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The Mallards in The Story of an Hour

            The story of an hour is a short story with a powerful message. This story takes place in the Mallards home during the late 1900's. The whole incident takes about an hour total. The story is written with an ironic undertone. The very first sentence shows this. "Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble, great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband's death" (Baym,425). Then the story goes on to show how after her husband's death, Mrs. Mallard looks forward to living again only to die soon after she realizes this. It is written in third person and this helps the reader understand Mrs. Mallard and feel more sympathetic towards her.
             This story takes a tragic accident and shows a response from a spouse that is unexpected but believable. Mrs. Mallard's friend has to break her husband's death to her gently because of her heart problem. While you can see that Mrs. Mallard is indeed upset by her husband's death you also see her relief and desire to be free of him. She struggles with feeling sad and happy at the same time. When Mr. Mallard turns up alive, at the end of the story that is when Mrs. Mallard dies of a heart attack. One of the themes present in this story is the desire to be free. Although Mrs. Mallard loves her husband "sometimes", she secretly was relieved to know that her husband was no longer around to make decisions for her. "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"(Baym,426).
             The open window that Mrs. Mallard stares out of through the story symbolizes her desire to be free. This window is showing her the opportunities that are waiting for her now that no one is there to interfere with her or stop her. Her heart ailment symbolizes the trouble she feels that her marriage puts on her life when it comes to making her own decisions and living the way she wants to and also the guilt she feels because of that.


Essays Related to The Mallards in The Story of an Hour

1. The Story of an Hour - Still Relevant Today

... husband or win their right to care for their children. In Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour", Mrs. Louise Mallard, a common house wife found the death of her husband named Brently Mallard, joyful as opposed to feeling sorrow or loneliness. Despite the fact that Mrs. Mallard felt sorrow in the immediate news of her husband's death, her real feelings starts coming out ... within when she's alone with her thoughts. The story shows the oppressive nature of marriage and tells a story of what it was like living in their time period. The introductive section to of the story you can see that M...

  • Word Count: 599
  • Approx Pages: 2
  • Grade Level: High School

2. Kate Chopin- The Storm and The Story of an Hour

... physical setting can often represent not just place, but also a characters emotions, Kate Chopin uses this symbolism in her short stories The Story of an Hour and The Storm In The Story of an Hour Chopin uses the physical setting to symbolically foreshadow Mrs. Mallards happiness at the new of her husbands death. When walking into her room after getting the news, Mrs. Mallard sees a comfortable, roomy armchair. (Chopin) This description symbolizes that she is relaxed and comfortable ... with her husbands death and she has room to breathe. Sitting in her arm chair Mrs. Mallard, could see...

  • Word Count: 514
  • Approx Pages: 2
  • Grade Level: High School

3. Chopin - Story of an Hour

... , you have to dig deeper to understand the tragic (to the reader) irony that ultimately befalls the main character. In The Story of an Hour, Chopin uses the geography of the house to represent to old and the new. The "old- being the downstairs or main living area, where the news of Brently Mallard's death is revealed to Mrs. Mallard. The "new- being the upstairs where Mrs. Mallard experiences this prophetic glimpse in to her future, creating this incredible calm ... . Chopin gives no details to the area downstairs. It is downstairs where the story begins "Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was aff...

  • Word Count: 396
  • Approx Pages: 2
  • Grade Level: High School

4. The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin

Kate Chopin's "Story of an Hour" is a sad tale of a woman trying to escape her future. The ironic story of Louise Mallard is hard to understand without understanding the relationship with her husband, Brently Mallard. The Mallards were a typical couple of that time, loving and repressive. Brently and Louise was a typical couple that loved each other. This wasn't your typical nineties marriage. Chopin wrote a great story where each word is deep in meaning. The reader realizes ... wanted to express herself and be a free person. But that wasn't allowed by the society they lived in. No matter how...

  • Word Count: 913
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Grade Level: High School

5. Irony in The Story of an Hour

... the irony. The time frame takes place in a mere hour, the last hour of Louise's life. Kate Chopin made it seem as though this hour is the first hour of freedom for Louise Mallard, but it is really the last hour of Mrs. Mallard's life. The whole story takes place inside the Mallards' home, downstairs is where all the bad takes place and upstairs is where it seemed the most happy for Louise. "The Story of an Hour" is known to be set in the ... 18th century because of the mention of ... ...

  • Word Count: 795
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Grade Level: High School

6. Symbolism and Imagery in The Story of an Hour

In "The Story of an Hour,"" by Kate Chopin, symbols and imagery are used to to describe the new life appearing before Louise Mallards eyes. A transformation happened when Mrs. Mallard spent and hour in a "comfortable, roomy armchair ", in front of an open window, realizing the importance of her freedom." The author's use of springtime imagery to create a sense of renewal after Mrs. Mallard's husband dies. Kate Chopin uses her vivid use of imagery when Mrs. Mallard hears of ... open ", symbolically breaks down to her rebirth." Another notable symbol in "The Story of an Hour,"" is Mrs. Mallard's...

  • Word Count: 583
  • Approx Pages: 2
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

7. The Story of an Hour

In "The Story of an Hour" Kate Chopin leads us on a journey to discover Louise Mallards last hour of life. Mrs. Mallard, as she is referred to in the beginning, is carefully told of her husband's demise in a train wreck. She is overcome with the mental anguish of losing her love. She then flees upstairs to her room where she contemplates her future. As she thinks about her life as a widow her inner strength grows ... stronger every second, until we reach the climax of her story ... . Louise, as she is now called, walks downstairs with her sister. At the bottom of the steps she sees Brently, h...

  • Word Count: 777
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Grade Level: High School

8. Concise Overview of The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin

... Louise about the sad news. Setting The range and length of the story is very limited. The story takes place in an hour, so the characters can only do so much or go anywhere in particular. The exact location of the story is not known but it can be quite noticeable though that the women are always inside the Mallards' house, while the men can come and go as they please. This shows that most of the action in the story takes place within the Mallards' home ... , which is barely given a description: the ... ...

  • Word Count: 2566
  • Approx Pages: 10
  • Grade Level: High School

9. The Story Of An Hour-character Analysis

... a concerned friend? In Chopin's "Story of an Hour- I have decided to analyze Richards and Mrs. Mallard. I believe that the story may have led the reader to assume there might be a relationship between them. Although I may not be able to prove this I feel that can raise certain questions that might arouse suspicion. I feel that there is more of a relationship than a friendship between the two. When Richrds heard the news of Bently Mallard's death ... 's emotions or lack of proper emotions, to the news of her husband's demise seemed to support the idea of an extramarital relationship. ". ....

  • Word Count: 914
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

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