QFS&D #7:

Ch. 14: The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin (397)

Marriage is a contract and it depends wholly on who is involved and how. The
thought can easily become frightening as you imagine all of the things you could be
giving up. But if that marriage sets out pleasing terms with a suitable companion
then it is well worth it and seems like a good deal. The advantages of marriage
include not dealing with the hassles of dating or the risk of losing support mid-
family. The disadvantages including giving up on certain activities and lifestyles that
are not compatible with ones spouse and the partial sacrifice of ones own agency.
1. Mrs. Mallards sister and acquaintances all try to let her know the news of her
husbands passing with gentleness and kindness because they believe she
will mourn the loss of her beloved husband. However, upon news of this she
begins drinking the elixir of life and feels freedom.

2. Paragraphs 5 through 9 provide sensory details to reorient the readers

emotions to empathize with the elation of Mrs. Mallard from the original dour
state brought on by the subject of the death of a beloved one. This serves to
cause us to empathize with the main character which invariably increases the
effectiveness of the writing.

3. The authors intent is to convey the impact of sudden change and emotions
of the main character, both of which are diminished with the passage of time.
If they happened all at once it would seem to be because of some mental
illness such as bipolar disorder rather than the digestion and appropriate
reaction to a change in circumstance.

4. Writing a fictional narrative gives the author a great degree of control over
events to make it harder for the reader to come up with a way to rationalize
the whole situation. I think she may have written this over a non-fictional
account to make the story only convey the massage she wants.

5. The author likely narrates the story in the third person so that the audience
can at first sympathies with the world as it perceives our main character and
then with our main character and the reality of things. Drawing this
distinction points out how easy it is to misinterpret things.