The Story of an Hour
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"The Story of an Hour," is a short story written by Kate Chopinreaction to a book or an article on April 19, 1894. It was originally published in Vogue on December 6, 1894, as "The Dream of an Hour". It was later reprinted in St. Louis Life on January 5, 1895, as "The Story of an Hour".
The title of the short story refers to the time elapsed between the moments at which the protagonist, Louise Mallard, hears that her husband is dead, and when she discovers that he is alive after all. "The Story of an Hour" was controversial by American standards of the 1890s because it features a female protagonist who feels liberated by the news of her husband's death. In Unveiling Kate Chopin, Emily Toth argues that Chopin "had to have her heroine die" in order to make the story publishable".[2] (The "heroine" dies when she sees her husband alive after he was thought to be dead.)
Summary[edit]
"The Story of an Hour" expresses every emotion that Louise Mallard feels after she finds out about the death of her husband. The very first sentence of the story states, "Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble, great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband's death".[3][4] As the news is broken to her as delicately as possible, Mrs. Mallard begins weeping uncontrollably into the arms of her sister, Josephine. Mrs. Mallard is very heartbroken by the report of her husband's death, but when her grief subsides, she goes away to her room to be alone. She sits down in an armchair that is facing a window and looks out at all of the nature. All of a sudden, as she is gazing outside this window, a feeling comes to her. A feeling that she keeps trying to push back, but she is unable to. It is a feeling of freedom. She knows that when the time of his funeral comes and she sees him with his arms folded across his chest, she will feel sad again. But as she looks ahead at her future years without her husband, she feels enlightened. Mrs. Mallard keeps whispering to herself, "Free! Body and soul free!" and as Josephine listens in to her sister from the other side of the door, she gets very worried and tells Mrs. Mallard to open the door or she will make herself ill. Josephine was unable to hea
r exactly what her sister was saying inside of her room, but as Joseph Rosenblum states within his article, "'The Story of an Hour' by Kate Chopin",[5] "Josephine . . . would be shocked if she knew what thoughts were racing through her sister's mind."
After a few minutes, Mrs. Mallard gets up out of her chair and opens the door for Josephine and they both walk downstairs together. Upon arriving to the bottom of the staircase, the front door to Mrs. Mallard's house began to unlock and open. It was Mrs. Mallard's husband, Brently Mallard, who s alive and well. Startled, Josephine cries out and tries to hide the sight from Louise, but it is too late. Mrs. Mallard was so immensely shocked at the sight of him that her poor, weak heart gave out right then and there. "When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease—of joy that kills". The cynicism of this sentence can be detected almost immediately, and as explained by ThoughtCo, "It seems clear that her shock was not joy over her husband's survival, but rather distress over losing her cherished, newfound freedom. Louise did briefly experience joy—the joy of imagining herself in control of her own life. And it was the removal of that intense joy that led to her death."
[6] To further express the meaning of this "joy", Selina S. Jamil explains in the article, "Emotions in the Story of an Hour", ". . . the "joy" that kills Louise is the joy that [doctors assume to be joy of finding out that Brently was not actually dead] she refuses to surrender, as the patriarchy would require her to do at Brently's return. But, for one climactic hour of her life, Louise does truly taste joy. For one hour of emotion, Louise does glimpse meaning and fulfillment. To be fully alive, then, is to engage in heightened consciousness, to observe and connect with the world around one's self."[7] This helps to show just how powerful the emotion was that Louise had felt. For one hour, Louise had a sense of freedom and was so ecstatic to begin her new life, but that was stripped away from her far too soon and her heart was unable to bear the shock that she felt about seeing her husband alive.
To this day, "The Story of an Hour" is one of Kate Chopin's most popular works. Although, it is commonly wondered why Mrs. Mallard would feel relieved by the news of her husband's death. It may seem like an unsettling thought, but as Wikipedia explains, "It was a correlati
on to both the time period and the way men perceived woman back in the 1800s. The thought of a woman being able to survive without a man was a distant thought among many civilians back in that time. Women were often stuck at home while the husbands went to work. It was thought of between women at the time that the death of their husbands would bring them "freedom" and therefore Kate Chopin's, "The Story of an Hour," resonated with a lot of women at the time, but was not so popular with men." This helps readers to see that Mrs. Mallard may have felt trapped and exploited by her marriage. Which brings us to another important element that this short story expresses; marriage is not always what it seems. When most people think of the day that they will get married, they think of how happy their lives will be from that point on. However, that is not always the case, and "The Story of an Hour" just goes to show it. Louise Mallard did feel love for her husband sometimes, but she felt like her newly found freedom from him was a joyful thing and for once in her life she felt hopeful about her future.
Analysis[edit]
The heroine of Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour", Louise Mallard, is known to be suffering from a weak heart. After the death of her husband, Mrs. Mallard was unable to shake the thought of being free from her husband. The word "free" began to haunt her mind, free from oppression. Daniel P. Deneau mentions about a continuous debate about Mrs, Mallard's personality. "Is Louise a normal, understandable, sympathetic woman, or is she an egocentric, selfish monster or anomaly?" What is understood is that Mrs. Mallard's reaction to her husband's death allowed readers to view the "selfish monster" side of her. After being released of her husband's grasp, she began to find relations to the world. Normal women would have gone into grief and weep in sorrow; however, Mrs. Mallard's reaction towards her husband was a passionate reaction that had caused the audience to question her personality. Mrs. Mallard's irregular reaction caused readers to question her emotions towards the husband's death. Throughout "The Story of an Hour", her constant baffle on freedom had led readers to confusion whether her heart condition has anything to do with her reaction. Selina S. Jamil exclaims to her audience that," Mrs. Mallard's "heart trouble" (193) is not so much a as a sign of a woman who has unconscio
usly surrendered her heart (i.e., her identity as an individual) to the culture of paternalism." in which she goes through a stage where she appears "optimistic" towards life. Then, in result, Mrs. Mallard's weak heart, which is supposed to be frail, and her fear soon transforms into joy that is uncontrollable to begin with. Chopin's interpretation of Louise Mallard is not similar to most women at all. "As her body responds to her emotions, she feels a rhythmic connection to the physical world" (Jamil), by repeating words like "free" in her head has shown that her emotions towards the loss of her husband has enhanced her connection to world.

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