| "The Story of an Hour" | |
|---|---|
| Author | Kate Chopin |
| Original title | "The Dream of an Hour" |
| Translator | None |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Literary Fiction |
| Published in | United States |
| Publication type | Magazine |
| Publisher | Vogue[1] |
| Publication date | 1894 |
| Published in English | 1894 |
"The Story of an Hour" is a short story written by Kate Chopin on April 19, 1894, and published in Vogue on December 6, 1894. Initially, it was written and first published under the title "The Dream of an Hour". It was reprinted in St. Louis Life on January 5, 1895.
The title of the short story refers to the time elapsed between the moments at which the protagonist, Mrs. Mallard, hears that her husband is dead and discovers that he is alive after all. The Story of an Hour was considered controversial during the 1890s because it deals with a female protagonist who feels liberated by the news of her husband's death. In Unveiling Kate Chopin, Emily Toth argues that Chopin "had to have her heroine die" in order to make the story publishable.[2]
Contents |
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 knowing that she wouldn't be free after she sees that her husband isn't really dead.
Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour" follows an ironically detached and melancholy tone. "The unrecognized or unspoken unhappiness that seems to rule Louise Mallard's life is realized only upon word of her husband's demise, and swiftly taken away again at his revival." The story comes off as subtly cruel in that Louise's reaction to the death of her husband was not one of sadness from loss but rather a bitter joy she feels when she comes to the understanding that she is now free from the shackles of marriage, his perceived death representing freedom and independence from the role she is forever bound to by society—a wife.The tone is illustrated in the way in which Louise finds her autonomous 'self' at the end of another life: "The narrator's description of Mrs. Mallard shows someone who brushes off the notions of love and even the best of marriages for the glorious idea of pure freedom. Meanwhile, the people around her think she's crying her eyes out over her dead husband. Really, though, she's relieved to be free. No one understands her. At the end of the story, the doctors agree that she must have passed away from a sudden shock of extreme happiness from finding out that her husband lived after all: from 'joy that kills'". Chopin's story fills readers with the nonvocal but profound intimate feeling of the married woman of the 19th century. The story gives readers an almost out-of-body experience of the protagonist, Louise, and rather than sentimental, the story takes on the approach of revolutionary in a way into new perspectives that much of society at the time did not believe.
"The Story of an Hour" takes on a very specific style and structure which is perfect in the way in the story is written. The structure and style heightens the drama and plot line of the story. The story follows a third-person narrative in which Mrs. Mallard is the center of action. The non-participant narrator provides access to Mrs. Mallard's life: her medical condition or state, her strict marriage, her lack-luster relationship with her husband, her perspective on "love" she has for her husband, and her perspective on her newly awakened ideas on her personal freedom—which she associates with the death of her husband. In other words, the narrator describes Mrs. Mallard's thoughts, feelings, perceptions, and emotions, worries and decisions with reference to her past, present and hopes for a future in which she becomes a free, independent individual setting the scene for the feminist change in the 20th century. Therefore, the whole story can be seen as a deictic field in which Mrs. Mallard is its deictic center.
The use of an omniscient third-person narrator enables Chopin to tell a complete story that's not limited to the protagonist's point of view, but creates a sense of division in the individual as opposed to the ideas of society (for example when Louise isolates herself in her room and the narrator is able to further understand what she feels). This is key because the opening of the story begins with readers learning something Mrs. Mallard doesn't, and because the story ends after Mrs. Mallard has already died. If Louise were telling the story from her own perspective, readers would be exposed to a whole different explanation of why she suffers from a weak heart, giving a one sided opinion, and the story would end very differently – and somewhat earlier. The use of third-person omniscient narrative voice also keeps Mrs. Mallard more sympathetic and understandable. The narrator seems to be excusing her behavior and thought process, or at least providing reasoning for it alluding to the audience that the way in which Louise feels is understood by many.
“Chopin writes the piece in a series of short paragraphs made up of two to three sentences each. Likewise, the story covers only one hour in Louise Mallard’s life—from the moment she learns of her husband’s death to the moment he unexpectedly returns alive. The short, dense structure mirrors the intense hour Louise spends contemplating her new independence.” Just as Louise is completely absorbed in her thoughts unheard of at the time, the audience is immersed alongside her in this brief period of time. Due to the length of the story being so short—a tactic Chopin purposefully uses to exaggerate the need for self independence and how it can transform a person within a matter of minutes or an ‘hour—it leaves Chopin with the inability to add background information, flashbacks, or excessive speculation, so instead she employs the use of repetition when making specific intense points such as Louise's ability to now be "free, free, free" now that her husband is dead. Chopin also fills the plot with much imagery, for example when Louise is left alone in her own room to 'console' herself, used to symbolize her coming into her own as a woman.
Appearance vs. Reality: Mrs. Mallard is aware of how she must conduct herself as someone whose husband just passed away. Her true feelings is that she is happy her husband is now gone – but her conduct says otherwise. She puts on an act that would be a typical response upon hearing the death of her spouse. However, the narrator notes that she was quick to accept the death with any questions. “She did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance.” she then goes upstairs and keeps herself away from everyone else in order to make it seem as if she was coping. In reality, she is overjoyed at the loss of her husband. Even Louis is shocked at her behavior and wonders if her reaction was beyond the norm. “She did not stop to ask if it were or were not a monstrous joy that held her.”
Marriage vs Freedom: Mrs. Mallard believes that both women and men limit each other in matrimony. She does not express any apparent ill-will against Mr. Mallard and has even admitted to liking him and some point. Due to its structure as telling the story within an hour's time, no background information is given about Mr. and Mrs. Mallard's relationship. This is an effective style that Chopin utilizes. The story is not about the husband being abusive to his wife or vice-versa. Instead, it focuses on the individual's inner desires for freedom. The point-of-view of "Story of an Hour" is that of the wife. Louise's desire for freedom far exceeds her love for him - a controversial idea that goes against the norms of society. She would rather live freely than be in a marriage that subjects her to domesticity. “There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature.” The idea of Marriage vs. Freedom is a growing theme in modern American Women Writing during Kate Chopin's time. The idea that women can look beyond marriage as their lifelong goal to achieve is a teetering idea for women seeking independence.
Spring – Mrs. Mallard welcomes the new spring life. This symbolizes a new beginning for her. Spring represents life and that is what Mrs. Mallard gains as a widow. It also helps to note that spring comes after winter. Winter can be seen as Louise while she was married to her husband. Winter is symbolically a depressing, cold and isolated season. Contrasting that to Louise's new-found spirit and life in the story's "Spring" setting. “She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life.”
Mrs. Mallard’s Heart: In the beginning of the story, the reader is already aware of Louise's failing heart. It was her sister Josephine who breaks the news to her cautiously, being mindful of her sister's delicate condition. "Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble, great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband's death." By the end of the story, renewed with energy and a sense of enthusiasm for the future, Louis is struck with the news that Mr. Mallard returned home safe and sound - he didn't die from a train accident (a common cause of death during that time period with increasing use of newer technology) as originally thought. From the reader’s point-of-view, when Mrs. Mallard dies - the doctor claims “…she had died of heart disease--of the joy that kills.” Ironically, she actually dies when her dreams of living without any one to answer to vanishes. The doctor believes she died of overjoy upon learning that her husband is alive. But Mrs. Mallard's outward behavior stays true to the normal response her family expected. She dies of heart failure triggered by overwhelming emotional stress. No one will never know that the overwhelming emotional stress was due to her loss of hope for the future.
Bert Bender offers a biographical reading of the text and argues that Chopin's writing of the 1890s was influenced by Darwin's theory of sexual selection. Her understanding of the meaning of love and courtship, in particular, was altered and became more pessimistic. This attitude finds its expression in The Story of an Hour when Mrs. Mallard questions the meaning of love and ultimately rejects it as meaningless.[3]
Lawrence I. Berkove notes that there has been "virtual critical agreement" that the story is about female liberation from a repressive marriage. However, he contests this reading and argues that there is a "deeper level of irony in the story". The story, according to Berkove, depicts Mrs. Mallard as an "immature egotist" and a "victim of her own extreme self-assertion". He also challenges the notion that Chopin intended for the views of the story's main character to coincide with those of the author.[4] Xuding Wang has criticized Berkove's interpretation.[5]
"The Story of an Hour" has been strongly linked with the ideals of the Women's liberation movement of the 1960s when feminists took a stand to fight to give women more freedom in America. The reason "The Story of an Hour" was an important piece of literary work at this time was because of its radical story. In the story, this housewife who has been confined to the social norms of the obedient wife, has an unorthodox reaction to the death of her husband. She anticipates her newfound freedom from the suppression of her husband, of men, and becomes invigorated by it. This idea is one of the key values of the feminist movement, and thus "The Story of an Hour" was an important literary work to show a woman breaking from the norm of society.
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 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.
Mrs. Mallard's character shows no emotion until she hears that her husband has died; in fact, her "heart trouble" is more than physical issue, but rather more of an emotional concern. Similarly, by using her 5 senses, Louise familiarizes with how nature smells, sounds, etc. As well, her emotions create a harmony between her senses (body) and her own self (soul). The season of spring is a time of rebirth, where plants grow and develop; Louise is reborn, has a new energy and new perspectives on life. Louise envisions herself as a free woman now that her husband has tragically died. She can now live for herself and nobody else. In the end, the build up of emotion creates an overexcitement for Louise which takes a toll on her heart condition. Because Mrs. Mallard was able to branch out of her comfort zone and physically and emotionally experience the world, she has finally discovered who she is.
In 1984, "The Story of an Hour" was adapted to film, under the title The Joy That Kills.