WEEK 9-Short Story-"The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin

Hi Class: To further explore the story, discuss the questions below with a partner, and write and post your answers on your blog. You should use your notes from our class discussion to answer some of the questions. In addition, each of you are required to read at least 4-6 of each other's blogs and comment on them.
D. Westry


“The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin
Study Questions

1. The story says Mrs. Mallard “had loved him [her husband]–sometimes. Often she did not.” If she was “often” not in love with him, why did she marry him?

2. What was life like for Mrs. Mallard in the home of Brently Mallard?

3. In the report of the train accident, Brently Mallard's name was at the top of the list of fatalities (Paragraph 2). Does this information mean that Mallard was an important citizen in his community? Does it also suggest that perhaps Louise married him, in part, because of his standing in the community?

4. Do you believe Brently Mallard mistreated his wife? In answering this question, keep in mind the following: (1) In Paragraph 13, Louise Mallard recalls that Brently was kind and that "he had never looked save with love upon her." (2) However, Paragraph 8 had previously informed the reader that Mrs. Mallard's face "bespoke repression," and Paragraph 14 says Brently had a "powerful will bending her."

5. How much of Mrs. Mallard's apparent unhappiness in her marriage was her own fault?

6. After Mrs. Mallard receives news that her husband died in a train accident, she goes to “her room.” Do these two words mean that she slept separately from her husband? Does the fact that no children are named in the story indeed indicate that she and her husband slept apart?

7. Research the life of Kate Chopin (1851-1904). Then decide whether the death of her husband in 1882 influenced her when she wrote “The Story of an Hour,” published in 1894 in Vogue magazine.

8. Did author Chopin herself face problems similar to those of Mrs. Mallard?