Forestall

– Verb

– To stop something from happening or to cause something to happen at a later time.

–  http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/forestall

– ” 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.”

–  In “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, the use of “forestall” is relevent becasue of the heart attack at the end could of been avoided.

Implore

im·plore – Verb

Description:

: to make a very serious or emotional request to (someone)

: to say (something) as a serious or emotional request

: to ask or beg for (something) in a very serious or emotional way

 Source:  http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/implore

 Found in :  The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin

 Quote:  “Josephine was kneeling before the closed door with her lips to the keyhole, imploring for admission. “  (2nd page, 4th paragraph).

Josephine was beginning and asking for permission to enter the room.  This was when Mrs. Mallard locked herself in the room after hearing her husband’s death. Josephine seemed worried about Mrs. Mallard’s well being.

Midterm- Passage 1

“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 had followed it went from her eyes.  They stayed keen and bright.  Her pulses beat fast, the coursing blood warned and relaxed every inch of her body.”

 

 

 

 

1. Story of an Hour

2. Kate Chopin

3. In this passage Louise alone in her room begins to realize that she is now an independent woman after her husband’s death.  This realization excites her.  By the excitement of this joy her heart starts beating fast and she feels relaxed and relieved to be free and ready to welcome a new beginning.

4. Chopin suggests that all marriages, even the kindest ones, are inherently oppressive. Louise, who readily admits that her husband was kind and loving, nonetheless feels joy when she believes that he has died. In some marriages independence is a forbidden pleasure that can be imagined only privately. Chopin shows us the oppressiveness of all marriages, which by their nature rob people of their independence.

“The Story of an Hour”

The very beginning of the reading began by telling us about Mrs. Mullard’s heart condition. I knew automatically that her condition will play a part though out the reading. Mrs. Mullard was portrayed as a sensible individual. I felt as if her reaction when informed about her husbands death was normal at first, I thought that maybe she wanted to be grieve alone. I now come to the conclusion that maybe she went  in the room because she didn’t want to display her true feelings of relief knowing her husband would be gone forever.

I believe that she had loved her husband and maybe the years took a toll on her very existence, The way she viewed her self in her relationship was more responsibly than love its self. As she reflected on her life she felt as if she was more of a prisoner than a willing wife. Mrs. Mullard was unable to control her emotions of joy. The reading describes her repeatedly saying the word “free” , this is concrete evidence of the way she viewed her unhappy marriage.

I  came to the conclusion that Mrs, Mullard died when finding out her husband was actually alive because, there was too many emotions spiraling at once, and her weak heart couldn’t handle so much at once. In my opinion it may be a twist of karma , maybe her husband felt same as her, maybe he will celebrate, how can one have a happy relationship with one who is not?. Maybe her death represented true freedom for Mrs. Mullard after all. Mrs. Mullard’s death could have meant everlasting freedom and peace. She had plans to finally live for herself in the coming years and a twist of fate happened, although it was not what she planed, Mrs. Mullard still gained her freedom form life as she knew it.

 

The Story of an Hour

The Story of an Hour has many turning points. From the beginning we were told that Mrs. Mallard has heart trouble. From that point on I knew that this would be a major part to when the rising action comes along in the story. The story has a repeating climax and falling action. At first the climax is where Mrs. Mallard is told that her husband had died in a railroad accident. To reassure Mr. Mallard had passed away, she was told he was the first one on the list. I was in when Mrs. Mallard’s heart problems didn’t give her a problem. Instead she went in her room crying and weeping. The setting was spring. That is where slowly she came to realize that she is now free. She has no one and she is able to do anything without any ones permission. As a reader I thought this was the end of the story. I came to realize that when the story was being told and the part that where someone was trying to open the door I came to realize this is another turning point. When the door had opened it was Mr. Mallard. He happened to not even know about the accident. This is where the falling action takes place. Mrs. Mallard saw Mr. Mallard alive and went through a shock & had died. Her heart problems took its part. They said joy that kills, but was it really joy that Mrs. Mallard died from?  new_doc

The Yellow Wallpaper and The Story of an Hour

In “The Story of an hour” by Kate Chopin I think that there is a reliable narrator. I believe this because in this story, the narrator is not a character. The narrator is talking in the third person’s point of view. This is the kind of narrator that knows everything about every character and gives you many details as to who the characters are, what they are feeling, what they are going through, etc. The narrator began the story by telling us a bit about Mrs. Mallard. The narrator told us “Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with heart trouble, great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible her husbands death. ” In that one sentence, the narrator told us a lot about the story. The ending of the story was also given away a bit because of something that the narrator had said. The narrator said “It was he who had been in the newspaper office when intelligence o0f the railroad disaster was received, with Brently Mallards name leading the list of “killed”.” I thought that it was weird that the narrator put killed in quotation marks. Overall I thought that the narrator was a reliable narrator because they told the audience all the details and everything they said led up to something else.

The story “The Yellow Wallpaper” is different from “The Story of an Hour” because I didn’t feel like the narrator in “The Yellow Wallpaper” was a reliable narrator. I feel like she wasn’t a reliable narrator because I believe that she was mentally ill. Her husband John is a physician who told her several times that she was not ill, but she still believes that she is. In the story the narrator says, “You see he does not believe I am sick!” I also think that she is a little bit sarcastic. She says, “If a physician of high standing, and one’s own husband, assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing the matter with one but temporary nervous depression-a slight hysterical tendency- what is one to do?” I found that a bit sarcastic because she is telling us that her husband says that she is not sick, but she has all of these things wrong with her anyway. Overall, I do not believe that she is a reliable narrator because she only agrees with her own point of view.

The Story of an Hour

In the story of an hour it is tell us of the reality of life, because in real life there are a lot women just like Mrs. Mallard who have go through a lot of things with their husband and just accept it as if it is nothing and let the treat them like they are a nobody but take it and consume all those negative. But at the end of the day she ended up going to seek pyschological help from doctors see things  more clearly. ” Free, free, free,” it stand for everything because she don’t have to continued to live a lie and pretending to be happy when all happiness have been gone for a long time in their marriage, she was so happy for the news that she had to take herself away from her sister and Richard, so she could take everything that was meaningless at one  time but now have great value meaning, no one to abuse her not physically but emotinally where it seems that she could not speak up tell him what was on her mind because she weren’t happy and it was taking a toll on her but was too scaried to let him know but instead stay in the unhappiness which turn out to be the end of her life. At the end of the story it was happiness for her no more low self esteem and no more husband to cause all those unhappiness that she had been going through in her marriage.

Aquiver

Aquiver-(adjective)

Definition: in a state of trepidation or vibrant agitation; trembling; quivering

Line 17 of “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin.-She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life.

This line means that it looked like spring outside and the wind was possibly blowing to make the trees tremble.

 

The sudden shock that killed Mrs. Mallard

While reading “The Story of an Hour” I noticed a numerous amount of emotions and patterns going on. In the beginning it was clear to see that Mrs. Mallard didn’t need much of an explanation about her husbands death. She just felt it coming and simply went to her room by herself with immense grief inside. I felt as if she was carrying a lot of baggage and stress on her shoulders as Kate Chopin said “Into this she sank, pressed down by a physical exhaustion that haunted her body and seemed to reach into her soul”. As I continued to read Kate Chopin described “the tops of the trees that were all quiver with the new spring life and the delicious breath of rain was in the air” which I felt described a final sense of relief and a brand new chapter. Mrs. Mallard then said over and over under her breath “free, free, free!” I believe Mrs. Mallard went through a lot of tough times over the years dealing with Mr. Mallard. I feel as if they had a lot of ups and downs and she was finally feeling a sense of calmness and peace although she was grieving at the same time. She now said that she’d only be living for herself and there’d be no one to live for her during those coming years. I think Kate Chopin made a strong point when she said “And yet she had loved him- sometimes. Often she had not” which she may have meant that she wasn’t always there for him. But didn’t really seem to care because she was finally free as if she was always locked in. She took some deep breaths, said a prayer while taking in everything happening so sudden when the front door opened and saw her husband standing there. After that, she had past way of heart disease. I feel the only reason Mrs. Mallard past so sudden was because of her age and heartache dealing with so many deep and strong emotions all at the same time. And while seeing her husband again and alive whom she finally processed in her head that was dead was just too much of a shock to handle. This was an extremely short story but had so many patterns of emotions going back and forth from sadness, relief, grief, happiness, and death.

Joy, Guilt, or Dissapointment?

This story by Kate Choppin ” The Story of an Hour” is really interesting. I admit I was becoming bored in the beginning but the story really picked up. It begins when Mrs. Mallard receives horrific news from her sister Josephine. She tells her in broken words because she doesn’t know how to break it to her sister. After all the grieving time spent with her sister and Richards, husbands friend, she made her way into her room alone. She “sank” in her chair staring out the window. Sank is a perfect word because that describes exactly what she’s feeling, emotionless and emptiness. This is where the story gets interesting. All of a sudden a “physical exhaustion” haunts her body and reaches to her soul. Her lips whisper ” free,free,free”.
Surprisingly her conscious is happy with the death of her husband because now she feels free. She sat in front of the window with her arms wide open, letting the world know she is ready to start a new life. She then whispers ” free! Body and soul free!” After she makes a quick prayer that life may be long, she opens the door, with the acceptance of a new life. The look on her face expresses joy and triumph. This is where the twist begins. As she walks down the stairs, the front door starts to open and it’s her husband who everyone thought was dead. When the wife sees her husband, she ironically dies. Doctors later confirm the cause of death was a heart disease. The real question is what caused the heart disease? Was it extreme joy seeing her husband is alive after all? Was it disappointment of seeing her husband alive after she already had moved on? Or was it the guilt she couldn’t deal with after she moved on so quickly?