The story of an hour book review.docx

The Story of an Hour Book ReviewThe Story of an Hour is a short story written by Kate Chopin and published in 1894. The story describes the series of emotions Louise Mallard endures after hearing of the death of her husband, who was believed to have died in a railroad disaster. Mrs. Mallard suffers from heart problems and therefore her sister attempts to inform her of the horrific news in a gentle way. Mrs. Mallard locks herself in her room to immediately mourn the loss of her husband. However, she begins to feel an unexpected sense of exhilaration. “Free! Body and soul free!” is what she believes is a benefit of his death. At the end of the story, it is made known that her husband was not involved in the railroad disaster and upon his return home Mrs. Mallard suddenly dies. The cause of her death is ambiguous and left for analysis as it can range from her known heart problems to psychological factors. We can ask ourselves if the real reason for the death was known that she wouldnt be free after she sees that her husband isnt really dead. From the beginning of the story, we can catch some rough information about the characters. There are four characters in the story: Mrs. Mallard, Josephine, Richards and Mr. Mallard. And Mrs. Mallard is the main character among the four.The story mainly narrates the changing emotional feelings and the renascence of Mrs. Mallards spirits, after having heard the news of her husbands death. But the story end up with Mrs. Mallards death instead of her husbands. It is a surprising ending.In her article, “Emotion in The Story of an Hour,” someone argues that Chopin portrays Mrs. Mallards perception of her husbands supposed death as fostered by emotions, rather than by rationality. He claims that up until that point, Mrs. Mallards life had been devoid of emotion to such an extent that she has even wondered if it is worth living. The repression of emotion may represent Mrs. Mallards repressive husband, who had, up until that point, “smothered” and “silenced” her will. Therefore, her newfound freedom is brought on by an influx of emotion (representing the death of the figure of the repressive husband) that adds meaning and value to their life. Though Mrs. Mallard initially feels fear when she hears of her husbands death, the strength of the emotion is so powerful that Mrs. Mallard actually feels joy (because she is feeling). Since, this “joy that kills,” ultimately leads to Mrs. Mallards death, so that one way of interpreting this is that the repression of Mrs. Mallards feelings is what killed her in the end.In the same article, he shows that the repression that Mrs. Mallard faces as a wife. She realizes how after her husband apparent death that she was “free, free” This shows how her life would change and she is now a new person and removed from the repressed life she faced before. No evidence and freedom is enough. .This repression of herself that she dealt with she was now removed from and would be able to free.Although the story merely happened within an hour, we can find some valuable information from it, which is related to the people and the society at the end of the 19th century. In Kate Chopins times, the male were in the dominated position while the female were in a humble position. And also the American main stream society ignored womens values and imposed constraints on spiritual freedom. It was extremely difficult for women to seek the independence or freedom of their own. Kate Chopin is a good example of an American realist. All her novels depict some special experience related to womens love, marriage and family, which intend to reveal the womens constraints given by the traditional conception.We can get more information when comes to the story itself and its characters. From the whole story, we can easily conclude its theme: freedom and death. Conflict between freedom and life has disturbed Mrs. Mallard, a traditional housewife, for a long time, the awakening of her selfhood was suddenly spurred after hearing the news of her husbands death. She can have her own freedom for the rest of her life. She refreshed herself and opened the door of her room, which was full of symbolism. The door of her room is a strong symbol of freedom; she can get the freedom of her own and start herself the new life after walking out the door. But the ending is out of readers expectation. Both the language and the ending have a sense of irony. At the begging of the story, we can see that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with heart disease, and she died of her heart disease in the end, At then, her husband returned safe and sound. But it is her intense joy of her freedom rather than her intense sorrow about her husbands death carried her life off. It is a cruel reality which women can only pursue the freedom at the cost of their liv