Kate Chopin's "Story of an Hour"

Paper Summary:

This paper analyzes "The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin. The paper relates that story is about the experience of Louise Mallard, a woman with heart trouble, immediately after receiving news of her husband's death. The paper comments that unlike the expected reaction, Louise has a moment of relief realizing the freedom she now has, which were taken from her by an unhappy marriage. The paper comments that all the events of the story take place within an hour in Louise's home. In the final minutes of the hour, Louise is shocked to see her husband walking through the front door alive, which causes her to have a heart attack and die. While her family believes she had a heart attack because she was overjoyed, the author leads us to conclude the heart attack was actually caused by her realization that the freedom she looked forward too was no longer a reality. The paper relates Kate Chopin's description of what the main character feels and sees and shows us how this is possible.

From the Paper:

"There may be several explanations given as to why Mrs. Mallard reaction caused her death. What was the real reason she had a heart attack? The "obvious" and probably the easiest answer is simply that she was shocked as if she had seen a ghost. We can go a simple step beyond that and say that a wife who realizes her husband is alive after the thought of his death is filled with such a joy that a troubled heart could not handle. Both of these reasons are very possible, yet the details of this hour suggest there is a different reason for Louise's heart attack. The narrative reveals in several ways that her husband's death was a positive turn in her life that she was actually excited about. Once she saw her husband alive, it destroyed her future of freedom and happiness she had looked so forward to, which her heart could not handle."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Chopin, Kate. "The Story of an Hour." Literature and Society: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, Nonfiction. Eds. Pamela J. Annas and Robert C. Rosen. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2000. 313-316.

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