Reading Reflections Wk 1 1

Kate Chopin’s "The Story of an Hour"

Dawn Korsick

ENG125

Professor Porter

March 6, 2011
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I had to read the short story, “The Story of an Hour” (Chopin, 1894), twice. The first time

was a quick read through when it had captured my attention with the following sentence, “When

the storm of grief had spent itself she went away to her room alone. She would have no one

follow” (Chopin, 1894). This sentence alone made me read the short story at a faster pace just to

find out what was going to happen at the end. I had taken to the reader-response approach to this

story and during the second time of reading, I had made a connection with the character of Mrs.

Mallard and the feeling of finally becoming free from a commitment that took away one’s

independence.

It was during the first few paragraphs that you felt Mrs. Mallard’s depression and

sadness, these emotions together with her known heart condition, as the reader, you imagined the

worst for when she would go to her room alone. It isn’t until Mrs. Mallard starts describing the

scenes outside of her window in paragraph five, that you start to understand that what we are

reading is a short story filled with symbolism and imagery. Of course this is confirmed in

paragraph eleven, “She said it over and over under her breath: “free, free, free!” (Chopin, 1894).

And it was this sentence that my connection was confirmed.

Although a historical and biographical approach can be taken to critically analyze Kate

Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour”, I believe, as a feminist by nature, that women of all periods of

time can make a connection and find meaning in this short story.

In regards to a historical and biographical approach in analyzing “The Story of an Hour”

(Chopin, 1894), we start with the fact that it was written in the nineteenth century and during the
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time that restrictive rules had not allowed women to live as they saw fit, but rather their image

was that of the man that they married. Kate Chopin depicts in her story, the image of a marriage

where the women celebrates the death of her husband as a new beginning to a life of freedom

with the title of a widow. In the author’s personal life, Kate Chopin learned at an early age the

lesson of life and death and had lost many loved ones by the time she was in her early thirties,

not to mention that her father was killed in a train accident on November 1, 1855 (Deter, 2009).

It was then that Kate Chopin was raised by three strong maternal figures; her mother,

grandmother, and great-grandmother (Deter, 2009).

As this story takes on twists and turns, it creates an ending that is ironic and unobvious.

Although the story was written in 1894, this not only adds interest but also understanding. Mrs.

Mallard recognizes her oppression from the male-dominated society of the time, and you can see

in paragraph eight that she realizes that her husband’s death has changed her life from dread to

hope and new beginnings. At this point, she would become a widow and would not have to

marry to gain status, but can go on to live a life for herself and for no one else. This was also true

for the author’s maternal relations and for herself after that death of her own husband.

In regards to the reader-response approach, it is very easy to analyze the story from a

feminist perspective and see from its imagery that women from different periods of time can

connect with the feeling of oppression to the elation of freedom.

“The Story of an Hour” (Chopin, 1894) shows that marriage may just be holding women

back from the true freedom they need and that they deserve. The story depicts a woman realizing
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her independence through the apparent death of her husband. In the beginning, the woman is

devastated by the news and so she retreats to the safety of her room, alone. Historically, Kate

Chopin wanted those times of being alone, “Her diary entries also show a very moody woman

exhausted of the hectic pace of debuting that took her privacy and freedom away from her”

(Deter, 2009, ¶6). As a reader of today’s society, time alone is also rare and needed.

Generations of women have been involved in committed relationships that they have felt

oppressed but still the relationship was that of caring. In the first paragraph we learn that Mrs.

Mallard is a very delicate character with a serious heart condition and, “Wept at once, with

sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister’s arms” (Chopin, 1894) when she learns of her

husband’s death. Like other women from past to present, we find loyalty, as shown in this short

story when it was discovered that Mrs. Mallard had stayed with her husband throughout their

loveless marriage. This adds to the tone in the beginning of the story. The tone changes after

learning of her husband’s death in which the transformation begins. It is when Mrs. Mallard is

sitting in her room alone that she begins to realize that she is now able to do what she pleases and

“live for herself” (Chopin, 1894) and kept whispering, “Free! Body and soul free!” (Chopin,

1894).

My personal connection comes to where Mrs. Mallard is happy to be out of her failing

marriage and her statement suggests that she has not been this happy in a long time. As with a

divorce or death during our times, the ending of this kind of relationship brings about an

unexpected happiness, which Mrs. Mallard and women of similarity would deserve after the

sadness that has been experienced.

With knowing the historical background of both the time period and the author, we can

make the connection and understand the meaning behind “The Story of an Hour” (Chopin,

1894), but as women that are still living in a male-dominating society, we can also make a

personal connection and feel Mrs. Mallard’s emotion and happiness with the death of her

husband. Even the happiest of marriages can capture the feeling of this sentence, “And yet she

had loved him--sometimes. Often she had not. What did it matter! What could love, the unsolved

mystery, count for in the face of this possession of self-assertion which she suddenly recognized

as the strongest impulse of her being!” (Chopin, 1894).

References

Chopin, K. (1894). The Story of an Hour. In R.W. Clugston(Ed)., Journey into literature.

(pp. 27-29). San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education.  

Clugston, R.W. (2010). Journey into literature. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education.

Deter, F. (2009, November 2). Kate Chopin. November 2, 2009. Retrieved February 5, 2011

from http://classiclit.about.com/library/bl-bio/bl-kchopin.htm