By Kate Chopin

The Story of an Hour

Short Story Analysis

Nikolay Melnik – 2023/10/12

Story Arc
Beginning

Louise Mallard receives bad news She feels grief and sorrow
Story Arc
Middle

Later she experiences joy and liberation Free from her husband control
Story Arc
End

Husband turns out to be alive Louise dies of a heart attack

 Characters
Louise Mallard Husband of Louise Josephine
Brently’s friend
Presumed dead
Confirms the news
Appears alive at the end
Witnesses Louise’s reaction

Protagonist Louise’s sister

Has a weak heart Takes care of Louise
Oppressed by the marriage Breaks the news to her
Brently Mallard Richard
s
 Mood and tone
Moo Tone
d and tragic
Ironic Sympathetic and critical
Happiness destroyed by fate Louise’s inner conflict and emotions
Inequalities of marriage in 19th century

Passage
“She did not hear the story as many women shave heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept
its significance. She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister’s arms.” (p. 1)

“There was something coming to her and she was waiting for it, fearfully. What was it? She did not know; it was too subtle and
elusive to name. But she felt it, creeping out of the sky, reaching toward her through the sounds, the scents, the color that filled
the air.” (p. 2)

“When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease—of joy that kills.” (p. 3)
Theme & central idea

Marriage can be oppressive

Louise feels trapped and suffocated by her marriage
The story challenge social norms and values of the 19 th century
 Supporting quote

“Free! Body and soul free!’ she kept whispering.” (p. 2)

• Louise feels liberated and exhilarated by her husband’s death

• illustrates the theme of freedom and repression in marriage
• Louise’s character development from a passive wife to an independent woman