Life and Freedom: Reading Kate's The Story of an Hour

Kate chopin (185 1- 1904), formerly known as Katherine O 'Flaherty, is an American feminist novelist in the19th century. Her masterpiece is Awakening (1899).

Kate was born on 1850 in St. Louis, Missouri. Her father, Thomas O'Flaherty, was an Irish immigrant, and her mother, Irina Kaptelova O 'Flaherty, was a Creole and a descendant of the early French colonists in Louisiana.

Kate's father died in a train accident before she was five years old, and her mother became a widow at the age of 27 and raised four children, including Kate. Kate's growth is greatly influenced by her great-grandmother and mother. She used to keep a diary and write poems when she was a student. 1870, Kate married Oscar Chopin and had six children.

Kate's husband died in 1882 when she was only 32 years old. From then on, Kate officially took writing as her career. 1893, she published "Baby of Désirée" in Vogue magazine. From 65438 to 0899, Kate published the novel Awakening, which boldly questioned the bondage of women's freedom and self-awareness in society at that time and was attacked by conservative literary critics at that time.

Kate also wrote more than 100 short stories, which were later included in Hekou Folk Songs (1894) and A Night in Acadia (1897).

Kate 1904 died of cerebral hemorrhage. 1992, some of her lost manuscripts were found in Worcester, Massachusetts. These manuscripts are now at the Missouri Historical Society in St. Louis.

Kate's works often revolve around the theme of interracial marriage and the awakening of women's gender consciousness. The short story The Story of an Hour is one of the representative works. The novel was written in April 1894 and published in Vogue magazine in the same year. At that time, its name was Dream in an Hour, and it was changed to its current name when it was published again in St. Louis Life magazine on October 5, 65438/KLOC-0.

Kate once wrote down the expenses she earned for publishing this story: Vogue magazine paid her 10, which is equivalent to $280 now considering inflation.

The Story of an Hour describes the story of Mrs. Malarde, who suffered from heart disease, within an hour after hearing the news that her husband died in a train accident, focusing on her psychological changes when she was alone in the upstairs room. The ending of the story is also unexpected. Just after Mrs. Malarde decided to start a new life by herself, she went downstairs only to find that her husband was still alive, while Mrs. Malarde died of a heart attack.

The original title of this story is "an hour's dream". Compared with the current title, the original title is indeed more ironic: Mrs. Malarde gradually realized that she was free within an hour after learning of her husband's death, but an hour later she walked down the stairs only to find that her husband was still alive.

At the beginning of the story, it was pointed out that everyone knew that Mrs. Malarde had a bad heart, so they carefully told her that her husband had died in a train accident. There is no doubt that this is consistent with the author's own experience. His father died in a train accident and his mother became a widow at the age of 27.

The original English is passive voice (Mrs Mallard has a heart attack, so we are very careful to tell her as gently as possible …). The use of passive voice implies the passive position of women at that time and the general view of women, that is, women should be weak and not strong enough.

It should be noted that at first we only knew that she was Mrs. Malarde, and it was not until later in the story (paragraph 17 of the original English text) that her sister Josephine called out the name Louise of Mrs. Malarde. This also implies that women had no self-status after marriage at that time.

At first, after hearing the news of her husband's death, Mrs. Malarde did not accept the reality as numbly as everyone imagined, but fell into her sister Joseph's arms and cried, and then went back to her room alone, not wanting others to follow her. This implies that Mrs. Malarde's independence was different from the traditional women at that time.

Then for an hour, Mrs Malarde was alone in her room. She sat in the chair, but she didn't cry all the time. Looking out of the window, she saw the new buds on the branches and white clouds floating in the blue sky, smelled the fresh rain and water in the air, heard the vendors in the street, and heard the sparrows singing and chirping in the distance. The description of spring undoubtedly symbolizes the inner world of Mrs. Malarde. Although her husband died, she saw life and its continuation.

The following is a description of her appearance. She is still young, and her face shows beauty and strength. The simple description symbolizes Mrs Malarde's confidence. Mrs Malarde began to feel that something was going to happen. Although I don't understand it very well, a voice is getting clearer and clearer in her ear, and that is "freedom".

For her, this feeling crept into her heart, like a ghost approaching slowly, but for her, this is her own future, that is, no one will make decisions for her anymore, and no one can impose ideas on her.

Mrs Malarde realized that she was finally free. Even though her sister Josephine shouted Mrs. Malarde's name "Louise" outside the door and begged her to open the door, Louise refused. Louise thinks she is enjoying the elixir of life. Finally, Louise opened the door and went downstairs with her sister like a goddess of victory, her eyes shining with victory.

But just then, she saw her husband Malarde come in from the outside. It turns out that someone misinformed the news. The ending of the story is very short. I didn't see Louise's reaction. I just said, "But it's too late." Then the doctors said that Mrs. Malarde died of a heart attack in ecstasy.

The end of the story is obviously a satire on Mrs Malarde's belief that she is free. But is this freedom what Mrs Malarde wants? After writing this story, Kate once said in her diary: If her husband and mother can be resurrected, she would rather give up everything she has now, even if it means giving up the growth of the past ten years. From this perspective, Mrs Malarde still loves her husband, just as Kate still loves her husband and mother.