The story of an Hour - wikipedia The story of an Hour `` The Story of an Hour '' Country United States Language English Genre ( s ) Short story Published in United States Publication type Magazine Publisher Vogue Publication date 1894 `` The Story of an Hour, '' is a short story written by Kate Chopin on April 19, 1894. It was originally published in Vogue on December 6, 1894, as `` The Dream of an Hour ''. It was later reprinted in St. Louis Life on January 5, 1895, as `` The Story of an Hour ''. The title of the short story refers to the time elapsed between the moments at which the protagonist, Louise Mallard, hears that her husband is dead, and when she discovers that he is alive after all. `` The Story of an Hour '' was controversial by American standards of the 1890s because it features a female protagonist who feels liberated by the news of her husband 's death. In Unveiling Kate Chopin, Emily Toth argues that Chopin `` had to have her heroine die '' in order to make the story publishable ``. ( The `` heroine '' dies when she sees her husband alive after he was thought to be dead. ) Contents 1 Summary 2 Analysis 3 Critical responses 4 Characters 5 Film adaptation 6 References 7 External links Summary The short story describes the series of emotions Louise Mallard endures after hearing of the death of her husband, Brently, who reportedly died at work in a train accident. After hearing the news, Mrs. Mallard begins to feel a weight lifted off her shoulders. She immediately mourns the loss of her husband and makes way to her room upstairs. She sits down and looks out the window. She sees the nature and new life outside. While she is locked inside, a strange feeling comes over her. She begins to feel an unexpected sense of exhilaration, whispering, `` Free ! Body and soul free ! '' She begins to think of all the springs and summers she can enjoy without her husband around. Her sudden rush of excitement is what she believes to be a benefit of his death. Along with all the excitement, Mrs. Mallard still grieves for her husband and knows she will cry about it later. Furthermore, as stated at the beginning of the story, Mrs. Mallard has heart trouble. Therefore, when her sister and her husband 's friend, Richards, find out Brently is home, they attempt to inform her, in a gentle way to avoid shocking her, that her husband actually was n't near or even aware of the train accident. Mrs. Mallard 's sister begs her to open the door, as she is scared that Louise will become ill. As Louise and her sister descend the staircase, Brently enters the house. Louise suffers a heart attack upon realizing that he has not died, and she is stuck in her marriage to him after all. The story concludes with doctors blaming Louise 's death on heart disease, from a `` joy that kills ''. This is ironic, as it is implied that she actually died of grief over having her supposed freedom suddenly ripped away from her. Analysis The article `` Marriage and The Story of an Hour '' suggests that Chopin 's short story demonstrates that marriage is not always what it appears to be, and that the journey to freedom can be dangerous. Chopin shows her readers that the love of only one partner in a marriage is not indicative of a mutual relationship. In the story, Louise says that she loves her husband sometimes, and in the article it suggests that maybe her husband was cruel ; so even though she did indeed love him, she also loves her prospective freedom from him. The open window through which Mrs. Mallard gazes for a majority of the story is a sign of the freedom and opportunities that await her through her newfound independence. `` She hears people and birds singing and smells a coming rainstorm. Everything that she experiences through her senses suggests joy and spring -- new life. '' Mrs. Mallard can look into the distance and see nothing but a clear bright future ahead of her. Critical responses Bert Bender offers a biographical reading of the text and argues that writing of the 1890s was influenced by Charles Darwin 's theory of sexual selection. Chopin 's understanding of the meaning of love and courtship, in particular, was altered and became more pessimistic. This attitude finds its expression in `` The Story of an Hour '' when Mrs. Mallard questions the meaning of love and ultimately rejects it as meaningless. Lawrence I. Berkove notes that there has been `` virtual critical agreement '' that the story is about female liberation from a repressive marriage. However, he contests this reading and argues that there is a `` deeper level of irony in the story ''. The story, according to Berkove, depicts Mrs. Mallard as an `` immature egotist '' and a `` victim of her own extreme self - assertion ''. He also challenges the notion that Chopin intended for the views of the story 's main character to coincide with those of the author. Xuding Wang has criticized Berkove 's interpretation. In her article, `` Emotions in ' The Story of An Hour ' '', Selina Jamil argues that Chopin portrays Mrs. Mallard 's perception of her husband 's supposed death as fostered by emotions, rather than by rationality. Jamil claims that up until that point, Mrs. Mallard 's life has been devoid of emotion to such an extent that she has even wondered if it is worth living. The repression of emotion may represent Mrs. Mallard 's repressive husband, who had, up until that point, `` smothered '' and `` silenced '' her will. Therefore, her newfound freedom is brought on by an influx of emotion ( representing the death of her repressive husband ) that adds meaning and value to her life. Although Mrs. Mallard initially feels fear when she hears of her husband 's death, the strength of the emotion is so powerful that Mrs. Mallard actually feels joy ( because she is feeling ). Since this `` joy that kills '' ultimately leads to Mrs. Mallard 's death, one possible interpretation is that the repression of Mrs. Mallard 's feelings is what killed her in the end. In the same article, Jamil shows the repression that Mrs. Mallard faces as a wife. She realizes after her husband 's apparent death that she is `` free, free, free ''. This shows how her life would change and that she is now a new person and removed from the repressed life she faced before. No evidence is given in the story about how she is repressed, but her reaction to his death and her newfound confidence and freedom are enough. This repression of herself, that she dealt with, has now been removed, enabling her to be free. In a 2013 article, Jeremy Foote argues that `` The Story of an Hour '' can be read as a commentary and warning about technology -- specifically the railroad and the telegraph. The railroad, he claims, may be the cause of the distance between the Mallards ( and many other couples of the time ). It allowed for work and home to be very distant from each other, and eliminated opportunities for spouses to spend time together. Foote argues that the reason that Louise Mallard wanted more autonomy was because she and her husband did not spend time together. The alone time that Louise had in the house made her less close to her husband, and made her want her independence. The way the telegraph is used in the story can be viewed as a warning about a world in which information ( and people ) are moving too quickly. Instead of having enough time to think about and process the death of her husband, it is thrust upon Mrs. Mallard, in its entirety, followed within minutes by the shock of seeing him alive. As the title suggests, this is a story about the importance of time. It may not have been the events that happened so much as the speed at which they happened which is so devastating to Mrs. Mallard. Characters Louise Mallard is a young married woman, who feels constrained in her home and her marriage. Ellen Harrington states `` It 's not as if her husband is mean or abusive, but she is trapped in a relationship that limits her freedoms as an individual. '' She discovers that her husband has died and she feels liberated ; but soon after, her husband walks through the door, unharmed and alive, and kills his wife with a shock that was too much for her heart. Lawrence Berkove argues : `` As we look at the character of Mrs. Mallard, we can take into account that, while she is happy her husband has died, she 's not involved in a loveless marriage, nor is she abused or oppressed by her husband. '' In fact Chopin states in her story, `` She did love him. Sometimes. '' Mrs. Mallard wished no ill on her husband and is even sad when she first hears the news. However, upon reflection, she decides this is a good thing. She is free to live her own life again and decides she is happy her husband has died. This offers us a glimpse into the dark side of her personality. Is this a mere expression of freedom, or is she excited to be free of this man who she believes has held her back ? The story is vague on that particular topic. Mahmoud Sabbaugh states `` It is more or less up to the reader to decide if Louise Mallard is a feminist champion, or a monster who wished death upon her husband. '' Film adaptation In 1984, Director Tina Rathbone released a film adaptation of the story titled The Joy That Kills. This film is based on Kate Chopin 's story, `` The Story of an Hour ''. Frances Conroy also suffers from a heart ailment, just like Lousie Mallard does. This production is mostly concerned with the psychological state. References Jump up ^ Jamil, Selina S. `` Emotions in ' The Story of an Hour ' '' Explicator ( 2009 ) : 215 -- 220. EBSCOhost. Jump up ^ Toth, Emily ( 1999 ). Unveiling Kate Chopin. Jackson : University Press of Mississippi, p. 10, ISBN 978 - 1 - 57806 - 101 - 3. Jump up ^ Kennedy, X.J. ( 2016 ). Literature An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. University of Southern California. p. 548. Jump up ^ `` Marriage and The Story of An Hour ''. Odyssey. 2016 - 09 - 07. Retrieved 2017 - 05 - 08. Jump up ^ `` SparkNotes : The Story of an Hour : Themes, Motifs, and Symbols ''. www.sparknotes.com. Jump up ^ Bender, Bert ( 1991 ). `` The Teeth of Desire : The Awakening and the Descent of Man ''. American Literature 63 ( 3 ) : 459 -- 473. Jump up ^ Berkove, Lawrence L. ( 2000 ) `` Fatal Self - Assertion in Kate Chopin 's ' The Story of an Hour. ' '' American Literary Realism 32 ( 2 ) : 152 -- 158. Jump up ^ Xuding Wang, `` Feminine Self - Assertion in ' The Story of an Hour ', '' English Department, Tamkang University, Taiwan ( 1 ) Jump up ^ Jamil, Selina S. `` Emotions in ' The Story of an Hour ' '' Explicator ( 2009 ) : 215 -- 220. EBSCOhost. Jump up ^ Foote, J. ( 2013 ). `` Speed That Kills : The Role of Technology in Kate Chopin 's THE STORY OF AN HOUR ''. The Explicator. 71 ( 2 ) : 85 -- 89. doi : 10.1080 / 00144940.2013. 779222. Jump up ^ Corry, John ( January 28, 1985 ). `` TV REVIEW ; ' THE JOY THAT KILLS, ' ON WNET ''. nytimes.com. New York Times. Retrieved November 13, 2017. External links Wikisource has original text related to this article : The Story of an Hour The Story of an Hour public domain audiobook at LibriVox Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Story_of_an_Hour&oldid=837055176 '' Categories : 1894 short stories Feminist fiction Short stories by Kate Chopin Hidden categories : Pages using deprecated image syntax Articles with LibriVox links Talk Contents About Wikipedia Wikisource 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 18 April 2018, at 13 : 07. About Wikipedia

Question: who dies at the end of the story of an hour
Answer: Louise Mallard