Kate Chopin: The Story of an Hour, Essay Example

All that may be safely determined of the narrator in “Girl” is that she is a female, and clearly in a position of authority over the girl whom she addresses.  That she is female is clear from her precise knowledge of everything regarding how a woman should behave in the culture, and a knowledge revealing the layers of meaning behind the duties only a woman would perceive.  For example, after advising the girl on how to love a man, she adds: “If they don’t work don’t feel too bad about giving up” (Kincaid).  She may then be a mother, grandmother, aunt, or nurse; what matters is that the relationship is based on her imparting vital information to the girl, as her abrupt commands indicate that her authority is unquestioned.  Beyond anything, there is an urgency to the narrator’s role, suggesting as well the need to protect.

The fear expressed by the narrator regarding the girl’s becoming a slut is actually less of a fear and more of a sad certainty.  That is, the narrator assumes that the girl will go bad; in the three occasions when she refers to this, two assert that the girl is determined to be a slut, and the third emphasizes the narrator’s efforts to prevent this.  There is, however, the sense that the conviction is a device.  It seems the narrator feels that only by so defining the girl may she scare her into being good, a sense conveyed by the same urgency attached to every other instruction.   As to the girl’s reaction, Kincaid offers only two instances.  The first is an apparently unheard denial of doing wrong: “But I don’t sing benna on Sundays at all and never in Sunday school” (Kincaid), and the other is the more thoughtful questioning of an obstacle in fulfilling her duties.  Together, these reactions indicate both an understanding of the importance of the instructions and a spirit somewhat defiant and independent.

The “slut” warnings aside, the entire list makes up a whole far greater than the sum of its parts.  More exactly, it is essentially a survival guide for a woman of this culture, and this extreme nature is supported by the same quality of necessity attached to every instruction.  There is no room for variation whatsoever, as the importance of sewing a button on correctly is presented just as emphatically as the need to know how to smile at a man properly.  Then, the narrator’s sole question comes at the end, and through disbelief that the girl does not comprehend how the list creates the woman who will survive well in the culture.  This aspect in turn underscores the list as a highly developed strategy of manipulation; if the girl performs all the duties well, she will be perceived as the good woman more enticing to the baker than a slut, and thus allowed to feel the bread.

The reader of “The Story of an Hour” is made aware of the delicacy in imparting the news to Mrs. Mallard for two reasons, the first being a revealing of the norms in place at the time.  It is indicated that there can be no more horrific news for a woman, as her husband’s friend is careful to check on the truth of the tragedy, and only another woman could be sensitive enough to convey it to her.  Then, there is Mrs. Mallard’s weak heart to consider, so her sister employs: “veiled hints that revealed in half concealing” (Chopin).  The scenario as a whole points to an expectation that anything could happen from this news, so fragile is Mrs. Mallard and so reliant are women upon their husbands.

When Mrs. Mallard dies of the, “joy that kills,” Chopin is making use of powerful irony.  To the others, her death is due to her inability to cope with the reality of her beloved husband as alive.  As Chopin places the reader alone with Mrs. Mallard before this, however, a greater understanding is given.  The joy that kills her is actually the joy that is as suddenly taken away as it was provided.  In the brief time of reflection, this joy arises all the more strongly as she acknowledges having loved her husband, at least at times: “What could love, the unsolved mystery, count for in the face of this possession of self-assertion which she suddenly recognized as the strongest impulse of her being!”  Mrs. Mallard’s taking in of the view from her window symbolizes this glimpse of real freedom, previously and utterly unknown to her.  Her husband’s being alive, then, destroys the joy and kills her in the process.  Put another way, the joy that kills Mrs. Mallards is the joy that is killed.

Works Cited

Chopin, K.  “The Story of an Hour.”  2013.  Web. <http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/webtexts/hour/>

Kincaid, J.  “Girl.”  2013.  Web. <http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/virtualit/fiction/Girl/story.asp>