Select ONE image, detail or symbol from this short story that you believe adds a layer of meaning or characterization.
Identify the image/detail/symbol and analyze the heck out of how it adds depth to the story.
Sign your name, and don't repeat others' ideas!
Throughout Kate Chopin’s, “The Story of an Hour” there is a recurring symbol of openness, which expresses Mrs. Mallard’s new life of freedom. The Open window that Mrs. Mallards stares out of after the news of her husband’s death symbolizes her new life to come, and the freedom she now posses. Mrs. Mallard’s new life without her husband allocates her to eternal sovereignty. While looking out of the window she overlooks the “Open square before her house the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life”, the open square parallels the opportunities that await her now that her husband is dead. The spring beginning its new season expresses Mrs. Mallard’s inauguration of her newborn life. Along with Mrs. Mallards other observations, she recognizes the “Paths of blue sky showing here and there through the clouds”, the spacious description of the sky expresses her future, which is now unobstructed by the demands of another person. Lastly while Mrs. Mallard is analyzing her situation of a life without her husband, she “opened and spread her arms out to [the years to come] in welcome”. Mrs. Mallard’s action of opening her arms parallels to her realization that she is now free of the tyrannical rule of her husband. Without Mrs. Mallards husband barricading her, she is finally able to her everlasting independence.
ReplyDelete- Sarah Babcock
Chopin laces the story with vivid imagery to help bring a revitalizing light to the story. One particular image that Chopin weaves throughout the story is Mrs. Mallard’s heart trouble; the fact that she has heart problems should not be overlooked as a physical illness, rather a manifestation of mental illness. It also reinforces the trouble within the heart of Mr. and Mrs. Brently Mallard’s marriage. Chopin continues the epiphany when she describes Mrs. Mallard’s condition, helping the reader get a sense of her ailment: “Her pulses beat fast, and the coursing blood warmed and relaxed every inch of her body”. This image foreshadows her ultimate demise and leaves the reader feeling uneasy. As the story progresses, Mrs. Mallard undergoes a tremendous mental breakdown, going through the grieving process. She then becomes free from oppression from her husband, and ends her time of remorse with triumph. Once Mallard leaves her room of solitude, she comes out valiantly, “like a goddess of Victory”. When she dies at the end of the story, the doctors claimed she died of heart disease---“of joy that kills”, which is ironic because it had actually been the loss of joy from losing her independence that led to her demise.
ReplyDelete-Alyssa Canderozzi
In the Story of an Hour, Chopin uses weeping as a theme or motif to represent Mrs. Mallard's feelings towards her husband’s death. Mrs. Mallard's weeping about Brently’s death exemplifies the contradiction between grief and happiness. Louise cries or thinks about crying for a good amount of The Story of an Hour, stopping only when she thinks of her new freedom that she just received. Crying is part of Mrs. Mallards everyday life with Brently, but it will seemingly be absent from her life as an independent woman. At the beginning of the story, Louise cries dramatically when she learns that Brently is dead, enduring a huge amount of grief. “She did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance. She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister’s arms” (1). She continues weeping when she is alone in her room, although the crying now is unconscious, more a physical reflex than anything stimulated by the emotions that are running across her. She imagines herself crying over Brently’s dead body. Once the funeral is over in her fantasies, however, there is no further mention of crying because she’s consumed with happiness, hence Mrs. Mallard saying “free, free, free!” in the story.
ReplyDelete-Tadas Buivydas
What a gruesome situation to have to learn of your husbands death. One can only imagine the greif and pain felt by those who suffer this fate. In "The Story of an Hour" a different approach is taken to the meaning of Mr. Mallard's death. At first, Mrs. Mallard is devestated to learn of her husband's death, but as she contemplates the accident, she finds new joy in his death..... Her joy is described as "monstorous." Upon first examination this might be mitaken for a measurement, meaning "lots" or "tons" of joy. In actuality, this is a symbol to describe the monsterous, as in scary, beastly monsters, qualities of Mrs. Mallard. For you MUST be a monster to fid such joy and freedom in the death of a spouse!
ReplyDeleteconno m
In "The Story of an Hour", Chopin uses a reappearing symbol of heart trouble, which is the ultimate cause of Mrs. Mallard's death. From the beginning of the story, the reader is told that Mrs. Mallard has a problem with "heart trouble", and that her husband has died making it difficult to tell her the news. It seems as though it is life threatening to make her aware of her husbands death due to the fact that she has a severely weakened heart as it is. Although she doesnt die when told of the news, she acts more violently than other women usually do, as she "wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister's arms." As she finally comes to the realization of the new independence she has inherited, Mrs. Mallard suddenly fills with joy that frees her "body and soul". When she dies in the end of the story after she is shocked to see Brently Mallard, her husband, alive and walk through the door, the doctors say that she "died of heart disease--of joy that kills." But really, Mrs. Mallards death is from heart trouble, which was caused from the immediate loss of her freedom and independence.
ReplyDelete-Korey Dropkin
nice!!
DeleteIn "The Story of an Hour" Chopin uses a heart to symbolize the physical and emotional state of Mrs. Mallard. At the beginning of the story we discover that she has heart problems and is very ill. When she first discovers that her husband has died, it is apparent that Mrs. Mallard becomes overwhelmed with grief and her heart begins to break. Her sister, Josephine, shared the news "as gently as possible," in order to not damage her heart any more than it is. Then Mrs. Mallard goes through what I think is a grieving process that many people go through when they have just lost a loved one, however, Mrs. Mallard only goes through this process in an hour. The first stage is grieving and the second is coming to the realization and accepting your new life. Mrs. Mallard felt so restricted in her marriage, so when she comes to the realization of her new "freedom" she starts to feel alive. Mrs. Mallard evidently feels more alive than she ever has when she says "'Go away. I am not making myself ill.' No; she was drinking in a very elixir of life through that open window." This freedom that she is feeling is repairing her heart. The restriction in her marriage put a weight on her heart and emotions, but now she can relax and let go. However, at the end of "The Story of an Hour" Mrs. Mallard finds out that her husband is in fact still alive. The doctors come to a conclusion that the shock and the overwhelming emotion of joy is the cause of her "heart disease." But it is not the joy that killed her it is the loss of joy that killed her. Mrs. Mallard often did not love her husband, and she became excited for the upcoming years of freedom. However in a short hour her freedom is stopped, along with her heart.
ReplyDelete-Emma Barker
In Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour" the combined descriptions of the comfortable armchair and the world outside Louise Mallard's window adds an unexpected but welcome change from the melancholy descriptions in the beginning of the story giving the reader a different view of the same situation. The description of the armchair presented a warm and comforting alternative reality to the hardship of the "real world" of the story. The description of the world outside the window of the house also adds an element of peace and maybe even a brighter side to what happened.
ReplyDeleteThe sections that really stands out in support of this thought are in the fifth and sixth paragraphs of the story; starting with "She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life. The delicious breath of rain was in the air. In the street below a peddler was crying his wares…. There were patches of blue sky showing here and there through the clouds…". These passages could be hinting to the reader that not everything is as negative as it seems.
--Ben Feinberg
One of the most interesting details in Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour", was the concluding statement: "When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease -- of joy that kills". After Mrs. Mallard hears of her husbands death, although filled with grief for a moment, she experiences other feelings, not usually associated with the loss of a spouse - freedom and independence. She felt wave after wave of an inexplicable happiness. Louise was so astonished that her life was finally hers - to do with what she pleased. When Mr. Mallard returned home, Louise saw her dreams and aspirations of her new life being ripped apart. So suddenly she returned to her role as an obedient wife, following in the path of her husband. Her life was once again tied down to somebody else. It was this shock and loss that defeated Mrs. Mallard. It is ironic that the doctors thought it was happiness that had killed her, when in reality, it was quite the opposite. Chopin includes this last segment to add some irony into the story. It wasn't the loss of her husband that led to Mrs. Mallard's death, it was his return.
ReplyDeleteKate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour" gives an interesting personification of the wave of happiness that Mrs. Mallard experiences when she starts to realize what she believes to be freedom from the claimed death of her husband. As she was sitting in her armchair "...she felt it, creeping out of the sky, reaching toward her through the sounds, the scents, the color that filled the air." It was almost as if this realization that she soon experienced was alien to her, as if some malicious entity was drifting through the sky and through her window to seize her mind. Mrs Mallard immediately began to "...recognize this thing that was approaching to possess her, and she was striving to beat it back with her will--as powerless as her two white slender hands would have been." Another way to put it, is that maybe Mrs. Mallard originally did not want to feel this way, hence why she fought back, as meekly as she did. At the end, she may have had a heart attack that could have possibly not only been from the shock that her husband was alive and that she was still restrained to him, but maybe even an overwhelming dosage of personal guilt that added on to her disappointment of not being the independent woman that she believed she had now become. Her emotions had become the best of her, possessing her mind to a point of no return.
ReplyDeleteexcellent ideas!
DeleteIn thi story, a woman experiences all the horrors of life and extremes of emotion in a matter of one hour. This would easily have been expected to be detailed beyond belief and grief and torture constantly portrayed through Chopins descriptions, however in fact, it is the complete opposite. I found that once the death of her husband was revieled and she cried to hre sister, that was all. The natural human reaction is to weep and moarn for hours after such terrible news is delivered yet Mrs. Mallard moves on in a matter of minutes. I feel that the best line in the story to show this was in the fifth paragraph, "She could see in the open aquare before her house the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life. The delicious breath of rain was in the air."This one part of the story spoke ot me the most. Not only does Mrs. Mallard notice the beauty in the life of the trees surrounding her home but the entire beautiful description of the3 perfect landscape is far from what I expected a widow to be thinking. Chopin's story was one that not only sent the characters through a worldwind of emotions, but also its readers.
ReplyDeleteAs I read, "The Story of an Hour", there was one image that the author created in my mind that stuck with me throughout the story. In the second paragraph Kate Chopin uses the phrase "paralyzed inability". This is referring to the way that Louise feels after hearing the news of her husband. After hearing about death there is a common theme of shock. This shows that Louise is feeling like she can't even move or bear to hear the words come out of her sisters mouth. Throughout the story her actions obviously reflect the fact that she is upset about her husbands loss and it is hard to hear that his name was on the list of those who died. At the end i feel as if this "paralyzed" theme or phrase comes back again. When we realize that Brently wasn't dead we feel this feeling start happening to us as a reader. It is shocking news! However, then it happens to him, himself. He comes home looking for his lovely wife to find out that she has just died and he was a second to late. When he sees Josephine the author brings back that feeling of stillness in the air. Something you can't describe. Something that is motionless. Its shock that has come over the characters and the readers as you read through this story that keeps you reading. I think that Kate Chopin does a great job of describing this still image and thats what made the story interesting for me.
ReplyDeleteIn "The Story of an Hour" Chopin uses the "comfortable, roomy armchair" as somewhat of a symbol for Mrs. Mallard's situation. Chopin writes "Into this she sank, pressed down by a physical exhaustion that haunted her body and seemed to reach into her soul." After hearing the devastating news of her husbands death, Mrs. Mallard sinks, weighed down by her troubles, into the armchair, letting it absorb all of her exhaustion, depression and aches. Only after becoming comfortable in her armchair is Mrs. Mallard able to let go of all of her troubles and finally become free.
ReplyDeletegabby nunes
Like Sarah B mentioned, one of the main recurring motifs throughout Chopin's "The Story of An Hour" is freedom, which is symbolized by the open window as well as the sky. Along with these ideas, I also noticed that the story was published in 1894, a time in which women did not have very much power over men. They were basically deemed mens' property once they married and had very few rights. I believe that Chopin voices her view on the issue of the relationship of married couples, and her opinion that there needs to be a change. Mrs. Mallard's new sense of freedom exemplifies this view, because after her husband's death, she has nobody to control her or tell her what to do. "There would be no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself. There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow creature." However, Mr. Mallard's return at the end of the story symbolized a reality check that change was not coming any time soon. Overall, Chopin's symbols mentioned above (the window and sky) go hand in hand with this idea that men had too much power and that women need more freedom. I really liked this short story and was amazed that Chopin could fit so much symbolism and insight into such a short piece of literature!
ReplyDelete-Steph M.
I think the repeated symbol of the heart is important to this story. Mrs. Mallard is known to have heart troubles throughout the story, but they happen for very differnet reasons than the reader might first think. When she hears of her late husbands death, you would think she might have a heart attack out of grief or sadness, but the shock is actually caused by intense happiness, and exitement for the future.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I know about Kate Chopin, which admittedly is just what we've learned in class, I was able to draw parallels between her own life and the situation Louise faces in "Story of an Hour". For example, both Louise and Chopin suffered premature loss of their spouse. The "sudden, wild abandonment" that Louise is described as experiencing when she was told of her husbands death is probably akin to what Chopin herself felt at that moment. The similarities continue as Louise processes her husbands death and realizes that all the years ahead of her could be lived for herself and no one else. She is filled with excitement at the prospect and her grief all but vanishes. As a woman of society, she realizes that without her husband tying her down, she has no reason to remain trapped in her high-class world and may do what she pleases until she dies. Chopin, too, is said to have experienced a similar reaction after her husband died. However, where Louise immediately and willingly accepted her husbands death as a passage to a higher caliber of life, Chopin took some time to adjust to life outside society. This story was written some years following the death of her husband, and I believe that it may be a semi-autobiographical novel chronicling her unique feelings regarding her situation.
ReplyDeleteA line that stood out to me in the story was: "Into this she sank, pressed down by a physical exhaustion that haunted her body and seemed to reach into her soul." This image of Mrs.Mallard adds layers to the story by making the reader assume one thing while the truth has yet been told. When first read, I thought Mrs.Mallard was overcome with grief for her husband's death. Later in the story, this sentence took on a completely different meaning than my first assumption. This physical exhaustion that Mrs.Mallard was being haunted by was that of her relationship with her husband. This exhaustion was pressing on her body for the years that her and her husband had been together. Later, it is understood that this exhaustion was lifted once her husband had seemingly passed away. At the end of the story, Mrs.Mallard's death was probably because the same physical exhaustion was pressed on her again the moment she saw her husband walk through the door.
ReplyDeleteIn the beginning Chopin references rain. I belive that rain is a heavy symbolism of how Mrs. Mallard is feeling. It seems to me that rain was placed in the story very specifically. Generally, rain is considered a sad and somber thing, yet pertaining some sort of beauty to it. The rain parallels with Mrs. Mallards situatino because she has recently found out of her husbands supposed death and that also is associated with sadness and somber and yes also containing some beauty. (Death is often taken as an opening up and freeing someone, thus beauty)
ReplyDeleteVery interesting ideas everyone- I'm looking forward to hearing mor ein our class discussion!
ReplyDelete