“The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin – Study Guide

Introduction

“The Story of an Hour” is a short story about a newly married woman in the late 1800s.In ‘The Story of an Hour,’ the protagonist Louise Mallard deals with the news that her husband, Brently Mallard, has died. Josephine informs Louise of the untimely death of her husband in a railroad accident. Louise responds with immediate anguish and retreats to her chamber, where she gradually realises that she is relieved that her husband has passed away. Louise’s newfound sense of independence is a result of her husband’s passing, despite her lack of resentment towards him. This understanding of possibility is the basis of her happiness, and “she prayed quickly for a long life.” Later, she returns downstairs, just to observe Brently’s arrival. The sight of her husband turns her joy into shock, and she dies as a result. Her heart illness is likewise defined as ‘of the joy that kills’ by the doctors in the story.

Setting

The action takes place in an American home during the last decade of the nineteenth century in a single hour. The story follows the traditional unities of time, place, and action. These unities require that the events in a short story occur
(1) on a single day and
(2) on a single location.
(3) as part of a single story thread with no subplots.

The unities were developed by French classical playwrights following Aristotle’s instructions for stage dramas. Many writers began to neglect them over the years, but many playwrights and short story authors continued to employ them.

Author Biography

Kate Chopin (1851-1904) is best known for her more than 100 short pieces and novel The Awakening. One of her frequent themes—issues women’s in a repressive society—made her literary works extremely popular in the late twentieth century. They are still popular today.

Characters

1. Mrs. Louise Mallard: A young, attractive woman who laments her husband’s alleged death but rejoices in the freedom she will have in the years ahead.
2. Brently Mallard: Mrs. Mallard’s husband.
3. Josephine: Mrs. Mallard’s sister.
4. Richards: Friend of Brently Mallard.
5. Doctors: Physicians who arrive too late to save Mrs. Mallard.

Plot Summary

A train tragedy has claimed the life of Brently Mallard, according to a report received by a newspaper office. Mr. Richards, a friend of Mallard’s, was present in the newspaper office when the report was published.

He informs Josephine, Mallard’s sister-in-law, of Mallard’s passing and follows her to the Mallard residence. Because Louise, Mallard’s young and beautiful wife, suffers from a heart disease, Josephine reveals the tragedy as delicately as possible.

Mrs. Mallard sobs uncontrollably before retreating to a room on the second floor. There, she sits down and sobs while staring out a window. It’s springtime. The birds are singing and the trees are bursting with new life. It had been pouring, but suddenly there are glimpses of clear sky.

Mrs. Mallard’s grief is abruptly interrupted by the astonishing realisation that she is now liberated. She is now a woman of independence, free to do as she pleases. Mrs. Mallard initially resists this concept since she appears to feel terrible about it. Then, she gives in and allows it to overtake her. “Free, free, free!” she whispers. ”

Certainly, she will shed tears at the funeral. In contrast, she will experience nothing but delight and contentment in the years to follow, as “no powerful will” will force her to do its bidding. She had obviously adored her husband. Well, sometimes. On previous occasions, she had never loved him. What difference does it make now, she thinks, whether or not she loved her husband? The crucial factor is that she is now independent. Concerned for her sister, Josephine knocks on Mrs. Mallard’s door and begs to be in. But Louise, stating that she is OK, tells her to leave. Mrs. Mallard resumes rejoicing about the glorious future that awaits her, including all the days that will be hers alone. Yesterday, she wanted for a shorter life; today, she wishes for a longer one.

Eventually, she answers the door and follows Josephine downstairs. Mr. Richards waits at the bottom of the stairs while someone unlocks the front door. That would be Brently Mallard. There was a confusion. He was not involved in or even nearby the collision when it occurred. Josephine cackles. Richards quickly positions himself in front of Brently so that Mrs. Mallard cannot see him. However, it’s too late.

Later, doctors find that Mrs. Mallard’s death was caused by “joy that kills,” as her frail heart was unable to resist the shock of seeing her husband alive and well.

Themes of “The Story of an Hour”

Oppression

Women were supposed to do little more than manage house, cook, bear and rear children in the late nineteenth century.

Women still did not have the right to vote in national elections by the end of the century, despite the efforts of women’s rights advocates such as Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Susan B. Anthony. Furthermore, companies often discriminated against women by hiring them only for low-wage occupations and paying them less than men for the same labour. The Story of an Hour implies that Mrs. Mallard’s husband, like many husbands of the time, dominated his wife.

Repression

Louise Mallard appears to have been a weak-willed woman who restrained her urge to control her fate.

As a result, she was under constant stress during her marriage, which could have caused or contributed to her “heart issue,” as mentioned in the first sentence of the story.

Irony in The Story of an Hour

The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin is a masterwork of the ironic literary device; even the title is ironic given how much unexpectedly occurs in Louise Mallard’s life in just one hour. Other instances of the three forms of irony are provided here:

• Situational irony

This kind of irony is one in which the expectation and the fulfilment are not what are expected, since irony always involves an incongruity. The hour’s turn of events, which imply that Bently Mallard is dead and Mrs. Louise Mallard has completely awakened, may be the most obvious example of situational irony. As Mrs. Mallard descends the stairs from her room, where she had “breathed a quick prayer that life might be long,” she notices her husband as he comes through the door and, with a “piercing cry,” abruptly passes away. In contrast, Bently Mallard continues to live.

• Verbal irony

There is a word incongruity involved in this kind of irony. In other words, verbal irony is when a writer makes a statement that actually implies the opposite of what it seems to convey. The use of “a heart issue” at the start of Chopin’s story is just one of many verbal ironic moments throughout the story. Although it could seem that the phrase refers to a physical disease, Chopin did not mean for “heart” to refer to the bodily organ. The reader later realises that “heart” actually refers to the soul, or the symbolic heart. Mrs. Mallard experiences repression, a spiritual ailment.

• Dramatic Irony

Dramatic irony entails the reader’s views being different from those of a story character. For instance, Mrs. Mallard appears to be so grieved that she wants to be alone when Josephine tries to help her upstairs. But the reader finds out—unbeknownst to Josephine—that Louise Mallard wants to be by herself so she may completely understand her freedom from repression as a Victorian wife:

She was completely still as she sat, her head resting on the chair’s cushion.

She was waiting for something that was coming to her in fear… She was starting to realise what it was that was coming…

During her self-abandonment, a slender word—”free, free, free! “—emerged.

Louise Mallard isn’t sad, as Josephine thinks, but is ecstatic about her newfound independence. Dramatic irony exists since only the reader is aware of this information, although Josephine’s character and subsequently her husband Bently are unaware of her emotions.

The extremely short story’s excellent use of irony is what gives Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” its potent implications.

What’s in the name ?

The reader does not learn the protagonist’s first name, Louise, until paragraph 16. It’s unclear why the author waited so long to reveal her real name. I feel the author did so to imply that until her husband’s alleged death, the young woman lacked individuality and identity. Before that, she was simply Mrs. Brently Mallard, an afterthought to her husband’s persona. She regains her identity while undergoing her personal renaissance alone in her chamber. At this point, her sister, Josephine, shouts, “Louise, open the door! Mrs. Mallard’s first name, however, is ironic: Louise is the feminine form of the masculine Louis. So, even when Mrs. Mallard reclaims her identity, it is partially a male persona. (Cummings Study Guides, Michael J. Cummings)

Foreshadowing

The first sentence of the story foreshadows the ending—or, at the very least, implies that Mrs. Mallard’s heart condition will influence the story’s destiny. Furthermore, this line lends credibility to the conclusion. Without an early mention of her heart condition, the ending would appear impossible and abnormal.

Study Questions and Answers of The Story of an Hour

Question 1 (a) Referring closely to the short story ” The Story of an Hour”, state Mrs. Mallard’s feelings on hearing the news about her husband’s death.
Answer: “The Story of an Hour” is about how people can go through big changes in a short amount of time.

Mrs. Mallard has heart trouble, so everyone is careful around her. When her husband’s friend Richards finds out that Mr. Mallard died in an accident, he tells Mrs. Mallard’s sister Josephine. They both take their time to tell Mrs. Mallard that her husband has died. Mrs. Mallard sobs loudly and wildly in Josephine’s arms, and then she goes to her room and locks the door.

Inside the room, alone, she is afraid of some new knowledge that is coming to her. She thinks about how she will cry when she sees her husband’s dead body. She is kind of looking forward to it.

While Mrs. Mallard’s mind is changing, her sister tries to keep an eye on her. Finally, Mrs. Mallard comes out of her room, feeling better. She and Josephine start to go downstairs. Suddenly, the very “not-dead” Mr. Mallard comes in. When Mrs. Mallard sees him, she has a terrible shock and dies.

Question 1(b) What according to you led to Mrs. Mallard’s death? Give reasons to support your answer.
Answer: In The Story of an Hour, we learn that Mrs. Mallard had problems with her heart. When his friend Richards and her sister Josephine heard that her husband had died, they did everything they could to tell her in a kind way. She started crying right away and couldn’t stop in her sister’s room.

Then she went to her room to be by herself for a while. She told people not to come into her room. She looked out her window and saw a scene of fresh air and freedom. She could see that the tops of the trees in the open square in front of her house were all shaking with the new life of spring.

She sat with her head resting on the chair’s cushion. She cried a little. Then she thought of something quickly. She was afraid as she waited for it. She didn’t like the new feeling that was taking over her. But she couldn’t stop herself. It was the moment she realised she was free. Body and mind, both, were free. She saw a bright future ahead of her. She told herself she was going to live for herself:

“…she saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely.”

It looks like she wasn’t happy being married. Her husband seems very controlling. For her, being free was something to be happy about. She secretly celebrates his death, even though she knew she would cry again when she saw her dead husband’s face, “that had never looked save with love upon her….”

When the dead woman’s husband showed up out of the blue, the doctors said she died of “joy.” But what does her idea of freedom look like? She died when she saw the death of her dream written on the face of her still-living husband. So Mrs. Mallard’s death was caused by her loss of freedom and her broken dreams.

Question: (c) Do you think that the short story by Kate Chopin “The Story of an Hour” is symbolic of modern feminism? Give reasons to support your answer.
Answer: Most of our feminist writing is either a direct and loud attack on the patriarchal system, in which women are deliberately put below men, or a protest against it. In these kinds of books, the woman often turns out to be a rebel who fights against being used, harassed, and held down in order to find freedom, equality, and her own identity.

Kate Chopin, who wrote “The Story of an Hour,” is not a feminist writer because she wrote before feminism was even a thing. However, her works show that she cared about the situation of women in a society that was dominated by men.

“In “The Story of an Hour,” there are enough hints that Mrs. Mallard is a victim of the social norms and values of the time. She feels trapped, suffocated, and miserable now that she is married. So, when she hears that her husband has died, the first thing she does is cry uncontrollably in her sister’s arms. She goes back to her room, where something happens that she could never have imagined. It’s the feeling of being free from her husband’s hold. The view outside her window reminds her of freedom and freshness:

There was a sweet smell of rain in the air. In the street below, a street vendor was shouting about his goods. Someone was singing a song in the distance, and she could just barely hear it. Many sparrows were twittering in the roof.

Then she thinks about her life in the future. She smiles, but not very well, and thinks, “Free body and soul, free.” She is looking forward to a new life without her husband. She prays quickly that her life would be long. She had just thought, with a shiver, that life might be long yesterday. She knows she will cry when she sees her husband’s dead face, “the face that never looked at her except with love.” She thinks that she loved him “sometimes.” Without him, she would live only for herself in her new life. This kind of vision shows that she has been unhappy since she got married. When her “dead” husband suddenly shows up and ruins her dream of a free life without a controlling husband, she dies instantly. The doctors say that her sudden and extreme happiness shocked her weak heart and caused her to die.

So, the story shows how a married woman really feels about her husband’s death. There is a touch of feminism to the whole thing.