Story of an Hour Literary Analysis - 1990 Words

Bettina Golden ENG125 – Introduction to Literature Professor Joan Golding 10-16-2011 â€Å"The Story of an Hour† by Kate Chopin and â€Å"The Secret Life of Walter Mitty† by James Thurber both captured my interest from the very beginning. These short stories represent gender roles and marriage. They both are about married couples with controlling mates. â€Å"The Story of an Hour† is about a young married woman and how she reacts to the news of her husband dying in a train accident. The story takes place in the home of the young woman, Mrs. Mallard. Several things took place within an hour but â€Å"the joy that kills† (Clugston, 2010) made me more interest to find out what was happening to Mrs. Mallard. Mrs. Mallard died of â€Å"joy that kills†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦show more content†¦In paragraph 16, we learn Mrs. Mallard’s first name, Louise. According to Cummings, the author suggested that the young woman lacked individuality and identity until her husband’s reported death liberated her (Cummings, 2010). She regaine d her own identity while she was alone in her room. There is irony in Mrs. Mallard’s first name, Louise; Louise is the feminine form of the masculine Louis. So even when Mrs. Mallard takes back her identity, it is in part a male identity (as cited in Cummings, 2010). The crisis and climax of the story was the moment Mrs. Mallard husband walked in and she died. â€Å"When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease – of joy that kills† (Clugston, 2010). Her joy was from thinking her husband was dead and that she was going to be free. â€Å"The Secret Life of Walter Mitty† is a short story about the dreams of a henpecked husband, Walter Mitty. The story takes place in the late 1930s in a car traveling to Waterbury, Connecticut, and in the city itself in the area of Main Street (Cummings, 2010). Walter is an ordinary person who daydreams about playing the hero, saving lives, navigating enemy territory, and proving his masculinity. The me ntal fantasies and daydreams are his way of escaping from his controlling wife. Mann suggests that Mitty seeks freedom through his daydreams. That is, in his daydreams Mitty seeks not just freedom â€Å"from the petty details of living† (Mann, 1982), but freedom from death. In Mitty’s firstShow MoreRelatedThe Story Of An Hour Literary Analysis1294 Words   |  6 PagesMrs Mallard, a kind, older lady, had a severe heart disease. The element of surprise, if not executed right, could kill her. In â€Å"The Story of an Hour† by Kate Chopin the element of time and surprise create an element that other authors struggle to do. In this paper, I will discuss the tone of the way the family broke the news of Mr. Mallard s death to Mrs. Mallard. Whether the news was bad or good, how it was broken to Mrs. Mallard could have killed her. In the end it did The emotions in the houseRead MoreStory Of An Hour Literary Analysis934 Words   |  4 PagesMarriage Doesn’t Always Mean Love in â€Å"The Story of an Hour† The Story of an Hour, by Kate Chopin is the tragic story of a woman whose newfound position as a widow gives her strength. She develops a sense of freedom as she embraces her husbands death as an opportunity to establish her own identity. The tragedy is when her newfound identity gets stripped away as the appearance of her husband reveals that he is still alive. The disappointment from this tragedy kills her with a heart attack symbolizingRead MoreStory Of An Hour Literary Analysis824 Words   |  4 Pagesis heartbreaking and rather unimaginable. â€Å"Sorry to say but your husband has died due to an accident.† No one wants to hear those words or go through the painful time. In â€Å"The Story of an Hour† by Kate Chopin’s, the death of her husband meant freedom and happiness. Chopin’s uses a great deal of symbolism throughout the story in order to depict the theme of freedom and happiness. Mrs. Mallard is the main character whom of which also known as Louise and she is married to Brently Mallard. Mrs. MallardsRead MoreStory Of An Hour Literary Analysis844 Words   |  4 Pages The Contract â€Å"The Story of an Hour† depicts the telling of a spouse’s death, and how the wife reacted to the information. Marriage to most in the 21st century is how one shows the greatest extent of their love. However, to myself marriage is nothing but a piece of paper people sign, that gives another a right to half their earnings. Marriage does not quantify love. â€Å"The Story of an Hour† shows that although the main character was married, it was not what equated her love or happiness. MarriageRead More Literary Analysis: the Story of an Hour Essays645 Words   |  3 PagesWhen first reading Kate Chopins Story of an Hour, one may not typically be surprised at its ending, write it off as one of those creepy back from the dead horror stories and forget about it. There is more to this story than simply horror. The author is making a very strong, however subtle, statement towards humanity and womens rights. Through subtle symbolism, Kate Chopin shows how marriage is mo re like a confining role of servitude rather than a loving partnership. Mr. Mallard is assumedRead MoreLiterary Analysis- the Story of an Hour Essay1832 Words   |  8 PagesRide of Her Life In â€Å"The Story of an Hour† (1894), Kate Chopin presents a woman in the last hour of her life and the emotional and psychological changes that occur upon hearing of her husbands’ death. Chopin sends the protagonist, Mrs. Mallard, on a roller coaster of emotional up’s and down’s, and self-actualizing psychological hairpin turns, which is all set in motion by the news of her husband’s death. This extreme â€Å"joy ride† comes to an abrupt and ultimately final halt for Mrs. Mallard whenRead MoreLiterary Analysis Of The Story Of An Hour By Kate Chopin856 Words   |  4 PagesEnglish 1302 11 November 2017 Literary Analysis of â€Å"The Story of an Hour† by Kate Chopin The Story of an Hour is a short story written by Kate Chopin which was published in 1894 as â€Å"The Dream of an Hour† in Vogue. When the word marriage hits our mind, we think it as a lasting relationship. Marriage is a commitment between two individuals bonded by holy ceremony. The story of an hour presents the side of marriage which is usually unheard. The main character of the story is Mrs. Louise Mallard. SheRead MoreThe Story Of An Hour By Kate Chopin Literary Analysis1432 Words   |  6 PagesMaking a literary analysis involves writing an argumentative analysis about a particular literature. The analyst is supposed to carefully read the literature and better understand the contents so as to come up with legal analysis. It requires some summary, but it is not a report about the book or the story. It is important in making the reader to understand the message in the book as well as the improvements necessary the literature. It is also important in understanding how a p articular author articulatesRead MoreThe Story Of An Hour And A Rose For Emily Literary Analysis1297 Words   |  6 PagesKate Chopins The Story of an Hour and William Faulkners â€Å"A Rose for Emily tells the story of women who face isolation and struggle with their own terms of freedom upon the death of a male figure in their life. Louise and Emily come from different time periods, backgrounds, and have different experiences, yet both share commonality in that they have let themselves be affected by the unrealistic expectations placed on them as traditional ladies. Both of these characters are commonly misconstruedRead MoreLiterary Analysis Of Kate Chopin s The Story Of An Hour 1274 Words   |  6 PagesHaley Morrow Mrs. Crook AP English 25 Sept. 2015 Feminist Literary Theory in The Story of an Hour Women are no stranger to a socially constrained lifestyle and society, especially in the late 1800’s. Women were believed to live a certain way, fulfill certain roles and duties in the household, and to be extremely fragile and weak. This type of culture still exists today but not to the extreme that it once was. Kate Chopin, however, not afraid speak out against the implications of society breaks free