Study Questions

EJAZZ SHAMID
November 18, 2008
“The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin



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?

I believe in this point in time women did not have as much choices in whom they married.

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

She was restrained from doing the things she wanted. She did not have many freedoms in her life

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?

I believe she married him because he was recognized 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."

I believe that Mr. Mallared probably had two sides to him. I believe that he was a different person when he was around her, and when in public he would change.

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

I believe she was not to be blamed because in this point in history she really had no choices she had to take what was given to her.

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?
This means that she is now the owner of the house and she now owns her own room.

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.

It did influence her a lot, because she can express herself through her stories

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

In some way but she did really go through the same situations.