âThe Story of an Hourâ by Kate Chopin is a great story to discuss for many reasons. Itâs especially convenient because it packs so much into just two pages. After you read âThe Elements of Fictionâ and âThe Story of an Hour,â re-read âThe Story of an Hourâ with pen or pencil in hand. Mark it up by identifying different elements of fiction you find in it, as well as anything else that stands out to you. When you take notes on a reading, what techniques do you use? Underlining, circling, bracketing, writing summaries, questions, observations, drawing arrows connecting similar ideas, defining words you didnât know, among other techniques are great ways to get into a text. Try a combination of these techniques.
For our discussion, consider how we as readers think about Mrs. Mallard and the death of Mr. Mallard in comparison to how we think about Mrs. Wright and the death of Mr. Wright. Use the elements of fiction to support your ideas, and be specific with examples from the readings (including quotations is a great way to support your claims).
Since comments should be roughly 150-250 words, you might find that you can’t say everything you want to say. There are many of us to contribute ideas, so no one commenter needs to say everything. That said, come back to contribute more by engaging in a discussion with your classmates. You can either respond to my post by adding a comment, or you can reply to someone who has left a comment. Reading other classmates’ ideas can help shape your ideas, so be sure to read carefully to best engage in the discussion. We might not have the same ideas, but we can learn from each other and expand our understanding of these texts through our discussion.
If you have questions about the texts, feel free to ask those, too. When I stated that comments need to be 150-250 words, that doesn’t mean you can’t also write additional shorter comments, especially if they are questions. And everyone should feel free to answer questions as well–that will contribute to our discussion as well.
In âThe Story of An Hour,â Mr. Mallard is killed in a railroad disaster. When this tragic news is given to Mrs. Mallard she is very devastated. As she retires to her room, she is thinking about death and how it is not avoidable. She is coming to the realization that she is a widow and that she will no longer have her husband with her. Mrs. Mallard also come to the conclusion that she has no reason of living, eating, cooking, and etc. when all those things were done because she was doing it out of love for her husband. So, now, Mrs. Mallard sees that she is living for herself and not for anyone else. Another point I want to make, is that Mrs. Mallard did not want to live anymore after hearing about her husbandâs death because she kept saying âfree, free, free!â and âfree! Body and soul free.â So, this led her to having a heart attack at the end of the story.
In âA Jury of Her Peers,â when Ms. Wright was being questioned by the narrator (which probably is a character in the story) about her husbandâs death she lacked any emotion. Instead, she kept pleating her apron and refused to fully answer the questions. Mrs. Hale (the neighbor and maybe the attorneyâs wife) and Mrs. Peters (the sheriffâs wife) came to the conclusion that Mrs. Wright, the lively choirgirl twenty years ago, was no longer lively because of Mr. Wright. Once in the marriage, Mr. Wright stripped the things that Minnie Foster (Mrs. Wright) loved to do, which was singing, and kept her quiet. The bird that sang to Mrs. Wright was also made silence, with Mr. Wright strangling it. So, Mrs. Wright took revenge and killed her husband. Both âThe Story of An Hourâ and âA Jury of Her Peers,â were slightly different. Although, both main characters husbandâs died, one husband died of an accident, while the other husband was killed by his wife.
Mrs. Mallard, hearing the news of her husbands death, felt an odd sort of elation. “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.” After her initial grief was over she had an epiphany and realized she was now ‘free’, her days were now her own and belonged to no one. She claims that although she loved her husband more often she did not. Her sister, thinking she might do something irrational and make herself ill, pleadingly asks her to open the door. To this Mrs. Mallard says she is not going to make herself ill instead she is drinking “the very elixir of life.” When Mrs. Mallard finally opens the door she is described as The Goddess of Victory, she descends the stairs just in time to see Mr. Mallard enter the house alive and well. Mrs. Mallard gives a piercing cry and later the doctors say “she had died of heart diseaseâof joy that kills.” Telling us that it was the loss of joy she felt at seeing her husband that was the ultimate cause of her death. Similarly in ‘A Jury of Her Peers’ Mrs. Wright also wasn’t entirely happy with her husband. Mr Wright described as âa raw wind that gets to the bone,â is dead and his wife, who in contrast is described as âsweet and pretty, but kind of timid andâfluttery”, is the one who killed him. A key theme in both stories would be the rebellion of women [against men]. Louise (Mrs. Mallard) realizes she is finally free and is now living for herself and Minnie (Mrs. Wright) frees herself. Although the outcomes of the two stores were different the initial theme is the same. The women in ‘A jury of peers’ rebel against the men and save Minnie by giving her a not guilty verdict. Louis on the other hand rebels in a different, more subtle way through her internal feelings of happiness.
Stephanie and Darth Vader offer different readings of Mrs. Mallard’s thoughts when she is alone in her room, and ultimately different readings of the cause of her death and that last line of the story. The next commenters might try to address this issue, drawing from Stephanie and Darth Vader, additional comments, and, of course, the text of “The Story of an Hour.”
In terms of Mrs. Wright’s experience with Mr. Wright, how do we understand their relationship? Do we get a sense from the stories that Mrs. Mallard had a better relationship with her husband? How do we know, or what seems omitted that prevents us from knowing? We can think about that question I raised in class on Wednesday–who is narrating, which we could also think of as asking who is telling us what we come to know?
I’ll return with more facilitation as more commenters add to the discussion.
I think Mrs. Wright was walking on egg shells in her home because Mrs. Hale observed everything in the Wrights home to be left unfinished. “she had been interrupted, and had left things half done” (Page 266, p.12). Also, the once Minnie Foster (Mrs. Wright) that wore pretty clothes and sang in the choir (Page 268 p.1) was no longer able to do this once she got married. Although, Mr. Wright was seen as a “good man in town” (Page 274 p.6), “he was a hard man” (Page 274 p.8). “Just to spend the time of day with him was like a raw wind that get to the bone” (Page 274 p.8). Therefore, I believe there was no intimacy between the Wrights. As for the Mallards, I see that Mrs. Mallard loved her husband. The way she expressed her devestation for his lost lead to her having a heart attack. I also want to point that there are many cases of one having their significant mate passing away and because of the loneliness, they pass away shortly after. This mainly happens with married couples.
In comparison both stories “The Story of An Hour” and “A Jury of Her Peers” the men are dominant have control of their women and the women are statisfied with the men gone. In “The Story of An Hour” the wife is confused with the news. She’s supposed to be a devoted wife so she mourns as she’s mourning looking at the world through the window she realizes that shes free and she becomes overjoyed ready for a new journey in life. No longer under Mr. Mallards power. Until Mr. Mallard is alive and she has a heart attack so that she can live free forever. In “A Jury of Her Peers” we know Mr. Wright was most likely controlling because he was killed in a way to inflict pain by his wife. Mrs Hale described Mrs. Wright as a young beautiful girl that cared about how she looked and she knew it changed while being with Mr.Wright because of the look of the home which was undone and wasn’t cheerful then again neither was Mr. Wight. Mr. Wright worked all day and didn’t have any friends or children his wife was lonely. she snapped because she wanted to be free of her husband. Shes free now and all she wanted was her apron.
In âThe Story of An Hour,â by Kate Chopin, Mrs. Mallard had been informed about the death of her husband, and was anguished. As she sat motionless in the chair, a possession overtook her and she began to whisper, âfree, free, free.â Stated in the story, âAnd yet she had loved himâsometimes. Often she had not.â Mr. Mallard was probably domineering in their relationship. Mrs. Mallard realized the death of her husband was not something which shouldâve devastated her because she was finally free. Free from her tyrannical husband. After a short while, someone opened the front door. It was Mr. Mallard. Mrs. Mallard died of heart disease. The sight of her husband alive basically took her newly found freedom away.
In âA Jury of Her Peers,â by Susan Glaspell, Mr. Wright was apparently strangled while his wife was asleep. She seemed to be very calm about the death of her husband. Mrs. Wrightâs kitchen had dirty towels, and pans. Mrs. Hale figured something caused her to delay her cleaning. Mrs. Wright had really enjoyed singing, and used to dress in pretty clothes back when she was Minnie Foster. Since she was married to Mr. Wright, she had lost her freedom, and eventually killed her husband.
In both stories, Mrs. Mallard and Mrs. Wright were robbed of their freedom by their husbands. They both were calm at the thought of their husbands being dead because their freedom in life was restored, and their lives would not have been limited anymore by their husbands.
Nadine
In “The Story of an Hour,” the plot unfolds as Mrs. Mallard struggled with conflicting emotions. Externally, the news of her husband’s death hit her like a ton of bricks and she broke down in tears in front of her sister Josephine and her husband’s friend Richards. After grieving significantly she retired to the solitude of her room. While Josephine and Richards waited for her return Josephine start to worry that the news may have been too much for her and she might be making herself ill. Ms. Mallard in the privacy of her room suddenly saw her husband’s death with new perspective.
Mrs. Mallard came to the realization that her husband’s death may actually mean a new beginning for her. She began to experience an internal conflict of her true feelings for her husband and the life of unhappiness they shared. At first she is afraid to acknowledge the truth that she was happy to be free of her husband. Then the realization hit her that this could be a new beginning for her. She then fearlessly decided to embrace the new life that widowhood would offer with much anticipation.
Her internal joy was short lived as her husband’s appearance proved to be too much for her heart condition. Mrs. Mallards died of overwhelming joy accompanied by shock.
In a “Jury of Her Peers,” the plot unfold as Mrs. Hale decides to accompany the sheriffs wife Mrs. Peters to Mrs. Wrights home to retrieve some of her belongings after she was arrested for her husband’s is murdered. On the journey Mrs. Hale began to feel sorry for Mrs. Wright. When they arrived at the house she started to feel even more sympathy for Mrs. Wright. As both women are left on their own they began to unravel clues that could provide a motive for the murder.
Mrs. Hale is the first to notice something is wrong but does not bring it to the sheriff or the attorney’s attention. As both women gather the clothing requested by Mrs. Wright they unravel further clues that could implicate Mrs. Wright. As women they both sympathized with the sad, lonely and horrific life that Mrs. Wrights surrounding indicated she was living. The dead bird apparently killed by the husband was hidden by the women from the sheriff and the attorney. Towards the end the writer gave the impression that the sheriffs wife would change her mind and give the evidence to her husband. However, after an apparent conflict of emotion she made an instant decision to stick to the unspoken plan and withhold evidence to protect Mrs. Wright who had been living what appeared to be an abusive life at the hands of husband.
The sheriff and the attorney have no idea the women have uncovered the clues they are searching for. They joked about trivial matters not realizing the true meaning behind the words indicated by the women that Mrs. wright wanted to, “knot it.”
In the story ” The Story Of An Hour” Mr Mallard was killed in a railroad accident. When Mrs. Mallard received the news she took it how any wife would have. Mrs. Mallard was sad, heartbroken, devastated any depression symptom’s. After a while of isolation she came to realize that she say that she is a widow. She has to live for herself. I believe that moment at the window did give her a answer she was looking for when she repeat over and over “free free free”. Being from the Caribbean I’ve heard a lot of people say when you married with someone for so long it hard to live with out them so, when you hear a elderly man die and wife will die right after.
In “A Jury of Her Peers” Ms Wright was the nice and beautiful wife who wasn’t completely happy in her marriage. Her husband was very controlling, he took always thing that she would of enjoyed. It seems to be that she killed her husband to be at peace. In both of these stories the wife became widows, the difference is one died by the hands of his wife. Now looking back at ” the story of an Hour” I believe both wives just want peace.
In “The Story of An Hour,” Mrs.Mallard is told that her husband got into railroad accident which led to his death. When she is told about her husband death, she retires into her room alone and locks the door. During the short time in her room, she goes through different phases in which she is speechless about the death of her husband, but then as she is looking at the window and see the outside world she realizes that her husband is dead and is “free.” When she knows that she is “free” now, she becomes excited to live again and starts to pray that she can live a long life in where she is “free.” Mrs.Mallard realizes that by being “free” from her husband she can live the life she wants to live and does not have to be under the presence her husband anymore. When she comes out of her room and walks down the stairs, she is described as “A Goddess of Victory,” but this is all shattered when her husband walks through the door. At the end, Mrs.Mallard dies from her heart disease which was described as “of joy that kills.” This can tell us that Mrs.Mallard dies from see her husband alive and is doing well even though she had dream of living a live where she was free from her husband.
In “A Jury of Her Peers,” Mr.Wright is found dead in his bed and his wife is arrested as a suspect for his death. The story mainly focus is on the Hales(neighbor couple ) and Peters(Sheriff and his wife) on what they do as they try to figure out who the culprit really is when they go to the scene of the crime. As they go around the Wright house to find evidence of the murder, Mrs.Hales and Mrs.Peters notice that in the house there was a lot of things that shows Mrs.Wright was going through many hardships with living with her husband. They point out that the birdcage door has been broken and they can assume that Mrs.Wright had been abused by her husband. They also noticed that her stitching was really messy which they assume that she had a lot of stress building up. Even though, Mr.Peter found them humorous the wives used them to conclude that Mrs.Wright indeed did kill her husband. While knowing this the wives did not want to tell the husbands that Mrs.Wright killed her husband and wanted to destroy the evidence.
In âStory of an Hour,â the narrator in third-person omniscient describes Mrs. Mallard heard the news of her husbandâs death from train crash from her sister Josephine. Her husbandâs friend Richards was there too. As Josephine carefully told her about her husband is dead, she silently went to her room with deep grief. She stayed in front of the window and all of sudden she felt âfree! Body and soul free,â and she kept whispering by herself. The narrator describes all her feelings after her thought of husbandâs death. After she sees her husband in front of the door because of her sisterâs begging, she died from heart attack, according to doctors saying it was âheart disease â of the joy that kills.â
In âA Jury of Her Peers,â the third-person omniscient narrator describes how Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale found out what happened in Mr. Wrightsâ death. In male dominant society, those two ladies are not able to do anything but they showed that they found out Mr. Wrights was killed by his wife Minnie Foster, when all the men didnât have any clue of this situation.
Mrs. Mallard and Minnie Fosterâs husbandsâ died in different ways where Mrs. Mallardâs husband died from train crash and Mrs. Wrightsâ husband was killed by his wife, but the both wives wasnât sad about her husbandsâ death. They shows dominating feminism in that period through the story.
I really enjoyed the story A Jury of Her Peers. Even the title gives a big clue as to what the story is about. It suggested to me that it will be about a woman because of the word ‘her’. It may also be about a crime that involves one of her peers or friends. It feels to me as if the entire story has clues and foreshadows everywhere. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters judged their husbands as being unreasonable and belittling. I feel the same way because of how the county attorney kept laughing at the things the ladies were saying. Even though the county attorney was obviously insulting the women, the husbands did not do anything. In fact, they seemed to enjoy his ‘sense of humor’. Another clue comes from the way they tried to look for evidence and continuously left the women in the kitchen because “women are used to worrying over trifles”, and “would a women know a clue if they come upon it?”
The characters of Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale influence our understand of how women of that period thought and how they understood the loneliness that Mrs. Wright must’ve experienced. The narrator’s tone also gives a clue as to how the narrator must’ve felt about the situation. The narrator gave more insights of the women’s points of view than the men’s. This makes me feel that the narrator is siding with the protagonist in this story. The narrator emphasized on his/her understanding of the women in the story and the unreasonable behavior of the men.
Setting plays a huge role in this story because it was repeatedly mentioned that the place was not cheerful at all. Mrs. Hale repeatedly tells Mrs. Peters that she never came to the house because of how depressing it was and how lonely it seemed. This setting is important because it can be the main cause of the crime in the story as Mrs. Hales believe. It could also be an outcome of what has happened in the house. Either way, the setting of the story gives us an idea of how the story will progress.
The stories are probably dated back in the 1800’s. This may have been a time when women still had no rights, or is beginning to have some rights. We can see that women are belittled throughout the story, and they can’t say anything about it. Once her husband asks her to leave with him, she has to leave everything half finished and leave immediately with him. Although I think situations are a lot better now for women, there are still stories about women who are mistreated. Women still do not have as much rights as men.
Over all, great read!
In the short story ‘The Story of an Hour’, the protagonist, Ms Mallard, is dealing with the news of her husbands death. When in company of her sister, Josephine, and friend, Richards, she puts on a facade to make everyone think she’s grieving her loss, but when left alone, she lets her true feelings out and seems relieved that he’s finally gone. Towards the conclusion of the story, she sees that her husband wasn’t killed and is greeted by him at her home. She then dies moments afterwards. The story is told in third-person limited. We only know the thoughts and feelings of Ms. Mallard and only know what other characters are doing based on what Mallard is hearing or seeing.
In the short story âA Jury of Her Peersâ, the husbands of Mrs. Hales and Mrs. Peters try to solve the case of who strangled Mr. Wright. When Hales and Peters discovers that Mrs. Wright killed him, due to the fact Mr. Wright treated her poorly, they cover it up so she wouldnât be convicted of murder. I believe the story is told in third-person omniscient.
Mrs. Wright and Mrs. Mallard both had some problems with their husbands and thought of them poorly. While Mrs. Wright was able to both avenge the death of her pet and rid Mr. Wright out of her life without being persecuted, Mrs. Mallards only escape away from her relationship was ironically her own death. Mrs. Wright had external help with her relationship by Mrs.Peters and Mrs. Hales , but maybe Mrs. Mallard wasnât able to find help or wasn’t brave enough to tell someone, even her own sister, about her and her husband relationship. Maybe if Mallard was more open with her sister, she might of been able to be alive and free from Mr. Mallard.