosing to love someone comes at a great cost. You have to sacrifice something; time, money, energy, and sometimes the supreme cost will be giving up your own life so that someone else can live. When it really costs you something to carry on in a relationship or to help someone, that is the real test to find out if you truly love that person. If you bail out, you have just proved that you love yourself more than the person who needs your help. If you do what is best for the other person even though it is difficult for you, then you have discovered real love, a love that you choose to exercise regardless of how you feel. I feel like Louise loved him in the beginning of their relationship, however, over time she was only comfortable being with him. Staying together was easier than being alone. So when she found out about his death, and that it was not her fault, she could be free without taking any blame. According to Joseph Rosenblum, â€Å"nothing can compensate Louise for the freedom that she has lost by marrying. Her face â€Å"bespoke repression†; no matter how kind Brentley has been, he has still imposed his will upon his wife. Hence, Brentley’s death is not tragic to her, since it gives her own life back to her† (Rosenblum par 7) The story states that she had loved him some of the time, which I believe if not all the time, then love did not exist throughout most of their marriage. When Louise whispered free over and over, she exhibited the fact that her life would be lived without the constant controlling of her husband. I think that since being diagnosed with heart trouble, maybe Brently must have been a little forceful with Louise to make sure she would not get worse. He could have imposed rules that she must abide by in order to prevent her from...