The Story of an Hour | Kate Chopin's Social Fiction
In the following portion of a chapter from a longer work, Papke interprets ''The Story of an Hour" as a story that warns against the consequences of what happens when "the individual changes and not the world.''
.... "The Story of an Hour,'' for instance, details a very ordinary reality and conscientiously analyzes that moment in a woman's life when the boundaries of the accepted everyday world are suddenly shattered and the process of self-consciousness begins. Louise Mallard, dutiful wife and true woman, is gently told that her husband has been killed in a train accident. Her response is atypical, however, and that is the subject of the story: what Louise thinks and feels as she finds herself thrust into solitude and self-contemplation for the first time.
Louise appears in the opening...
[The entire page is 1096 words long]
Join eNotes
The above is a free excerpt. Get total access to this content with the:
Summary and Analysis – Themes – Characters – And much more...
Join eNotes
Over 3,500 study guides, question and answer forums, literature criticism, reference content, and much more!
Navigate
Related Topics
Tell a friend about The Story of an Hour at eNotes.
