Mid-term wtiting test (10%) - "The story of an hour"

Part A- Short-answer questions

1-What is Louis Mallard’s opinion of marriage?
Louise's opinion on marriage is that it is a will between the man and the woman, the husband and the wife, binding them sometimes against their own choices. Her opinion is in the 12th paragraph.

2-Why is there so much description of what is outside the window when Louise is alone in her room?
There is a lot of description to show that Louise is like born again. Being a widow, she feels just like new and now she can really live for herself. The description is there to show how she enjoys every single details.

3-Why did the author make the story so short?
The story is short because it only happens in an hour. The title : "The story of an hour" clearly indicates that all of the action takes place in an hour only.

4-Why does Louise Mallard suddenly stop crying? Indicate the place in the text?
Louise stops crying because she is beginning to feel something else, something new. She is beginning to feel freedom and joy. This is indicated in the 10th paragraph and the 11th one.

Part B- Developement questions

In this short story, the author uses irony to show some important elements to the reader. Irony is often used in english language to say one thing but to mean the exact opposite. For example, one could say " The weather is so nice today ." but he would actually want to say that the weather is really bad. It is used to create a certain importance on some themes the author wants the reader to pay a good attention.

At first, the author uses irony to show exactly how the main character, Louise really feels about her marriage with her supposely loved husband. When she is in front of everyone, Louise cries and weep after hearing that her husband is now dead, but when she is alone in her room, Louise starts to feel a lot of joy and freedom, while she is thinking that now "she would live for herself" as if while she was married, she was trapped in something she didn’t really wanted. What is ironic about this is that Louise thought she was happy in her marriage with a man she loved, but while really thinking about her ended marriage,she can also feel very free, joyful, and relieved. The author is trying to show that even if mariage is supposed to be a great thing and that everyone sees it as wonderful, there is another point of view about marriage wich is not that optimistic.

Second of all, the author uses irony when Brently, Louise’s husband, who is supposed to be dead, comes in alive and unaware of everything that happened. When the main character sees that her beloved husband is in reality alive, while she has been imagining her new and bright future alone and free, she is in real shock. After such a shock, Louise dies of "of heart disease--of the joy that kills"The author really used irony when she wrote the final line. She wrote that Louise died from the "joy that kills" wich means that she died in horror and despair of seeing her husband alive when she was so excited of his death, imaginning a whole new life living alone and free.

In conclusion, the author uses irony to show the reader some very important element of the story in which there is two main themes explored by the author, wich are marriage and love. Those two themes are very close but still different. The use of irony really helps the reader to reflect on the purpose of marriage, and on love in general.

Number of words: 427