Mid-Term Writing Test

PART A. SHORT-ANSWER QUESTIONS

Why does Louise Mallard suddenly stop crying? Indicate the place in the text?

Louise realizes that she is now free of her husband's will; she has all her life in front her. We can clearly see in the passage that she sees this emotion coming, but tries in vain to stop it:

"There was something coming to her and she was waiting for it, fearfully. What was it? She did not know; it was too subtle and elusive to name. But she felt it, creeping out of the sky, reaching toward her through the sounds, the scents, the color that filled the air."


How does she feel about her future as a widow? Can you cite the line in the text?

While she will mourn her husband's death, Louise can still feel that her future will be one of freedom.

"There would be no one to live for 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."


Why is there so much description of what is outside the window when Louise is alone in her room?

The description of what Louise sees outside the window is vital to her upcoming illumination. It is by looking at the trees bursting with new life, the birds chirping and the blue patches of sky that appear after the rain that she realizes that she can now have the freedom her marriage did not allow her to have.


Explain how Louise can feel joy and sadness at the same time?

Louise's mind is trapped in a complex duality of feelings: one side her is telling her to embrace her new life as an independent woman , but the other side reminds her that her husband is dead and this is not a way to react to tragic news like this one. However, it is clear in the text that her joy of finally being free exceeds her mourning.


PART B. DEVELOPMENT QUESTION

While the story depicted by Kate Chopin in The Story of an Hour is impregnated with sorrowness, one can still feel a lot of social critisicm in the unfolding of the events. In the text that follows, we will see that the principal character, Louise, is an archetype of the women's place in the society of that time.

Mourning, depression, powerlessness – those are all emotions that can be listed as responses to hearing about a cherished one’s death. However, Louise’s husband’s death does not arise these feelings in her mind. Of course, the woman cannot escape the sudden sadness to run through her soul and body at first, but somehow she manages to make it stop its course. Being alone in her bedroom and looking at the new life emerging from her window, Louise realizes that all the negative aspects of her widowhood are less important that what she can gain from this experience. She now has power over her life; her husband will not be able to control her destiny from the skies. As it is said in the text : "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." By this, the author is trying to tell us that marriage or anything type of relationship should not swallow and make you forget about your own self, like it happened to Louise and thousands of women all around the globe. I believe that the author used a quite ironic ending to provide further proof that you should not wait to long to regain your identity. When Louise dies after seeing her husband, the physicians think that it is the joy created by that event that killed her. However, the reader knows that it is probably caused by the realization that she will never be free. The author is sending a message to all women to stop percieving themselves the way people want them to be (a perfect and obedient wife in this case), but to control our selfhood.

In conclusion, The Story of an Hour is a social critisicm that denounces inequality, sexism and the loss of our identity is the process. While still being of actuality, even a century later, we can say that things have progress since 1894. We now marry out of love and do not feel as confined as Louise in our relationships, but there is still inequality between the sexes. When will we reach total equality in our society and is it even possible?

Word count: 431