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Cassidy_story

Page history last edited by PBworks 17 years, 2 months ago

Cassidy Huang's Paper

 

The Story of an Hour: An Essay

 

The story of an hour was written in the 19th century when women’s movement was about to begin though, women still lived in the male dominated society. In the story, Mrs. Mallard is half-confined at home physically and psychologically in the sense of the affliction of her heart trouble and the social norm that women should stay at home. She often dreams of the freedom and a change of her life as indicated in the clue that the chair in her room is placed facing the open window showing her frequently looking desirably out of the window for freedom. Thus, when she is told about her husband’s death, she does cry at once, “with sudden, wild abandonment,” It was until the sudden grief has spent itself in addition to her heart trouble making her exhausted, the great joy bursts out in her heart, foreshadowing the ending tragedy of her death.

 

Mrs. Mallard is one of the typical type of women in the 19th century who were often repressed and seen as the possession of men, that is, they were owned by father when little and by husband after getting married. In this story, Mrs. Mallard is repressed under the social standard of being a woman and of the system of marriage which “bends hers (will) in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature.” In other words, she is not free and could not be free as long as she is married. Even though she does not love her husband most of the time, she has to hide this unacceptable truth as a dirty little secret of her own, and ignore the fact that love does not persist all the time. It clearly explains why her face “bespoke repression.” Therefore, it is obvious why she perceives such a great joy after reassuring the possession of self-assertion and recognizing the freedom she could possess in the rest of her life. However, pleasure has a sting in its tail, Mr. Mallard comes back not knowing what is happening, Mrs. Mallard died after knowing his coming back. Mrs. Mallard “died of heart disease- of joy that kill,.” said the doctor. It turns out to be the greatest dramatic irony in this story for she is in fact not killed because of joy but of the great disappointment of sudden loss of the freedom which she regards as the “illumination” more significant than her husband’s death. Paradoxically, she is somehow killed because of joy in the sense that her “monstrous joy” from the possession of freedom makes her way too exciting and happy succeeding by “sudden lost of joy.” And it thus kills her in the end.

 

The theme of this story that Kate Chopin wants to show is the undeniablity of the intelligent thought- freedom and self-assertion in human nature. She uses symbols and irony to reinforce this perspective. Take the most obvious example of the comfortable, roomy chair facing the open window in her room. It implies that she purposefully opens the window and arranges a comfortable chair in order to sit and look out to see the outside world where there are “tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life…” and “blue sky” that symbolize the new life and freedom. These symbols all indicate the eagerness in searching for the freedom even to a 19th century woman. Except for the symbols, the ending irony she uses also benefits the reinforcement of the theme of this story. In the 19th century, no one at that time would ever think of women would need or want to have freedom. In this story, the doctor or any other man, even including women, would not and could not even think of this perspective and thus conclude without hesitating that Mrs. Mallard’s death is due to the sudden joy of seeing her husband’s return. Under this dramatic irony, the implication is that one might be killed if her/his freedom is taken away. In the end, the central theme of the story is therefore reinforced by the use of symbols and irony.

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