Kate ChopinThe Story of an Hour

American author Kate Chopin (18501904) was born in St. Louis in 1850. When the author was four, her father died in a train accident. Started writing at age 39 Southern regionalist writer, most of her fiction is set in Louisiana her writing themes of class relations, relationships, and feminine sexuality shocked her 19th century readers. Died of a brain hemorrhage in St. Louis on August 22, 1904.

Catherine (Kate) OFlaherty

Family Kate raised 6 childrenHusband - Oscar Chopin

Written in 1894, published the same year by Vogue magazine

The story of an hour in the life of Mrs. Louise Mallard

Deals with the issues of female self-discovery and identity

Story of an Hour - Facts

Mrs. Louise Mallard: Protagonist with heart troubleBrently Mallard: Husband of Louise Assumed dead after a railroad disaster.Josephine: Sister of Louise She tells Mrs. Mallard of her husbands death. Josephine embodies the feminine ideal.Richards: Friend of Brently Mallard first hears word of Brentlys death.

Characters

Assumed during Chopins lifetime 19th century amongst Cajun and Creole societies in Louisiana

in the home of Louise Mallard. More about the location is not specified.

Setting

Themes Irony Female self-discovery Identity and selfhood Role of Women in Marriage

ToneIronic detachment, melancholy. The unrecognized or unspoken unhappiness that seems to rule her life is realized only upon word of her husband's demise, and swiftly taken away again at his arrival.

*

Motifs Broke/BrokenThe windowHer heart trouble

*

IronyWhat is understood to be true by the characters within the story and what is understood by the reader?

Reveals the distance between what appears to be true and what is actually true.

Style Simple action, detached point of view, third person limited.

The Story in Context: American experience and literary genre Published in 1894 in an era with many social and cultural questions occupied Americans minds, Chopins work shocked her 19th century readers. The story was initially rejected by Century and Vogue magazine. The Woman Question involved which roles were acceptable for women to assume in society. Women were not allowed to vote until 1920. Since the 1960s rise of the feminist movement, Chopins work has been rediscovered and is now acclaimed for precisely the reasons it was denounced during her lifetime.

*

*

*

*