"Story of an Hour" by Ereen

Research Paper “Story of an Hour”

In  Kate Chopin’s, “Story of an Hour”, expresses the feelings and emotions that the wife, Mrs. Mallard, had to go through when grieving over her husband that she thinks died in a train accident. The irony in the story shows that she seemed more happy rather than said when Mr. Mallard died, and also that her heart condition took over when she finds out that her husband isn’t really dead. Readers of Kate Chopin’s “Story of an Hour” will notice that the theme of this story is not about depression or what caused her death, but the sense of having freedom and no restrictions. No one will really understand how or why Mrs. Mallard died yet, some people say that it was a joy of seeing her husband and others say it’s the shock of seeing him that killed her.

 Kate Chopin was born on February 8th, 1850 in St. Louis Missouri. She fell into depression when many people in her family started to pass away. The one person who encouraged and inspired her to begin writing was her obstetrician, Dr. Frederick Kolbenheyer, which was also a family friend. Ever since he encouraged and inspored her her, Chopin has created many amazing stories that we know today. “Story of an hour” was written on April 19, 1894 and was then published on December 6, 1894. Her most recent novel published was “The Awakening”, which is an amazing novel. These stories that Chopin made became very worldwide and everyone today still enjoys reading these novels. Chopin’s novels became a huge impact in history.

The story begins with the narrator explaining about Mrs. Mallard’s heart problem.  Louise Mallard, the main character,  finds out that husband, Brently Mallard, has died in a terrible railroad disaster from her sister Josephine that was told by Richards, Brently’s friend. Apparently, Richards was in the newspaper office and saw that Brently was one of the people who died in the accident, so he thought it would be best to break the news to Mrs. Mallard. She then begins to cry and sob and goes upstairs so that she could be left alone. She looks outside a window and beings to see, smell, and hear things from outside and begins to repeat the word “free”. While grieving over her dead husband, she knows for a fact that she will cry more when she sees her husband’s corpse. Josephine tells Louise to come out of her room or else she’ll get sick. As soon as Louise comes out of her room the front door unexpectedly opens only to find Brently walking through. The shock of seeing Brently causes Louise to have a heart attack and in the end of the story Louise is the one that dies. As you can see, the irony of the story gives the readers a sense of confusion and shock when the main character in the story is the one that passes away.

Their are different irony that is used in this story to portray certain things that we are still trying to figure out. For example, situational irony was used in this story due to the fact that Mrs. Mallard was actually not as upset as we all thought she was since Mr. Mallard passed. She seemed to be more happy with it and more free that her husband is gone. Dramatic irony is also used to describe the marriage of the Mallard’s and how it wasn’t such a perfect marriage at all. Thus being able to understand the words and actions that Mrs. Mallard has been portraying. The irony used in the story really confuses some people to why certain things are happening in the story.

The question that most of us are asking ourselves is “Why the word free?”. I constantly wonder why she felt free knowing that her husband died in a terrible railroad accident. After she finally realized that Brently was gone, I felt as if Louise had no more worries or no more restrictions due to her husband not being there anymore. She was finally able to find herself and see the person that she can become. At first she felt scared and not able to do certain things, but then she realizes that she has nothing to worry about which is why she uses the word “Free” a lot. She felt joyful and excited. “She said it over and over under her breath: “Free, free, free!” The vacant stare and the look of terror that had followed it went from her eyes. They stayed keen and bright. Her pulses beat fast, and the coursing blood warmed and relaxed every inch of her body.”, this quote in the story explains how she was terrified and had a sense of fear in her, but then had an overlook of things and a realization that she is finally free. Although she will still weep and cry when she sees the corpse, but afterwards she will have a different mindset to what she will be able to do. “She would live for herself.”, this quote clearly explains that she is her own independent person and even the Mr. Mallard is gone, she will only have herself.  She is free from all of her surroundings and will be able to do things that she was not able to while still with her husband. Chopin uses many different techniques to demonstrate and develop the theme. I feel as if this sense of freedom that Mrs. Mallard has going on really expresses the main overall theme of this story.

In an article online called “Marriage and The Story of an hour” by Marissa Abell, really helps to look at the story at a different perspective. Although Mrs. Mallard is very upset and sad over her husband's death, she ends up showing that she is a little happy about the situation.  This article explains that even though the Mallard’s marriage seems to be one of the ideal marriage life, it’s the opposite of what people think. As you can see, Mrs. Mallard had a sense that she is free from whatever Mr. Mallard was trying to hold her back from. Louise was able to see a new life for herself and was able to think of things that she can do now that her husband isn’t there anymore. This article really helps to show that their marriage life wasn’t really that perfect, and that Louise would have to go through some obstacles, but now she is able to see more and do more with her life. Being able to know that their marriage wasn’t that perfect really shows why Mrs. Mallard began to feel more happy and free with herself. She is able to live on and for her own which really changes the idea of what is really going on in the story.

A lot of people believe that marriage is one of the greatest things to happen in life. They believe that being married is an uplifting feeling that is great. In this situation, it’s the complete opposite. Mrs. Mallard's sense of freedom shows and expresses that her marriage wasn’t really that great and that she was more relieved that her husband died. It’s sounds crazy to me, but at the same time there is a reason to everything. Mrs. Mallard shows that she is still sad and upset with what happened, but now that she is alone she is able to do things that she wasn’t able to do while she was married. I could understand why she would feel that way. The story doesn’t explain the relationship between the Mallard’s, but the way Chopin explains Mrs. Mallard’s aftermath reaction can be really understandable that she was not happy with her marriage at all. She still loves Brently a lot  and she still grieves over him.  In the end, what really got to her was the shock of seeing her husband. We can never tell if she was happy when she saw her husband, or shocked that she felt “free” and talked about doing things on her own knowing that her husband is dead. We can all say that this story really brings out and talks about different things that we have our perspective on.

In another article online called  “One Wife's Short-Lived Taste of Freedom: "The Story of an Hour".” by Catherine Sustana, really talked about the main theme of the story and how Freedom was used during the entire story. This article talks about how Louise Mallard had a brief period to doze of and look upon what freedom looks like towards her future. This article explained why Louise Mallard  was so happy and her taste of freedom. “Her fear and her uncomprehending stare are replaced by acceptance and excitement.” says Sustana, meaning that she realized what good things she was able to do knowing that she was free and not behind closed doors anymore. “But his death has made her see something she hasn't seen before and might likely never have seen if he had lived: her desire for self-determination.” says Sustana, meaning that she was determined to do all these things without worrying about what her husband had to think or what her husband has to say now a days. This article really helps to explain the few things that Mrs. Mallard “could’ be really feeling and, although most of us don’t know for sure what has come to her mind, we do have a sense of some of the things that she could be feeling.

From reading this story over, most readers could tell that Mr. Mallard probably wasn’t the best husband out there to Mrs. Mallard. We can all tell that Mr. Mallard is the person that controls her, dominates her, makes her into the person she doesn’t want to be. She basically lives the life that he wants and not the life that she wants. I also feel like it was a relief since that if she went on with marriage and was unhappy, she would have to go through what he thinks and has to say, and then lead to divorce which could then lead to many problems and end up not having the best relationship that they used to have before.  Mrs. Mallard’s sign of relief left us with relief ourselves.

Readers of Kate Chopin’s “Story of an Hour” will notice that the theme of this story is not about depression or what caused her death, but the sense of having freedom and no restrictions. The theme, “Freedom”, really helped to see what the whole concept of the story is. This story isn’t just about the irony of Mrs. Mallard dying over her undead husband, but more about how she felt when she thought he was dead. Overall, this was a great short story written by Kate Chopin and I really enjoyed reading this essay and really felt how Mrs. Mallard felt. Her sense of freedom really opened to see what kind of relationship they had together. Louise had an awful tragic death, but I feel as if she was happier having that brief sense of freedom and being independant, rather than living a life that she doesn’t even want. This whole scene happened in a short period of time, and Mrs. Mallard was able to have just a brief period of freedom before dying like she did. This story really gives readers a sense that although someone has lost their life, maybe it was a good thing so that they wouldn’t have to hold you back. I felt as if Mr. Mallard held Mrs. Mallard back on many things and that he was mainly controlling her and being the more dominant one. I know for a fact that she really did love him, but just because your in love with someone, it doesn’t mean you are happy with them whatsoever. Reading this story, and analyzing the context of this story was interesting to me because I didn’t really go into detail what or how Mrs. Mallard really felt. I was so confused knowing that her husband died yet she repeated the word free. Now looking more into the story I was able to find out more detail and more information about Mrs. Mallard and her feelings real feelings towards her husband. Being able to understand this story more really helped a lot.