Kate chopin the story of an hour pdf

The story was reprinted the following year in St. Louis Life , which was edited by Sue V. Louis Life version of the story includes those two changes, along with a few others we are grateful to the staff of the St. Louis Public Library for providing us with this copy , You can see the sentence in question four lines down on the right column:.

Kate Chopin recorded in two account books how much she earned for each of her stories and novels. A: It probably is true. The story certainly appears in a great many anthologies these days.

There are published reviews showing that. She had to have her heroine die. A story in which an unhappy wife is suddenly widowed, becomes rich, and lives happily ever after. There were limits to what editors would publish, and what audiences would accept. New Q: Some students in my class think that Mrs. Is there any evidence that she did? A: If this were real life — if you knew Mrs. Mallard, if you had been a friend or a relative of hers, if you understood the way she thinks and watched the way she has been acting throughout her life, then maybe you could find some evidence to help you answer your question.

One advantage of art — of a story, a film, a song, etc. In this story, for example, we can see inside of Mrs. So a good story, a good work of art, is like a gift. It gives us something special. One disadvantage of art — of a story, a film, a song, etc. Mallard than what we have in those words of the story. If Kate Chopin had written other stories about Mrs.

Mallard in which she told us more about her life and what kind of person she is, then maybe we could better answer the question. But this is the only story in which Kate Chopin writes about Mrs. And yet she had loved him—sometimes. Often she had not. What did it matter! What could love, the unsolved mystery, count for in face of this possession of self-assertion which she suddenly recognized as the strongest impulse of her being!

Josephine was kneeling before the closed door with her lips to the keyhole, imploring for admission. I beg; open the door—you will make yourself ill.

What are you doing, Louise? I am not making myself ill. Her fancy was running riot along those days ahead of her. Spring days, and summer days, and all sorts of days that would be her own. She breathed a quick prayer that life might be long. It was only yesterday she had thought with a shudder that life might be long. There was a feverish triumph in her eyes, and she carried herself unwittingly like a goddess of Victory. This short story is filled with opposing forces.

The themes, characters, and even symbols in the story are often equal, but opposite, of one another. A theme is a message explored in a piece of literature. Keep reading for a discussion of the importance of each theme! Repression can happen internally and externally. For example, if a person goes through a traumatic accident, they may consciously or subconsciously choose to repress the memory of the accident itself.

Likewise, if a person has wants or needs that society finds unacceptable, society can work to repress that individual. Women in the 19th century were often victims of repression. Given this, it becomes apparent that Louise Mallard is the victim of social repression.

In their marriage, Louise is repressed. Readers see this in the fact that Brently is moving around in the outside world, while Louise is confined to her home. Brently uses railroad transportation on his own, walks into his house of his own accord, and has individual possessions in the form of his briefcase and umbrella. Brently is even free from the knowledge of the train wreck upon his return home. Louise, on the other hand, is stuck at home by virtue of her position as a woman and her heart condition.

Here, Chopin draws a strong contrast between what it means to be free for men and women. While freedom is just part of what it means to be a man in America, freedom for women looks markedly different. While husbands were usually free to wander the world on their own, hold jobs, and make important family decisions, wives at least those of the upper class were expected to stay at home and be domestic. Like the story, the marriages Kate witnessed often ended in an early or unexpected death.

While this painting by Johann Georg Meyer wasn't specifically of Louise Mallard, "Young Woman Looking Through a Window" is a depiction of what Louise might have looked like as she realized her freedom. By exploring the details of each character, we can better understand their motivations, societal role, and purpose to the story. From the opening sentence alone, we learn a lot about Louise Mallard.

From that statement alone, we know that she is married, has a heart condition, and is likely to react strongly to bad news. We also know that the person who is sharing the bad news views Louise as delicate and sensitive. Throughout the next few paragraphs, we also learn that Louise is a housewife, which indicates that she would be part of the middle-to-upper class in the s. She uses Louise to criticize the oppressive and repressive nature of marriage, especially when Louise rejoices in her newfound freedom.

While Richards is a background character in the narrative, he demonstrates a high level of friendship, consideration, and care for Louise. Brently Mallard would have been riding in a train like this one when the accident supposedly occurred. Brently Mallard is the husband of the main character, Louise. Immediately after Louise hears the news of his death, she remembers him fondly. Though the mention of them is brief, the final sentence of the story is striking.

In life as in death, the truth of Louise Mallard is never known. The story says "she was striving to beat it back with her will. In paragraph 11 we get an answer. What do we learn? She says "free. Ask students to read the next three paragraphs, Ask someone to summarize these three paragraphs?

What is happening here? What is the key information we receive from them? Mallard is very excited. She will now be totally free to live the way she wishes. She even "opens her arms and spreads them in welcome" for the coming years. Her husband had imposed his will upon her, and she will not have to put up with that anymore. Paragraph 12 refers to Mrs. Mallard's feelings as a "monstrous joy that held her. I think it's an oxymoron. How can joy be monstrous?

I guess it can be true only if she feels that the fact that she feels joy is monstrous. But then she dismisses that in the next sentence. Use another strategy from your cognitive tool kits, adopting an alignment. Discuss with partners your thoughts on Mrs. Mallard as she rejoices over the fact that she can now "live for herself. How do you feel about Mrs. Mallard now, about her husband? Which character can you most identify with? Or can you align with the plot, the events in the story and the way in which they unfold?

Mallard is extremely selfish and she does not deserve a husband who "had never looked save with love upon her. Any human being that impresses his will upon another does not deserve to be loved. I can understand how Mrs.

Mallard wants only to be free. I would feel the same. I can relate to the author and the events in the story because I really feel that human nature being what it is, there are bound to be some thoughts of an exciting or at least a different future. Could you clarify for me what "impressing his will" means? This is not entirely clear to me. Her husband is always the dominant figure in their marriage.

Whatever he wants is what happens. Mallard does not have a say in anything. At least I think that is what it means in this story. What about the theme of this story? Have you revised any of your ideas? Are you forming any new interpretations? Well, we really talked more about the subject, but we decided the theme had to do with sadness and death. Now it looks like the author is bringing in the idea of freedom through death of a partner.

Perhaps the theme will have to do with happiness as a result of death. Paragraphs 15 and 16 serve to emphasize the idea of freedom, the fact that this rather repressed housewife will finally be able to assert herself. What could possibly happen in the remainder of the story? Make predictions. Mallard's husband will somehow reach out from the grave to continue to control her.

Perhaps he appointed an executor who will control her assets and her life. He may even turn up alive. Hey, maybe she has some man waiting, maybe even Richards. The only dialogue in the story takes place in the next two paragraphs, 17 Can you make connections? Think about a time you were really worried about someone. Some students may want to share something from their own lives. Read paragraph 19 and talk about Mrs. Mallard's feelings. What does this paragraph infer?

She goes from shuddering that life might be long the day before to praying that life might be long now that she is free. She was really unhappy in her marriage. In Paragraph 20, Louise Mallard finally emerges from the room she has closed herself into.

She had been drinking in the "very elixir of life" in the previous paragraphs. Now she emerges like "a goddess of victory. She is full of happiness and looking forward to life. She will do everything she wants to with no one to stop her. She feels victorious and walks like she owns the world. Read paragraph 21 out loud. Make predictions about what will happen after Brently Mallard walks in the door, and Richards is too late to hide the view of him from his wife.

I think she will keel over in a dead faint. She will cry from the disappointment of seeing him alive. Read the final two one-sentence paragraphs of the story. Then, do a quickwrite on how you have had to revise meaning and the new interpretations you have formed as the story unfolded.

Perhaps you will want to interpret the final words, "a joy that kills. Some thoughts students included in their quickwrites follow: All students brought in the surprise ending and how this changed their interpretations. Richards hastened to tell Louise Mallard the news of her husband's death but ironically was too late to shield Mrs. Mallard from the sight of her husband and so could not prevent the tragedy. It was not joy that killed her, but it was the thought of continuing under her husband's thumb.

Could it be that if she hadn't been so joyful at the prospect of her husband's death, she wouldn't have been as shocked when he arrived home? Surely, most women wouldn't be accepting of the fact that their spouse had died and would be in denial about it for a while, thus lessening the shock of seeing him.