Wednesday, February 12, 2014

"Story of an Hour" - Period 6

Please post your view of how the structure of "The Story of an Hour "contributed to the theme.  Be sure to establish what the theme is, and use at least one quoted reference from the story to support your point.  Minimum of one paragraph.

22 comments:

  1. Jackson M
    Period 6
    The structure of the story of an hour contributed to the theme. The theme is oppression, in a sense. The husband is not controlling, but he is her husband and just by that he is restricting her freedom. Even the setup represents that. At the beginning she has to be around others and can't be free even in her room. "Josephine was kneeling before the closed door with her lips to the keyhold, imploring for admission". Lastly, as soon as she received her freedom it was taken away. She was only free once she was dead/

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  2. First of all, the theme of "Story of an Hour", or at least the one I found to be most prevalent, was that becoming independent, especially after living life in an oppressive marriage, is extremely liberating for the body and mind. In the words of the author, the death of Mr. Mallard was an opportunity for Mrs. Mallard to "live for herself". This lifestyle is further defined as a separate life when the reintroduction of her husband brings about her own death.
    So how does the story structure aid in conveying this theme? This story was constructed using many short paragraphs, each one significantly progressing towards an idea. This allows for sudden changes of plot, which is exactly what happened.

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  3. "Story of an Hour" is a heartened tale of a disastrous love. Upon reading the paper and seeing her husband, Brent Mallard, on the "killed" list, Louise flees to comfort her heart ache. As she wretches in heartbreak, she looks outside the open window. This open window is symbolic of freedom and opportunities after the death of her husband. As she grieves, she feels a weight lift off of her. She feels as what she described as free. She feels the forbidden joy of independence through her grief. She feels as if her husband's death is release from oppression of her loveless marriage.As readers we peer into her thoughts and see,"And yet she had loved him-sometimes. Often she had not. What did it matter!" Here she takes full grasp of the forbidden fruit of freedom. While she is in her room, she greets freedom openly. Then as she leans away from the open window, she turns her back on freedom. Finally the final plot twist when Brent Mallard returns with no harm. At this moment, her "weakened" heart couldn't bare her freedom get taken from her. Her heart attack wasn't from joy, it was from the seeping feeling of guilt of her freedom, of giving away this freedom because Brent was back. This structure contributed to the overall theme of freedom. A freedom that was forbidden yet yearned for.
    Miranda S

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  4. "The Story of an Hour" details a woman finding out that her husband is dead, grieving, then becoming very happy with the thought of her freedom. Then, at the end, her husband ends up not being dead. When her husband came home, she died. It says, "When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease--of the joy that kills. " However, the joy she had was in the prospect of freedom, the clear theme in this story. The story shows us how her freedom is made, and how happy she is at the idea of it. When her husband gets home, she is no longer free, and dies. I think that this contributed to the theme because it showed the power that freedom had on her, to hold onto life, and then when it was taken away, we see that a life without freedom, in her eyes, is not worth living.
    Jess L. Period 6

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  5. The theme is happy, but it is also sad. It is a story that builds up the happiness as the story moves on. It starts with the bad news about him being killed in the train accident, and she walks up and thinks about her life and what it is going to look like. This is where the happiness comes in, and brings up the story by thinking good thoughts. It seems like she is going to get over it pretty fast, and then when she goes down again and he comes in it ends kind of happy and dark at the same time. So much happiness at the same time made her die. “Free! Body and soul free!" This is when she starts to get over it again, only seconds before she dies. I think this is a great story, and the ending makes you think a lot. The author proves a point in the fact that there can just be too much in a small amount of time. great story, great title
    Christian F

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  6. Story of an hour follows the theme of utter despair. A woman is told that her husband who controlled her in an oppresive marriage died. He controlled her and she couldn't never fully experience. However with his death was a chance at freedom, a fresh start to do as she pleased without his restraints holding her back. Just as she receives that freedom for a brief moment she has an overwhelming sense of joy. However, this joy is taken away and she dies bringing her to her final place of freedom where no one can control what she does. These short structural paragraphs help get this point across by suddenly changing the ideas and feelings the woman has before her last moments.
    Sonny G.

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  7. Mike Caminear Period 6
    For me, the most prominent theme of this short story is that becoming independent is a very powerful thing to harness and think about. Independence proves to be powerful because of the short amount of time that the story actually covers, which is only one hour. The structure of the story also contributes to the intensity and intrigue of the overall plot. The short, condensed paragraphs are purposely used so that the vast array of emotions that Mallard experienced are clearly portrayed. The sadness of the story lies in the fact that Mallard died due to the shock of her husbands unexpected return. In the story itself, it says, "When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease." This shows how she was prepared for independence, but when she suddenly realized that she wasn't anymore, the shock was too much for her.

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  8. The theme in this story seems to be the bitter sweetness of independance while also feeling mournful. With each small paragraph in this story the themes seem to alternate between mourn and feelings of independence. This makes you get a feeling that Louise is going back and forth between the feeling of sadness that her husband is gone but then again back to the idea that she is now free from him for the rest of her life. One quote from the story that shows her excitement for freedom is, "'Free! Body and soul free!' she kept whispering." This quote shows that she is eager for the freedom especially because it says "she kept whispering" suggesting that it was all she was thinking about in that moment.
    Jessica M. Period 6

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  9. To me the theme of this story was autonomy. Louise is obviously going to be sad because her husband isn't there anymore but she can't hide her eagerness to finally have some freedom. Although death will always be a sad event you can't avoid the feelings you had towards the person when they were living. An interesting quote to me was, "But now there was a dull stare in her eyes, whose gaze was fixed away off yonder on one of those patches of blue sky. It was not a glance of reflection, but rather indicated a suspension of intelligent thought." This shows that the feelings she has after finding out about her husbands death are very mixed and confusing.
    Cassidy M. Period 6

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  10. Ahmad Zaidi
    Period 6
    The theme of this story was how even in a seemingly good marriage a person can sometimes feel trapped. This story show how much a person has to give up when they get married and sometimes a partner is so controlling or overwhelming that a person loses all their independence. Just like in the story it said “Free! Body and soul free!" she kept whispering.„ This shows how free the main character felt when her husband died even though he was not that bad.

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  11. Shoshanna Longo
    Period 6
    The theme of the story was her loss of freedom by her husband. She was sad to see him go but only for a little while. When she was staring out the window she had an understanding of how oppressed her husband had made her and how she was now free do live the life she wanted. She, herself, symbolized a change of thought among woman of the time while her sister, who came to comfort her about her husbands death, symbolized how woman of her time were suppose to feel, which is sympathy and a sense of loss. The irony of the story occurs on the very last line,"When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease--of the joy that kills." This symbolizes how her thought were not accepted among society in general in a rather ironic tone.

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  12. In my opinion, the theme of this story is how powerful independence can be when given to someone, and how distraught it can make someone when that independence is taken away. This story clearly shows that when her husband died, and she realized she now had independence, she was in a better state of mind then when he was alive. And, when she finds out he's still alive, the shocking reality of no longer having independence hits her hard, and she ends up dying. The structure of the story contributes to theme because it accentuates the transformation she goes through.
    Aidan Deane Per 6

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  13. I believe that the theme of this story is the good and bad sides of independance. Though Louise is sad at first, after hearing about the death of her husband, she then later realizes that she is now a free to do whatever she pleases. When she finds out that her husband is actually alive she isn't too happy, because she will no longer have the independence that she had. The structure of the story contributes to the theme of the story because it shows the changing of the woman's feelings about the situation.
    Aodhan Dunn Period 6

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  14. The theme is overwhelmingness of contradiction. The woman, before the accident, was happy with her husband, and depended on him greatly (this is why the news of his loss was so originally shaking to her). This is then contradicted by her epiphany that emphasizes the freedom she has now gained with her husband's death. Her new emotions, driven by a new sense of freedom, are then contradicted by the ultimate revelation of truth that her husband is dead. Her emotions, now sprung in opposite directions for the third time in very short period of time, overcome her heart and she is killed. The structure of the story helped convey this theme by presenting nothing in a large, underlying statement or progression, but everything as a short, isolated event, as if they were quick jabs being delivered by a boxer. Picture the woman inside of a box. Instead of just being tipped over, from which she was able to stand back up and regain her balance, the box was shaken vigorously one too many times for her too handle.
    Aaron R
    Period 6

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  15. I thought the theme was Forbidden happiness. I think we all have something that we wish we did not love so much, and I think the woman in this story is having some real life changers, internally as well as her lifestyle change due to her husbands death. You never know what you had until its gone seemed particularly relevant, because she wasn't even aware of the oppression she was under until she was released from it. With the death of the man she loves, she feels guilty with her rush of joy. Short stories dont have a lot of time to tell you a story, and I thought the brief paragraphs displayed passing time better than a constant flow of thought.
    Emma P per 6

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  16. Leah B Period 6
    The structure of this story is sudden grief, that turns into a sort of relief, and then to an overwhelming kind of disappointment. This does go along with the theme of the story, which I take to be the sort of oppression or limitations that can sometimes come with love. Because she was obviously suddenly filled with grief when she found that her husband who "had never looked save with love upon her" was dead. But then she went into her room and began to think, and she started to say "free, free, free!" under her breath, because she realized that, even though "she had loved him sometimes" she was now able to live her life wholly for herself. She would no longer be kept in place by the will and wants of her companion, as some people do feel in relationships. So much to the point that when she found he was alive she literally dropped dead from what probably was disappointment.

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  17. Jonathan Williams, p6

    I believe the theme of this story is freedom. She didn't feel like she had control with her husband around, and the sudden feeling of independence excited her. She even started whispering, "Free! Body and soul free!" This shows how held back and repressed the wife felt around her husband. I think the structure contributed because the short paragraphs showed how sudden the idea of freedom was and how quickly it was taken away again.

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  18. The "Story of an Hour' starts out with bad news, but turns out to be a chance for freedom The husband died in the beginning, leaving his wife. 'When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease--of the joy that kills. " Although the wife was upset she often felt trapped in her marriage. This was her chances to be free and to become independent. Something she longed for awhile but was scared. Any death is very tragic and this poem does a good job capturing the emotion.
    Rachel C

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  19. I think that "The Story of an Hour" has the theme of freedom. The wife finds out her husband has died but then she soon realizes she'll have freedom to do what she wants. I think the window was a symbol of the freedom that awaited her."She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees were all aquiver with new spring life." I also think the new spring life is the new life she is going to have filled with freedom now that her husband has died.
    Teagan M
    Period 6

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  20. Ben
    Period 6
    The Story of An Hour by Kate Chopin being free, and being trapped. At the begginging, Mrs. Mallard felt guilt for her husband. She was deeply saddened and was grieving, in a typical mourning manor. The woman felt very very lonely.. But, it then struck her that her husband was no longer in control of her. Yes, she was on her, but she was also on her own. While her husband was never abusive, she could now live her own life. "There would be no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself.".
    I imagine she died of guilt upon seeing her husband. How can one live with themselves after celebrating the death of their spouse, only to find they are not dead? She certantly died of a broken heart, it is just a question of what caused it.

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  21. The Story of An Hour is an interesting tale of a women who is informed that her husband has been killed in a train accident. At the beginning she is deeply saddened and cries from her grief, mourning her husband. However, as she is crying a thought comes over her, "Free! Body and soul free!". She has realized that she has been free from the shackles of marriage and can be independent and her own person. She begins to think toward the future as if trying to distracted herself from the morose present. But her husband had never been killed and was not even aware that a train accident had occurred. At the sight of him the women, with a weak heart, has a heart attack and dies. It is pronounced an incident of joy but it is still unknown how she felt in that moment.
    Hannah Beatty

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  22. The Story of an Hour i think is empowering or at least is suppose to be but then she dies and the happy feeling of the empowerment and freedom is over shadowed by the death so much that the feeling of the story is changed from happiness to sadness. In looking her up we found that the author had to kill the main character off to get the story publish. So if you leave out the death at the end i think you will get what she was actually through this story. That even if you loose people there is always still life to be lived. That just because you lost this one person doesn't mean that you loose your whole life. So if I had to say one theme I would say uplifting.
    sam period 6

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