The Story of an Hour
 | This article has no lead section. (December 2010) |
| "The Story of an Hour" | |
|---|---|
| Short story by Kate Chopin | |
| Original title | The Dream of an Hour |
| Translator | None |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Literary Fiction |
| Publication | |
| Published in | United States |
| Publication type | Magazine |
| Publisher | Vogue[1] |
| Publication date | 1894 |
| Published in English | 1894 |
Summary
American Writer Kate Chopin’s short story Story of an Hour(1894) 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 psycholocial factors. The series of events in this story all occur within a span of an hour, hence the title Story of an Hour.
Characters
There are four characters in the story:
- Louise Mallard, the protagonist;
- Brently Mallard, her husband;
- Josephine, Mrs. Mallard's sister; and
- Richards, Mr. Mallard's friend.
Criticism
In "The Teeth of Desire: The Awakening and The Descent of Man," critic Bert Bender summarizes the theme of the story:
In "The Story of an Hour," on the other hand, Mrs. Mallard
feels the ecstasy of being liberated from what seems of love. (463) [2]
While many critics do believe that chopin's tale is about female liberation, in Lawrence Berkove's criticism he brings up several points that counter this theory. Berkove points out there is no significant evidence to suggest Mr. mallard was an awful husband.
Lawrence L Berkove, in his article "Fatal Self-Assertion in Kate Chopin's 'The Story of an Hour,'" challenges that notion of Mrs. Mallard's death being a tragic one after she was finally freed from a constricting marriage. Berkove argues that this may not be the case, and that the "heroine" of the story may have instead been used as an immature egotist whose own extreme self assertion led to her own downfall. Berkove strongly contests the notion that Chopin intended for the views of the story's main character to coincide with those of the author.
Themes
Emotional Repression
In her article, "Emotions in 'The Story of An Hour,'" Jamil argues that Chopin portrays Mrs. Mallard’s perception of her husband’s supposed death as fostered by emotions, rather than by rationality. Jamil claims that up until that point, Mrs. Mallard’s life had been devoid of emotion to such an extent that she has even wondered if it is even worth living. The repression of emotion may represent Mrs. Mallard’s 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 her life. For, though Mrs. Mallard initially feels fear when she hears of her husband’s 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. Mallard's death, so that one way of interpreting this is that the repression of Mrs. Mallard's feelings is what killed her in the end.
In the same article, Jamil shows that the repression that Mrs. Mallard faces as a wife. She realizes how after her husbands apparent death that she was "free, 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 is given in the story about how she is repressed, but her reaction of his death and her new found confidence and freedom is enough. This repression of herself that she dealt with she was now removed from and would be able to be free.
Film adaptation
In 1984, "The Story of an Hour" was adapted to film, under the title The Joy That Kills.
References
- ^ Jamil, Selina S. “Emotions in ‘The Story of an Hour’” Explicator (2009): 215-220. EBSCOhost.
- ^ Bender, Bert. "The Teeth of Desire: The Awakening and the Descent of Man." American Literature 63.3 (Sep., 1991): 459-473.
- ^ Berkove, Lawrence L. "Fatal Self-Assertion in Kate Chopin's 'The Story of an Hour.' ." American Literary Realism 32.2 (2000): 152-158. Web. 5 Nov 2010.
