“The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin

1. “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin Analysis and Discussions

2. Pre-reading discussion • What can we do in an hour? • 1. Play a game • 2. See a movie • 3. Enjoy a long nap • But, do you believe an hour can make a woman live well become dead?

3. “The Story of an Hour” Tasks • Writer • Background • Answer the questions • Theme • Summarize

4. KATE CHOPIN凯特·肖邦 (1851~1904) A Woman Ahead Of Her Time

5. The Writer: Kate Chopin • Kate Chopin is one American’s most important women writers of the 19th century. Her representative work “Awakening” is recognized for performance pioneer of feminist thought. • “The Story of an Hour”, published in 1894, is a boutique in Chopin’s short stories.

6. The literary context of Chopin's work is debatable. She can be considered as a Southern women writer, a proto-feminist (a label she strongly denied), a local-colorist, a romantic, a realist, or a naturalist. In fact, her work may be characterized by ties to several literary "movements," ties which one might like to explore.

7. Background • The women in the 19th century were required to learn all the social graces and encouraged to follow the rules and principles as men wanted them do. They could do nothing, regardless of what they think. In other words, they had no freedom.

8. The Story • Leading characters: • 1. Mrs. Mallard • 2. Mr. Mallard • 3. Mr. Mallard’s friend Richards • 4. Mrs. Mallard’s sister Josephine

9. Psychological Process • 1. Sad for her husband’s death • 2. Awakening • 3. Discovering her own freedom • 4. But she was dead finally

10. Theme • 1. Repression of women in a male-dominated society in the late 19th century expected women to keep house, cook, bear and rear children—but little more. “The Story of an Hour” hints that Mrs. Mallard’s husband—perhaps a typical husband of his day—dominated his wife. • 2. Women’s aware of their identity in marriage

11. Questions • 1. What happened to Mr. Mallard? • His name was on the list of “killed” according to intelligence of a railroad disaster, but at last proved to be a mistake. • 2. What kind of a person was Richard? • He was careful and tender.

12. 3. How do you understand “she wept at once, with sudden wild abandonment in her sister’s arm”? • At first, she was surprised and felt sad and heartbroken. For her husband was kind and tender, his face never looked save with love upon her, but now her husband was dead.

13. 4. Why did Mrs. Mallard feel “free”? • According to the background, women in America in the late 19th century had no status and all they could do was to serve their husbands. So, when she heard the news, she was sort of happy and thought she could live a new life out of her husband’s control.

14. 5. What did the views, the scents, and the wounds outside the open window reveal about Mrs. Mallard’s inner feelings? • The tops of trees were all aquiver with the new spring life, the breath of rain was delicious, the song and the twittering sparrows were the symbol of freedom to Mrs. Mallard. All the things energetic and full of life just reflect her inner desire to a free life.

15. 6. What kind of life did Mrs. Mallard want? • There would be no one to live for during the coming years, she wanted to live for herself. There would be no powerful will bending hers.

16. 7. What caused Mrs. Mallard’s death? Did she really die of joy? • Her deep despair when finding her husband was still alive and all her hope of the bright future was invalid drove her to death. • 8. Can you imagine how Mr. Mallard would feel about his wife’s death? • He might feel it was an unfortunate accident.

17. 9. What’s the purpose of the author’s writing this story? • She created the story to fight against the unfair treatment to women at that time and call on the whole society to rescue the poor middle-class women.

18. 10. Why didn’t the writer tell us the first name of Mrs. Mallard until paragraph 15? • Women were not taken seriously and nobody would pay attention to their first name, their existence was just like an auxiliary to the family. It is until paragraph 15 when Mrs. Mallard started to feel free that she was provided the first name.

19. Four parts of the story 1.Exposition:Para 1-2 Mrs. Mallard was told that her husband, Brently Mallard, had been dead in the railroad disaster. 2.Elaboration:Para 3-7 Mrs. Mallard was so sad at the news that she wept in her sister’s arms. Then she went away to her room alone, and sat in the armchair, quite motionless, except a sob came up into her throat and shook her.

20. 3.Climax:Para 8-20 She was waiting for something coming to her and then realized it was freedom . She found something more important than her insipid life—free. Both body and soul are free. 4.Denouement:Para 21-23 Mrs. Mallard died of heart disease suddenly when seeing her husband go back home.

21. Four characters in the story • Mrs. Mallard • Josephine • Mrs. Mallard’s sister • Richards • A friend who told them the • news that her husband was dead. • Brently Mallard • Mrs. Mallard’s husband Antagonists Flat characters

22. Mrs. Mallard protagonist & round character • Direct characterization: • Indirect characterization: “She was young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain strength.” (para 8) “She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister‘s arms. When the storm of grief had spent itself she went away to her room alone. She would have no one follow her. ” (para 3) “She sat with her head thrown back upon the cushion of the chair, quite motionless, except when a sob came up into her throat and shook her, as a child who has cried itself to sleep continues to sob in its dreams.” (para 7) “She said it over and over under her breath: "free, free, free!" The vacant stare and the look of terror that had followed it went from her eyes. They stayed keen and bright. Her pulses beat fast, and the coursing blood warmed and relaxed every inch of her body. ” (para 11) “‘Free! Body and soul free! ’she kept whispering .”(para 16) ……

23. Characters • Mrs. Louise Mallard is the protagonist of the story. She is introduced as being "afflicted with a heart trouble", which is why great care is taken in telling her of her husband's death. She mourns her husband, but then begins to feel relieved and liberated. • Mr. Brently Mallard is assumed dead until the end of the story when it is revealed that the news of his death was a mistake.

24. Characters • Josephine is Louise's sister who tells Louise of her husband's death. She embodies the feminine ideals of the time, acting as the picture perfect wife figure. • Richards represents the standard image and expectations of the man during the time period - responsible for protecting women. However, he fails which could have been a bit controversial for the time period.

25. Narrator's point of view an omniscient third-person narrator enable us readers to see everything in detail rather than be limited to the protagonist's point of view show integrated plots and multidimensional characters

26. Third-person narrative • The non-participant narrator provides access to Mrs. Mallard's life: her medical condition or state, her strict marriage, her lackluster relationship with her husband, her perspective on "love" she has for her husband, and her perspective on her newly awakened ideas on her personal freedom—which she associates with the death of her husband.

27. Mrs. Mallard's health condition (para 1) her controversial perception of love (para 13) her frustrating marriage (para 13) All that happened to Mrs. Mallard after hearing her husband's death become understandable and reasonable.

28. The sudden change of plots Sudden change of plots is a writing technique widely used in novels,dramas,especially tragedies. And its first use can date back toAncient Greece, when Aristotle, a great philosopher at that time, specially discussed this skill in his Poetics. He pointed out that sudden turn meant actions opposite to what we called the principle of steering.

29. Kate Chopin also introduced a plotchange into this short story. The death of Mr. Mallard led the whole story happen. But just when the plot reaches the climax, the unbelievable appearance of him ends the story, which totally astonishes us and solves all the doubts left in the very beginning.

30. Function of this writing skill catch the eyes of the readers make the story more attractive, dynamic and varied.

31. Irony • • Verbal irony: someone says something that deliberately contradicts what that person actually means. • • Situational irony: something happens that contradicts readers’ expectations. • • Dramatic irony: reader or audience is aware of something that a character does not know.

32. Authors may use irony to: • create humor • add an element of surprise to a story • develop a story’s theme—its central message. • When irony is used in this way, the theme of the work may concern a discrepancy between surface appearances and inner truths.

33. Example of irony “when the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease – of joy that kills” At the end of the story, the doctors agree that she must have passed away from a sudden shock of extreme happiness from finding out that her husband lived after all. But in fact, she was killed by great depression of being a prisoner again. Doctorssuggest that no one could understand her at that time.

34. Thesis • Live your life for yourself and not anyone else, because your chance at freedom may come to late in your life. • “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.”

35. Tone • Begins with a calm logical tone. • “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.” • Switches to more emotional and elated tone of a new found freedom. • “They stayed keen and bright. Her pulses beat fast, and the coursing blood warmed and relaxed every inch of her body.”

36. Purpose • Women had boundaries set by men, and were thought to only live for their husbands or men in their life. • Chopin wrote this to show how men weren’t the only means of happiness in a women’s life.

37. Audience • This story is mainly written for women. • For women it was a way to show them that freedom may come to late in their lives so they should live their lives for themselves.

38. Evidence • When she sits by her window after crying she begins to notice the flowers blooming and many other things around her. Things only noticed when someone is happy. • “There was something coming to her and she was waiting for it, fearfully. What was it? She did not know; it was too subtle and elusive to name. But she felt it, creeping out of the sky, reaching toward her through the sounds, the scents, the color that filled the air.”

39. Appeals • Pathos: Emotions revealed vary from sad, confused, joyful, and ends with a bittersweet death. • “She did not stop to ask if it were or were not a monstrous joy that held her.” • “Into this she sank, pressed down by a physical exhaustion that haunted her body and seemed to reach into her soul .”

40. Assumptions • Women’s lives were restrained to certain thoughts and emotions, not all could be evoked. • “There would be no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself. 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.”

41. Style: Rhetorical Mode • Descriptive: The essay develops through the accumulation of concrete and specific details revealing the repression of women by men as it is experienced by Mrs. Mallard. • “She was young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain strength. But now there was a dull stare in her eyes, whose gaze was fixed away off yonder on one of those patches of blue sky. It was not a glance of reflection, but rather indicated a suspension of intelligent thought.”

42. Style: Syntax • The story begins with a regular, logical and to the point sentence. • As the story unravels we begin to get shorter sentences. • “The delicious breath of rain was in the air. In the street below a peddler was crying his wares.”

43. Style: Syntax (cont.) • We also receive more pauses. (commas, semicolons, periods) • “There was something coming to her and she was waiting for it, fearfully. What was it? She did not know; it was too subtle and elusive to name. But she felt it, creeping out of the sky, reaching toward her through the sounds, the scents, the color that filled the air.” • This creates a more rapid tone then the beginning sentence. • Ends with a simple sentence, • “When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease--of the joy that kills. ”

44. Style: Others • Simile: “…except when a sob came up into her throat and shook her, as a child who has cried itself to sleep continues to sob in its dreams.” • Imagery: “She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life... and countless sparrows were twittering in the eaves. 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.” • Irony: “When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease--of the joy that kills.”

45. In Class Assignment: discussion • • Mrs. Mallard “did not hear the story as many women have heard the same”(story quote). What does this reaction suggest about her? Does it suggest how “ladies” were expected to react? • • What does the setting description tell us about her ordinary life?

46. • Who could consider Mrs. Mallard’s joy “monstrous”? Do you judge her negatively at this point? • • How would this story change if it had been Mr. Mallard at home with heart problems hearing about Mrs. Mallard’s death?

47. Title The title of the short story refers to the time elapsed between the moments at which the protagonist, Louise Mallard, hears that her husband is dead and discovers that he is alive after all. The Story of an Hour was considered controversial during the 1890s because it deals with a female protagonist who feels liberated by the news of her husband's death. In Unveiling Kate Chopin, Emily Toth argues that Chopin "had to have her heroine die" in order to make the story publishable.

48. Tone • An ironically detached and melancholy tone: The story comes off as subtly cruel in that Louise's reaction to the death of her husband was not one of sadness from loss but rather a bitter joy she feels when she comes to the understanding that she is now free from the shackles of marriage, his perceived death representing freedom and independence from the role she is forever bound to by society - a wife.

49. Marriage vs. Freedom • Mrs. Mallard believes that both women and men limit each other in matrimony. The story is not about the husband being abusive to his wife or vice-versa. Instead, it focuses on the individual's inner desires for freedom. Louise's desire for freedom far exceeds her love for him - a controversial idea that goes against the norms of society.

50. Symbolism • Spring –This symbolizes a new beginning which represents life and that is what Mrs. Mallard gains as a widow. It also helps to note that spring comes after winter. • Mrs. Mallard’s Heart: She dies of heart failure triggered by overwhelming emotional stress. No one will ever know that the overwhelming emotional stress was due to her loss of hope for the future.