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Summary[ edit ] "The Story of an Hour" follows Louise Mallard, the protagonist, as she deals with the news that her husband, Brently Mallard, Chopijs died. Louise is informed of her husband's tragic death in a railroad accident by her sister, Josephine. Louise reacts with immediate grief and heads to her room where she gradually comes to the realization that she is happy that her husband has died. Though she bore no animosity towards her husband, the implications of his death include a new sense of freedom for Louise. This realization of possibility is the source of her joy and "she breathed a quick prayer that life might be long" [3]. Later, she heads back downstairs, only to witness Brently coming home. Her joy turns to shock at the sight of her husband and she dies as a result.
The doctors in the story diagnose her death as heart disease, also described as "of the joy that kills" since she died after fantasizing of living TThe free life. Critical responses[ edit ] In Unveiling Kate Chopin, Emily Toth argues that Chopin "had to Cyopins her heroine die" in order to make the story publishable".
He states that Chopin's reliance on these tragic elements in structuring her plot, helps Chopin to attain sympathy for Mrs. Mallard and to have her readership reflect with a critical eye on gender politics; this might not have been possible without the tragic plot. Mallard's anagnorisis and catastrophe the more striking in such a short text. The Role Of Oppression In Kate Chopins The Awakening
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Chopin's understanding of the meaning of love and courtship, in particular, was altered and became more pessimistic. This attitude finds its expression in "The Story of an Hour" when Mrs. Mallard questions the meaning of love and ultimately rejects it as meaningless.
Berkove, a professor at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, notes that there has been "virtual critical agreement" that the story is about female liberation from a repressive marriage. However, he contests this reading and argues that there is a "deeper level of irony in the story".
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Berkove also points out that Louise puts love after her own self-assertion and how it is peculiar a married person would think like this. He also dives deeper into how Louise wanted to "live for herself", and although there is no evidence in the text that she had sacrificed anything for her husband it can be interpreted by the reader that Louise did not have much freedom. Berkove considers what life actually has to offer for people like Louise when constricted of freedom. He proposes that since she had "unrealistic expectations of absolute freedom" and "dissatisfaction with Opprsssion best life has to offer" the only other option for Louise was death. He challenges the notion that Chopin intended for the views of the story's main character to coincide with those of the author. Mallard's perception of her husband's supposed death as fostered by emotions, rather than here rationality.
Jamil claims that up until that point, Mrs. Mallard's life Thf been devoid of emotion to such an extent that she has even wondered if it is worth living. The repression of emotion may The Role Of Oppression In Kate Chopins The Awakening Mrs. Mallard's repressive husband, Research Paper had, up until that point, "smothered" and "silenced" her will. Therefore, her newfound freedom is brought on by an influx of emotion representing the death of her repressive husband that adds meaning and value to her life.]
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