The Story of an Hour

Kate Chopin
Main characters

Mrs. Mallard
Wife to Brently Mallard
Main character in the story
Josephine
Friend to Mrs. Mallard
Person who tells of the disaster
Richards
Friend of Brently, who shares in the retelling of the news
Brently Mallard
Husband to Mrs. Mallard
According to the reports, dead in a railroad accident
Key events in the story:

1. Railroad disaster is reported

a. Brently Mallard heads the list of those killed
2. Mrs. Mallard is informed of the news by Josephine
and Richards
a. Mrs. Mallard weeps at the news and retreats to a Study
room
i. Secretly begins to see the world in a new light
She could see in the open square before her house the tops of
trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life. The delicious
breath of rain was in the air. In the street below a peddler was
crying his wares. The notes of a distant song which someone
was singing reached her faintly, and countless sparrows were
twittering in the eaves
Storylinecontinued

a. Mrs. Mallards retreat (continued)

ii. Physical description of Mrs. Mallard
1. young, with a fair, calm face
iii. Mrs. Mallard becomes free
iv. Knows that she will temporarily weep later at the funeral,
but that she will be forever free
1. Free! Body and soul Free!
v. Josephine is imploring her, in the meantime, to open the
door to the study
1. Mrs. Mallard remains secretly joyous
2. When Mrs. Mallard does open the door, she does so as
a victorious women
Storylinecontinued

3. Josephine and Mrs. Mallard begin to leave

the apartment
a. The door is opening, it is Brently
b. He knows not that he is presumed dead
c. Mrs. Mallard shrieks at the sight of Brently
d. She dies of a heart diseasea joy that
kills
Questions to think about:
1. What is irony and how is it displayed in this story?
2. Why does Kate Chopin continually refer to Mrs.
Mallard in the formal sense, not the personal
sense as with the other characters?
3. What does Chopin/Mallard mean by Free, free,
free
4. What is the imagery created by the following
phrases?
a. How do the following examples show the irony created by
Chopin in this story?
b. How do the following examples lead the reader in one
direction and prepare the reader for the blunt, maybe
tragic ending?
Example #1

She did not hear the story as many women

have heard the same, with a paralyzed
inability to accept its significance. She wept
at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in
her sisters arms. When the storm of grief
had spent itself she went away to her room
alone. She would have no one follow her.
Example #2

She could see in the open square before

her house the tops of trees that were all
aquiver with the new spring life. The
delicious breath of rain was in the air. In
the street below a peddler was crying his
wares. The notes of a distant song which
someone was singing reached her faintly,
and countless sparrows were twittering in
the eaves
Example #3

When she had abandoned herself, a little

whispered word escaped her slightly parted
lips. She said it over and over under her
breath; Free, Free, Free! The vacant stare
and the look of terror that had followed it went
from her eyes. They stayed keen and bright.
Her pulses beat fast, and the coursing blood
warmed and relaxed every inch of her body
Example #4

There would be no one to live for during those

coming years; she would live for herself.
There would be no powerful will bending hers
in that blind persistence with which men and
women believe they have a right to impose a
private will upon a fellow creature.
Example #5

She arose at length and opened the doors to

her sisters importunities. There was a
feverish triumph in her eyes, and she carried
herself like a goddess of Victory.