The Story of an Hour
To understand the meaning behind Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour" one would need to understand her past. She was born February 8, 1851 to Thomas and Eliza O'Flatery in St. Louis, Missouri (Haywood 1). After her father’s untimely death in 1855, Chopin was raised by her great-grandmother, grandmother, and mother (Ker 1). She attended St. Louis Academy of Sacred Heart, an all-girl school taught by nuns, and graduated June of 1968. With no strong male figure consistently in her life Chopin married Oscar Chopin in 1870, and was widowed in 1882. A couple of years later she sold her plantation and moved her family back to St. Louis (2). At the age of thirty-nine Chopin began her career as strong-willed feminist writer (Haywood 2). In the short story "The Story of an Hour" Chopin questions the need for dependency on another person, particularly men, to fulfill the needs and desire for happiness. Chopin opens the story by introducing Mrs. Mallard, "afflicted with a heart trouble," receiving the new
"And yet she loved him--sometimes. Often she had not." After Mrs. Mallard realizes she has a wonderful life to live, she starts to doubt her love for her husband. This thought does not upset her, but only adds to the energy of her new life. As in the case of Mrs. Mallard, the death of Chopin's husband was not the end, but rather the start of her new life, as a powerful feminist writer ( Ker 2). She, Mrs. Mallard, will now celebrate her new life for she is "free! Body and soul free!" When Mrs. Mallard sees her husband, Brently Mallard, who was nowhere near the accident and unaware that it had even occurred, she dies of heart disease. The doctor says that she has "died of a joy that kills." Mrs. Mallard has found happiness inside herself that she did not know was there. When she sees Brently she gives off a piercing cry. She was afraid that her happiness would be taken away by spending the rest of her life with a man she did not love. She would live unhappily or she would die. Mrs. Mallard dies of repression, not joy. C
Some topics in this essay:
Story Chopin,
Brently Mallard,
Josephine Mallard,
Sacred Heart,
St Louis,
Missouri Haywood,
Oscar Chopin,
Chopin's Story,
Independent Happiness,
st louis,
untimely death,
free free,
feminist writer,
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Approximate Word count = 704
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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