"The Story of an Hour" Characters

Louise Mallard – She is the protagonist of the story and the only dynamic character to
appear throughout the entire tale. She experiences pure sadness upon learning of her
husband's death, but after pausing to reflect, she realizes that a new, free and independent
life has just begun for her. This realization marks the beginning of the shift in her emotions
that makes her a round character in the story.
Brently Mallard – He is Louise Mallard's husband. It is falsely claimed that he perished in
a train accident. He is unaware that anyone believes he has passed away when he gets home
that day. Although Brently is a loving and kind husband to Louise, the institution of
marriage nevertheless prevents Louise from being free.
Josephine – Louise Mallard's sister. Aware of Louise’s heart troubles, she breaks the news
of Brently’s death to Louise with a calm demeanor. She actively worries about her sister’s
health and tries to protect her from herself. Whereas Louise is a woman who, in her moment
of grief, sees how society entraps and controls women, Josephine is more traditional and
shows no such insight. In fact, her character seems to show how both men and women of
society control and entrap other women.
Richards – Brently Mallard’s friend. He is the one who tells Josephine of Brently Mallard’s
death. Also, he is the first person who sees Brently Mallard enter the house after her wife’s
outbreak. "The Emperor Jones" Characters
Smithers – is Jones' friend. Although he poses as Jones' friend, he is actually a very racist
white Cockney trader who harbors a subtly hostile attitude toward Jones. Smithers is the
one to inform Jones of the uprising, and he finds it hard to believe when the locals succeed
in creating silver outlets to slay their emperor. Smithers is a corrupt and wicked person who
constantly seems to support the powerful.
Lem – Lem, who was in charge prior to Jones' arrival, is in charge of the uprising that
ultimately results in the death of the unfortunate monarch. Lem previously attempted to
shoot Jones to death, but he was unsuccessful. After the incident, Jones persuades his
followers that he has magical abilities and can only be killed with a silver bullet. Following
this line of reasoning, Lem sets up a revolution and melts down a large number of coins to
create the silver bullets that ultimately kill Jones.
"The Story of an Hour" Summary
The short story describes the series of emotions Louis 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, so her sister attempts to break the horrific news to her 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. 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 Emperor Jones" Summary

"Emperor Jones" is a fascinating exploration of the mental decline of the self-imposed

emperor of a small Caribbean island. Brutus Jones is a former Pullman porter and
convict who has escaped to an island in the West Indies and, over the course of two
years, has made himself the emperor of this small native kingdom. Jones established
control after he missed a gunshot from one of the natives and subsequently informed
them that only a rare silver bullet could kill him. However, after Jones imposes a
series of heavy taxes on the natives of the island, a rebellion forms, and the island’s
inhabitants call on the demons of the forests to help them get rid of Jones once and
for all. Fleeing through the jungle, we hear Jones’ story in hallucinatory flashbacks
as his mental health steadily declines. He believes he can see the man he was jailed for
killing, as well as the prison officer he smashed over the head with a shovel in order
to escape. His breakdown is also reflected in his appearance, which becomes more
and more bedraggled and unclothed as he attempts to escape from the vengeful
natives. With the growing, threatening beat of the tom-tom drum, Jones finally loses
control and is shot dead by the elusive silver bullet.

"The Cop and the Anthem" Summary

The story begins when Soapy is lounging on a bench in Madison Square Park in New
York. A dead leaf falls on his shoulder, and he realizes that winter is
approaching/coming and he needs to find himself a shelter. Otherwise, he may cease
to survive. Soapy is homeless and has to be at "home" during this harsh winter;
therefore, Soapy has to do something for himself. He plans to get arrested by the
police and stay in jail during winter. There, he will be fed, clothed, and kept warm.
Most importantly, he will have a roof over his head. To reach the prison, Soapy does
everything that a criminal does. For instance, he breaks a window, eats a free meal
from a restaurant, harasses a woman, steals an umbrella, and behaves like a
drunkard by calling the cops names. However, all of his plans are rejected and they
do not help him get arrested. As the story progresses, when Soapy passes through a
church to go to his bench again, he hears the voice of an organist. The organist is
playing an anthem. When Soapy listens to it, his mind completely changes. He feels a
strange power and passion to change himself into a good man. Subsequently, he
decides to begin a new hardworking life. However, by the end of the story, when
finally Soapy decides to earn his food and home through fair means, he is arrested.
Soapy is taken into custody when he does not want to be locked up. Interestingly, he
is arrested for doing nothing but loitering in the streets. In a sense, he is doomed for
his homelessness.
 Jones' Psychoanalysis

In the play "The Emperor Jones," the character of Brutus Jones represents the
archetype of the "shadow" in Jungian psychology. The shadow is the part of the
collective unconscious that expresses the darker aspects of the human psyche,
such as fear, guilt, and primal instincts. Jung believed that the conscious mind
often repressed and denied the shadow, but it can still influence behavior and
decision-making. In the play, Jones is a former Pullman porter who becomes an
emperor on a West Indian island, but his past and repressed guilt catch up to
him, and the shadow of his past actions haunts him. Jones ultimately succumbs
to his shadow and is killed by the island's natives. The play shows how Jones's
repressed shadow eventually emerges and destroys him, reflecting Jung's belief
that the shadow must be acknowledged and integrated to achieve psychological
balance.

Louis' psychoanalysis

In "The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin, the character of Mrs. Louis can be
analyzed through Freud's psychoanalytic lens. Freud believed that the
personality is made up of three distinct elements, which are the id, the ego, and
the superego. Actually, applying his approach to this short story helps us
understand the character of Mrs. Mallard clearly. In The Story of an Hour, Mrs.
Mallard, the protagonist, experiences conflict in the areas of her conscience and
unconscious. Mrs. Mallard's struggle to balance her desire for freedom and her
role as a wife represents the tension that exists between the three conflicting
aspects of the human psyche, which are the id, ego, and superego. Mrs. Mallard's
id-superego conflict is initially evident in her physical weakness, revealing the
delicate nature of her ego. Mrs. Mallard's sister, Josephine, takes extreme care
while breaking the news of her husband's death to her because Mrs. Mallard
was dealing with a heart condition. According to Freud, the tension between
these three aspects of the human mind can lead to mental and physical illness,
as Mrs. Mallard's heart problem demonstrates. Mrs. Mallard's initial reaction
to the news of her husband's death could be interpreted as a response motivated
by the superego. Her situation of being extremely sad and alone in the room is
an outward display of grief, and its influence is short-lived. This description
helps us understand the role of the ego, which is the main victim of Mrs.
Mallard's image.