NEGROS ORIENTAL STATE UNIVERSITY

Literary Criticism
Feminist, Formalist, Biographical,
Readers Response & Psychoanalytic

Paculanang, Jireh Melody

 KATE CHOPIN
The Story of an Hour

Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was

afflicted with a heart trouble, great
care was taken to break to her as
gently as possible the news of her
husband's death.

It was her sister Josephine who told

her, in broken sentences; veiled hints
that revealed in half concealing. Her
husband's friend Richards was there,
too, near her. It was he who had been
in the newspaper office when
intelligence of the railroad disaster was
received, with Brently Mallard's name leading the list of "killed." He had
only taken the time to assure himself of its truth by a second telegram, and
had hastened to forestall any less careful, less tender friend in bearing the
sad message.

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 sister's arms. When the storm of grief had spent
itself she went away to her room alone. She would have no one follow her.

There stood, facing the open window, a comfortable, roomy armchair. Into
this she sank, pressed down by a physical exhaustion that haunted her body
and seemed to reach into her soul.
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 some one was singing reached her faintly, and countless
sparrows were twittering in the eaves. There were patches of blue sky
showing here and there through the clouds that had met and piled one
above the other in the west facing her window.

She sat with her head thrown back upon the cushion of the chair, quite
motionless, except when a sob came up into her throat and shook her, as a
child who has cried itself to sleep continues to sob in its dreams.

She was young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and
even a certain strength. 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.

There was something coming to her and she was waiting for it, fearfully.
What was it? She did not know; it was too subtle and elusive to name. But
she felt it, creeping out of the sky, reaching toward her through the sounds,
the scents, the color that filled the air.

Now her bosom rose and fell tumultuously. She was beginning to recognize
this thing that was approaching to possess her, and she was striving to beat
it back with her will — as powerless as her two white slender hands would
have been. When she 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. She did not stop
to ask if it were or were not a monstrous joy that held her. A clear and
exalted perception enabled her to dismiss the suggestion as trivial.

She knew that she would weep again when she saw the kind, tender hands
folded in death; the face that had never looked save with love upon her,
fixed and gray and dead. But she saw beyond that bitter moment a long
procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely. And she
opened and spread her arms out to them in welcome. There would be no
one to live for her 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. A kind intention or a cruel intention made the act
seem no less a crime as she looked upon it in that brief moment of
illumination.

And yet she had loved him — sometimes. Often she had not. What did it
matter! What could love, the unsolved mystery, count for in face of this
possession of self-assertion which she suddenly recognized as the strongest
impulse of her being!

"Free! Body and soul free!" she kept whispering.

Josephine was kneeling before the closed door with her lips to the keyhole,
imploring for admission. "Louise, open the door! I beg, open the door — you
will make yourself ill. What are you doing, Louise? For heaven's sake open
the door."

"Go away. I am not making myself ill." No; she was drinking in a very elixir
of life through that open window. Her fancy was running riot along those
days ahead of her. Spring days, and summer days, and all sorts of days
that would be her own. She breathed a quick prayer that life might be long.
It was only yesterday she had thought with a shudder that life might be
long.

She arose at length and opened the door to her sister's importunities. There
was a feverish triumph in her eyes, and she carried herself unwittingly like
a goddess of Victory. She clasped her sister's waist, and together they
descended the stairs. Richards stood waiting for them at the bottom.

Someone was opening the front door with a latchkey. It was Brently
Mallard who entered, a little travel-stained, composedly carrying his grip-
sack and umbrella. He had been far from the scene of the accident, and did
not even know there had been one. He stood amazed at Josephine's piercing
cry; at Richards' quick motion to screen him from the view of his wife.

But Richards was too late.

When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease — of the joy
that kills.
Feminist Approach

In the short story, Chopin reveals a deep rooted problem women faced in
marital relationships. As in "The Story of an Hour" she plotted the idea that
women were oppressed through unhappy marriages. Through this idea, she
voiced that marriages were institutions that put restraints upon women.
Husbands held the power and often imposed their will onto their wives. The
wives had no other choice but to bend to the husband's will. Even if the
husband were gentle men, women had no sense of freedom or individuality
and were inferior to men. Unfortunately, women had no control over their
lives, they were slaves whose only main priority was to live for their owner
(husband) rather than themselves. Thus, it brought an unhealthy balance
between both in society and marriage.

In "The Story of an Hour" we are told that the protagonist suffers from a
heart condition and she was carefully informed of her husband Brently's
death. In the course of an hour we see the protagonist named Louise as a
weak person become into a stronger woman. She contemplates her newly
found independence and is delighted over thought of being free. This
surprising reaction reflects the feeling women had in the late 19th century
had towards marriage. Through this, Chopin voices that marriage meant
men had total control over women. The women were not allowed to have
their own identity, thoughts or purpose.

In Louise's case, her husband’s death frees her from the restraint of
marriage. Her once forbidden pleasure of independence will no longer hold
her back. For just an hour, Louise experiences and praises her freedom that
is no longer chained to her husband's control. As she looks out the window
we realize how marriage made her into someone who did not have an
identity. She has lived a life that has given her limitations, that she was
only her husband's wife and nothing more. She believed for a brief moment
that she no longer have a man that will "[bend her] in that blind
persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose
a private will upon a fellow-creature." This demonstrates that patriarchal
ideology that was the norm in the late 19th century.

Louise was an example of an average housewife who was not allowed her
own identity and freedom. I believe Kate had connection with the story and
the main character. When Louise felt a brief moment of sadness of her
husband’s death and then have it replaced with happiness, this reveals how
truly Kate felt when she heard the news of her husband’s death. Kate felt
restrained in her marriage, even though she truly loved her husband, she
was not happy. Even though, "The Story of an Hour" is a fiction story, it
speaks loud about the life of women in the late 19th century.
Formalist Approach
In Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour”, a formalist criticism is used to

show the forms of symbolism, imagery, and theme portraying the mixed

emotions of a wife who just lost her husband. Many people may overlook

some of the subtle things described in this short story as just being a

common occurrence, but it is much deeper than that. Going more in depth

with formalist criticism will help bring out all of the great, hidden qualities

the story possesses. Once formalist literary theories are found within, entire

aspects of the story change for the reader.

As we analyze the text, we can find imagery, which really helps bring

aspects of the text to life as we read. The short story, “Story of an Hour”

creates a vast amount of imagery in Mrs. Mallard’s changing emotions

throughout the text. “As she sets aside the world of social conventions, her

emotions underscore the individuality that is awakening in her. This thing

that is approaching her is her consciousness of her own individuality, and

she waits for it fearfully. Accompanying it is a monstrous joy that highlights

the colossal significance of self-discovery at the expense of the hollow

conventions that would dismiss her joy as horribly inappropriate and

unbecoming, Now, however, joy and hope lead her to an awareness that she

has become, as she realizes, she’s free.” This imagery makes the reader feel

more captivated in what kind of toil losing a husband is taking on Mrs.

Mallard. Considering most have not gone through a traumatic experience

such as this, it helps shed light on what one might feel for a better

understanding.

It is clear that the setting around Mrs. Mallard insinuates some instances of

symbolism throughout the story. The significance of the open window and
the spring setting playing a major symbolic role in the joy that Mrs. Mallard

experiences. The beautiful springtime setting is trying to captivate the

symbolical view of bliss in correspondence to Mallard’s feelings on her

current situation in the story. Aside from the setting, other things

throughout the text contain symbolic meaning as well. Another symbol is

brought to attention, Mrs. Mallard’s heart trouble is not so much a physical

ailment, as the other characters in the story think, as a sign of a woman

who has unconsciously surrendered her heart (her identity as an individual)

to the culture of paternalism. This repression has long brewed in the depths

of Mrs. Mallard’s heart (emotionally speaking), and it causes her to be

generally apathetic toward life. The physiological aspect of Mrs. Mallard’s

heart ailment appears to be, then, a result of the psychological burden of

allowing another individual such as her husband’s powerful will to smother

and silence her own will. This explains the reasoning behind Mrs. Mallards

sudden outbreak of happiness following her husband’s death.

A theme of occurring oppressiveness found in all marriages, which by their

nature rob couples of their independence. Even Mrs. Mallard, who readily

admits that her husband was kind and loving, nonetheless exclaims cries of

freedom after his death. Mrs. Mallard’s epiphany in which these thoughts

pass through her mind reveals the consistent oppressiveness of all marriages,

which by their nature rob people of their independence. One theme of the

story suggests that all marriages, even the kindest ones, are inherently

oppressive.
Biographical Approach
Kate Chopin is considered to be an author ahead of her time. Her characters

and stories were inspired by real people. In fact, Chopin drew from her life

experiences, finding plots, characters, settings, and relationships that she

included in her stories. Also, she took characters from people that she knew

in her life, creating individual characters from a type of person that she

would have known well.

There are some concrete parallels between Chopin's biography and some of

her more popular texts. There are some small glimmers of her life that exist

in the texts, but when they are compiled together, the evidence is obvious.

The connections are there - it is up to us to put them together accurately,

without coming to inaccurate conclusions, which has happened in the past.

Chopin wrote over one hundred narratives during her lifetime. Chopin's

short stories are ideal examples of how Chopin used her life to create her

stories. They are like little snippets of her life, with little twists and turns

along the way. Some stories draw from her childhood; others come from

situations that happened in her adult years.

Many of her stories start off with a tragic or shocking event. In Chopin's

short story, "The Story of an Hour," Brently Mallard's cause of "death" was

a railroad disaster. Although this is only mentioned in the beginning of the

story, I believe that the inspiration behind Mr. Mallard's cause of death can

be found in Kate's childhood. I think that "The Story of an Hour" is Chopin's

recollection of events that transpired when her father died, and I think that

she drew inspiration from her mother for the character Mrs. Mallard.

Chopin's childhood was marked with tragedy. At the age of five, Kate's

father, Thomas O'Flaherty, was killed in a railroad disaster just outside of

St. Louis. The entire family was there that day to see him off. There had

been 125 miles of recently completed railroad tracks connecting St. Louis

with the state capitol. A special locomotive was commissioned to carry the

more prominent members of the local society on the maiden voyage, and

Thomas 0 'Flaherty was at the top of the list. As they approached the newly

completed bridge over the Gasconade River, the bridge failed, sending all

occupants of the first few train cars to their death. As word came in back

home, the O'Flaherty family was devastated. This event marked the end of

Kate's happy childhood, as the next few years would be marked with more

tragedy.

This event greatly influenced "The Story of an Hour." In the opening, we

learn of Brently's death in a railroad disaster, with his name leading the list

of the dead. We also know that it has been checked twice. Although it is not

specifically mentioned, it is implied that Brently is a prominent member of

society, perhaps similar in stature to Chopin's father. It would be easy to

picture the disaster in the story the same as it happened to Thomas

O'Flaherty. Specific details of the accident are not given at any time in the

story. Perhaps this is because it would have come devastatingly close to

reality for Chopin.

The devastation over Brently's death in the Mallard family is clear - great

care is taken in breaking the news to Mrs. Mallard, because it is obvious that

Mrs. Mallard loved her husband in some way.

"She knew that she would weep again when she saw the kind, tender hands

folded in death; the face that had never looked save with love upon her,

fixed and gray and dead. "

At the same time, Mrs. Mallard did show some mixed feelings about her

husband.

"And yet she had loved him--sometimes. Often she had not. What did it

matter! "
Readers Response Approach
In the story of Kate Chopin “The Story of an Hour” it talks about a woman

named Mrs. Mallard who dies shortly after hearing about her husband’s

supposed death. In the beginning of the story, it is so sad knowing that Mrs.

Mallard has a heart condition and there’s horrible news that is about her

husband’s death caused by a train accident. Being the sister of Mrs. Mallard,

it’s a quandary on how to give the bad news to her. The news could

threaten her life if not delivered gently.

As the sad message breaks to her, I expect how she will react to the news:

shock, paralysis and an inability to comprehend events. However, she is not

paralyzed by the news. Though she wept at once but she understands it

immediately. Her ability to accept her husband’s death foreshadows her

eventual reaction to the news, her true feelings about it, which she may not

even understand at this point. It makes me think why she reacted that way.

It is very hard to have lost someone close to us but maybe all those time she

was not happy in her marriage.

Knowing the status of women during her time, I can fully understand that

why she is happy by the death of his husband. But the story doesn’t end as

what I want it to end: that she would live happily and have the freedom

after the death of her husband. It surprises me when it is only fake news

about her husband’s death. For me, her happiness and freedom should not

be taken away from her. As what the author end the story that she dies

after seeing her husband alive, I would still be happy that it ended that way

because she would be freer when she’s dead and not be with her husband.
Psychoanalytic Approach

“The Story of An Hour” by Kate Chopin is a story that shows the main
character’s deviation from the normal grief cycle after she learns of her
husband’s death. What is different about this story than other narratives
about grief is that the main character’s emotions accurately depict the
tension that exists between the three competing parts of the human psyche,
the id, ego, and superego. As Louise Mallard moves from learning of her
husband’s death to learning of his survival, her id, superego, and ego all
make an appearance through her actions and thoughts. Furthermore,
Louise ultimately faces her demise, as her ego is unable to diminish the
existing tension between her id and superego; Louise’s behavior, in fact, is a
successful depiction of the continuous tension that exists in an individual’s
id, ego, and superego. In “The Story of An Hour.” Louise Mallard
experiences emotional bipolarity as a result of her ego being unable to find
balance since her id senses freedom emerging from her preconscious, which
ultimately leads to her demise.

When Louise first reacts to the news of her husband’s death she is greatly
saddened, which can be viewed as her superego taking charge. When Louise
hears the news of her husband’s death she “wept at once, with sudden, wild
abandonment…she went to her room alone…pressed down by a physical
exhaustion that haunted her body and seemed to reach into her soul”
(Chopin 60). This quote exemplifies the emotional strain placed upon Louise.
At this point in the narrative, Louise is reacting in a way that had been
instilled in her by society. Louise’s superego enables her to act in a way that
is expected from society, which is why she started weeping. Furthermore,
Louise moves to her room in order to grieve. Both of these actions show acts
of Louise’s superego and the effects on her emotional well-being.
Freud’s theory of the id can be applied to the story when Louise has had
time to process the information of her husband’s death and she begins to
realize her potential freedom; the id begins to dominate over her superego
causing Louise to feel optimistic and joyful. The narrative describes a
seemingly innocent scene Louise sees as she looks out her window, but the
optimistic description of the view enables the reader to see a shift in power
from superego to id. The narrative describes Louise’s view by stating:

She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that
were all aquiver with new spring life. The delicious breath of rain was in the
air…the notes of a distant song which some one was singing reached her
faintly, and countless sparrows were twittering in the eaves. There were
patches of blue sky showing… (Chopin 60).

The optimistic vibe of this description should be apparent to every reader.

All of these optimistic descriptors are Louise’s id starting to reveal itself; it is
slowly gaining power against her superego causing her emotions to switch
vastly.

Furthermore, Louise tries to shift back to the opposite end of the emotional
spectrum, which can be viewed as her ego trying to balance the tension
between the id and superego. The ego can be seen taking power in Louise’s
thoughts as she sits thinking in a chair. Louise is not actively trying to
process the information of her husband’s death, but she is trying to hold
onto the tinge of optimism she feels revolving around the news of her
husband’s death. Louise recognizes that if she were to look out at the
window and reflect on her feelings, she would need to process and analyze
her feelings. By reflecting on her feelings, Louise would be giving in on the
id’s temptation to be happy about her husband’s death. Instead, Louise’s ego
is trying to make sense of the tension; it is trying to balance the opposing
feelings that the id and superego bring forth which causes Louise to feel
sadness again.

Louise’s next feels happiness as she realizes she may have freedom from her
husband, which can be viewed as Louise’s id gaining power. Louise’s idea of
freedom is moving its way from her preconscious to her conscious. As
Louise’s id begins to gain power again, the word-presentation of freedom
starts to form in her mind, although she is unable to put a name to the
thought. The stimulus of her husband’s death is starting to create a word-
presentation of the freedom she once had before she was married. As the id
gains power, the idea of freedom starts to rise from Louise’s preconscious to
conscious that causes Louise to feel hints of happiness again.

Ultimately, this can be seen as the superego’s last fleeting attempt at

gaining power over the id, but nonetheless, the superego failed. The id
regains power throughout much of the remainder of the narrative, which
can be seen by Louise’s extreme happiness, followed by her extreme shock.
The id reveals the freedom Louise will have in the near future as a result of
her husband’s death. The id had taken over Louise’s psyche; she no longer
tried to act in a way that would please society, and she no longer tried to
make sense of how she was feeling. Louise had come to terms that she was
now a free woman and could live for herself; there was no one to control
her id and it could run rampage.

When Louise’s husband is revealed to be alive, Louise’s ego becomes defective;

the ego can no longer support the tension between the id and superego,
plummeting Louise into a state of shock. Although the doctors in the
narrative state that Louise dies of a “joy that kills”, her death can
alternatively be seen as a faulty ego. Freud suggests that neurosis and other
mental sickness can occur when the ego is unable to handle the tension
between the id and the superego. When Louise sees that her husband is not
dead, she does not know how to cope with the news. On one hand, her
superego tells her that she should be more than elated to see her husband.
Society has instilled in Louise’s superego that one should be beyond joyful to
see a loved one safe, especially if it is a spouse. On the other hand, Louise’s
id realizes that the freedom that was realized previously, can no longer
exist. This very fact goes against the instinctual nature of the id; Louise can
no longer get what she desires and the id refuses to revert to being a
submissive wife. Since the push and pull of the superego and id deals with
two extreme opposites, Louise dies. The ego, unable to support the polar
opposite pulls of the id and the superego, ultimately cannot balance the two
opposing parts.

“The Story of An Hour” exemplifies the struggle between the triad of the
human psyche and the harmful effects it has on one’s emotional health. The
id, ego, and superego all reveal themselves through Louise’s actions and
thoughts revolving around the news of her husband’s death. The id can be
seen imposing the idea of freedom upon Louise, while the superego can be
seen imposing the idea of spousal love upon Louise. Trying to make sense of
the two, the ego tries to balance the opposing nature of the id and ego, but
ultimately fails. As a result of failing, Louise faces her demise. When applying
a Freudian psychoanalysis to the story of Louise, one is able to see how the
triad of the human psyche interacts with one another to cause emotional
strain.