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John Doe
Ms. Anderson
English III
18 February 2016
The Story of an Hour
I.
Introduction to Kate Chopin
A. “Kate Chopin was born in St. Louis in 1851” (Wilson 263). “Five years after the
publication of The Awakening, Chopin died of a stroke in St. Louis on August 22,
1904” (Wilson 264).
B. “In 1899, Chopin published The Awakening, now regarded as her masterpiece. The
novel’s frank treatment of an independent woman who after an extramarital affair and
a sexual ‘awakening,’ commits suicide rather than conform to society’s morals,
provoked outrage among readers and critics” (Wilson 264).
C. “When Chopin was four, her father died in a train accident, and she was raised by her
French-Creole mother and great grandmother” (Wilson 263).
D. “What makes Chopin especially important for modern readers, however, is her insight
into human characters and relationships in the context of their societies whether
Creole, Cajun, or Anglo-Saxon, and into the social, emotional and sexual role of
women within those societies” (Larsson 463).
II.
“The Story of an Hour”
A. After learning that her husband has died in a train accident, Mrs. Mallard, the
protagonist of “The Story of an Hour,” has an epiphany: she is joyful that her husband
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is dead, and she looks forward to the freedom, power, and opportunity that
widowhood will bring her. At the end of the story, however, her husband returns and
she ironically dies of a heart attack at the shock of losing her new-found freedom.
B. Chopin felt that “contemporary society [was] degrading to women, who were allotted
limited roles in a male-dominated world”(Rosenblum 3908).
C. In “The Story of an Hour,” Kate Chopin uses setting and the characterization of Mrs.
Mallard to criticize marriage, asserting that women lose their freedom, their power,
and their personal identities when they marry.
III.
Chopin uses symbolism in her setting to criticize the effects of marriage on women.
A. “There were patches of blue sky showing here and there through the clouds that had
met and piled one above the other in the west facing her window” (Chopin 786).
B. “The clouds again represent her married life, which cast shadows on her happiness,
but now the horizon of her life is clearing” (Rosenblum 3908).
C. “There was a feverish triumph in her eyes, and she carried herself unwittingly like a
goddess of Victory. She clasped her sister's waist, and together they descended the
stairs” (Chopin 787).
D. “Her leaving this refuge [her room] and going down the stairs foreshadows her loss of
freedom. She descends from the heaven of solitude to the hell of marriage again,
here she encounters her husband” (Rosenblum 3809).
E. In the closing paragraphs Brently Mallard is “opening the front door with a latchkey”
(Chopin 31).
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F. “Nowhere else in the house is there even a glimpse of nature, and, in contrast to the
open window, the front door is locked; only Brently Mallard has the key”
(Rosenblum 3909).
G. Chopin reveals that the only escape from the oppression of marriage is in death, and
she uses the changes in setting to emphasize this unfortunate truth for women of her
time.
IV.
Chopin’s protagonist, Louise Mallard, represents the repression of women by marriage.
A. “When Mrs. Mallard learns of her husband’s death, she becomes “Louise,” a
woman aware of her own desires, enjoying the prospect of being freed from the
confines of marriage” (Wilson 265).
B. “But she saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that
would belong to her absolutely. And she opened and spread her arms out to them
in welcome” (Chopin 786).
C. “She is at first deeply sorrowful, but soon realizes that even though she had loved
her husband, his death has set her free” (Larsson 564).
D. “Free, body and soul, free!’ she kept whispering” (Chopin 786).
E. “ Her character represents feminine individuality; she is a strong-willed
independent woman excited by the prospect of beginning her life again after the
reported demise of her husband” (Wilson 265).
F. “There would be no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for
herself” (Chopin 787).
G. At the time Chopin was writing women did not have any power, and Chopin did
not believe they ever would.
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V.
Conclusion
A. Chopin is critical of marriage because she believes that it limits the power of
women, takes away their ability to be complete individuals, and makes them
despondent because of their dependency.
B. “Chopin seems to be making a comment on nineteenth-century marriages, which
granted one person- the man- right to own and dominate another- the woman”
(Wilson 266).
C. She could not foresee that women of the twenty-first century would gain rights to
marry, divorce, manage their own finances, and compete with men in the business
world.
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Works Cited
Chopin, Kate.“The Story of an Hour.” Holt McDougal Literature: American Literature. Ed.
Janet Allen, et al. Evanston, Ill.: Holt McDougal, 2010. 784-787.
Papke, Mary E. “Kate Chopin’s Social Fiction.” Verging on the Abyss. Greenwood, 1990. 624. Rpt. in Short Stories for Students. Ed. Kathleen Wilson. Vol. 2. Detroit: Gale, 1997.
271-2.
Rosenblum, Joseph. “The Story of an Hour.” MasterPlots II: Short Story Series. Revised
Edition. Ed. Charles May. Vol. 7. Pasadena: Salem, 1986. 3907-9.
“The Story of an Hour.” Short Stories for Students. Ed. Kathleen Wilson Vol. 2. Detroit: Gale,
1997. 263-77.