Notes

Harsh Pandya
Human-112
T-Th 9:30
“Story of an Hour” Questions


A. The setting of the story takes place during the late 19th century in the house of Louise and Brently mallard. The way in which the setting relates to the story is that everything takes place inside the house. From Louise hearing the sad news to her looking out an open window and finding this new person she feels she will become.

B. I believe that on a larger scale, Josephine represents a sensitive and caregiver type of person. When she had to reveal the bad news to her sister, she did that by giving hints about the death. She didn’t just say you’re husband is dead. This showed how worried and tense Josephine was. Richards represents the “bearer of bad news” type of person. It seemed like bad situations were always surrounding him. For instance, he was the first one to find out about the death of brently. Also towards the end of the story when Richards had a chance to get in the way of Louise from seeing brently alive because Louise seeing brently again is what caused her death. If Richards got in the way maybe Louise wouldn’t have died.

C. I feel that the mallards had a nice relationship because Louise mentions how sad she would be when she sees the body of her husband that is no longer alive. Also how much she’s going to miss “the face that had never looked save with love upon her”. However, I do think that her reason for saying, “free, free, free” is because brently could have been very controlling and treating Louise wrong at times. Chopin even mentions “ there will be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with witch men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature”. Louise seems sad that this person has left her but she is happy that this over ruling personality of this person has also gone away. This is why she feels free now. She can be her own self without anyone else telling her what to do.

D. I think the point Chopin is making is that Louise is closing the door on her past. She wants nothing to do with it. Whatever happened has happened and she is ready to move on. She looks at the open window, which represents the new life she will have as a free woman.

E. I don’t think the views of marriage of the late 19th century apply to today’s marriage because nowadays people are more free and independent. In the story it’s completely different. You can see that women did not have much freedom. They were suppressed by men and weren’t able to be themselves.

1. An example of irony in this story would be how Louise reacts to the news of her husband’s death and feels free. This is ironic because usually when someone’s husband dies the wife shows nothing but sadness. The wife doesn’t go on to think of how bright her future is going to be, she would probably worry about how she’s going to live without the husband. But in the story, Louise doesn’t seem to care. She is now worried only about her future. As a reader this would be very confusing, which makes this a situational irony.

2. I think there is more meaning to Louise’s “heart trouble”. Not only does she have a physical heart problem but I think it’s showing the reader that she is mentally hurt as well. It shows us that she is not happy and her controlling husband hurts her feelings, which she takes to heart. The author mentions this in the beginning to give the reader an early glimpse that this character has faced many problems. This could symbolize their marriage because the heart is hurt which show that there’s a fault in the marriage because marriage is about loving one another.


3. One theme I found in this story was freedom. An example of this is when Louise is sitting on her chair looking out the window and repeating the word “free” over and over again. After her husband’s death, she is mainly concerned about her future as a free woman. She has many thoughts about the new opportunities she has. This whole time she had a bigger power over ruling her and now she can escape her past and she can dictate what goes on in her life.

4. One example of symbolism in this story would be the open window. I think the window represents the new and free Louise Mallard. It represents the new life she is going to have. It’s the beginning of a new era in her life as an independent woman who is free of anyone making decisions for her. Now that this dictator known as her husband is gone, she can lead her own life in her own way.






Comparison to another artwork

In “Story of an Hour” Louise mallard looks outside an open window and find her new self that she has never got the chance to witness before. Her main focus the whole time is thinking about her future and what she is going to do. She is focused on one thing and one thing only. She’s not worried about anything else that’s happening. An example of artwork that can relate to this story is supper at Emmaus by Caravaggio. Just like the story, in the artwork, Jesus is at the center of the dinner table and he is the main focus point. You can see Jesus has full attention of the people surrounding him. Also, in the painting there is one light source coming from the left, which most likely can be an open window and its fully illuminating Jesus, which shows he at the center of the spotlight being the main focal point.




Self-evaluation


Our group’s first meet up was in class where we exchanged contact information and made plans on where to have meetings outside of class. The 2nd meet up was in the library where we discussed the story. We made a plan that for the presentation, I got the job of doing the summary and explaining the theme and symbols. Alan was going to pose the question. And Eden was going to explain the comparison to another artwork. Our work was done through Google docs. This is where not only did we type up our ideas but also raised questions and gave feedback on each other’s work. We communicated by messaging, whether it is Facebook or the chat in Google docs.