Julio Zambrano

Eng-111-128

8 April 2017
"The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin (pages 397 - 401)

Reflecting On What You Know

Marriage is a big step. The idea of dedicating yourself to someone for life shouldnt be

taken lightly. Id have to be extremely sure of the chemistry I share with this person and the

dedication that person has to me. The advantages to such a union are mostly tax related. There is

also the benefit of following tradition. The disadvantages to getting married include a loss in

freedom. Marriage means giving a part of yourself up to your partner and a lot of people arent

secure enough in themselves to do that.

Questions For Study and Discussion

1. Mrs. Mallards sister and acquaintances assume that Mrs. Mallard was completely

devoted to her husband, in love, and thought him a great man. Her true feelings for him

are neurotic. She is anxious about having to spend the rest of her life with him.

2. The purpose of paragraphs 5-9 is to show that the world keeps moving even though her

husband is (supposedly) dead, and that she is still young and has the rest of her life ahead

of her. These paragraphs add to the effectiveness of the story in that they set up a

watershed moment.

3. The story would not evoke the same feelings it did if it took place over a longer period of

time. This is because with it only being an hour for her to take in all this information and

accept it, there was almost no time for her to enjoy the freedom her husbands death

provided. But that hour was all it took for her to acknowledge the cage she was in, and
 now that she had acknowledged it she wouldnt be able to tell herself she was happy.

Chopin selected the time frame as the title of the story because the story itself takes place

in an hour, her wedding ceremony took up what was probably around an hour, and both

events were life altering.

4. I think she chose to write a fictional narrative because it is easier for people to relate to a

story with characters that show their humanity, instead of a piece of nonfiction with hard

facts. Another advantage fictional narratives give her is that she doesnt have to make it a

lengthy read for her point to get across.

5. Chopin narrates the story in the third person so that the readers know their place as

observers to the events that occur. We watch from outside, and this implies that there are

other marriages we dont get to witness, as we did with the Mallards, where the happily

ever after ending is just a facade.