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The Story of an Hour Plot Graph
258
"The Story of an Hour"
Climax
Rising Action
Denouement
Exposition
Falling Action
Conflict
Exposition
At the beginning of the story the protagonist, Mrs.Mallard, and her heart condition are introduced. However, only further on in the text more information about her is revealed (e.g "she was young with a fair calm face").
She is labeled as a dynamic character as we see sudden and drastic changes in her mood throughout the story as her emotional situation & thoughts change.
Setting & other info
Setting- The story took place in a house during 1894
Atmosphere- An antmosphere of grief and sadness is created in the first lines of the story. (Which state the death of Mrs.Mallard's husband's death and that she had a heart condition) .
"Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble, great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband's death. " Para.1
Inciting Incident
Mrs. Mallard finds out that her husband was killed during a railway accident earlier that day
"It was he who had been in the newspaper office when intelligence of the railroad disaster was received, with Brently Mallard's name leading the list of killed." Para. 20
Inciting Incident
Quotes
"Knowing that Mrs.Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble, great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband's death". -Para. 1
"She was young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain strength."- Para. 8
Other Characters
Other Characters
Josephine - introduced as Mrs. Mallard's sister who brought her the news about her husbands presumed death
-flat character as she is only potrayed with very limited emotions
Richards- introduced as Mrs.Mallard's husband's good friend
-flat character as he does not appear greatly in the story and is not shown portraying any significant emotion
Brently Mallard- introduced as Mrs.Mallard's (supposedly diseased) husband
-flat character, despite driving the plot, there is no real change in his mental and physical state, as he is only shown in one occasion
Conflict
The main conflict in the short story “The story of an hour” is Louise Mallard’s conflict with her feelings, which is a person vs self conflict. Mrs.Mallard starts by feeling grief, however slowly starts to experience joy. This causes her to be greatly conflicted on whether she should let herself feel this "monstrous joy" or continue to remain in sadness.
"She was beginning to recognize this thing that was approaching to possess her, and she was striving to beat it back" Para. 10
Quotes
Rising Action
The majority of the story falls within the rising action. After the tragic news of her husband's death, Ms.Mallard has an internal struggle with her emotions, not knowing how she should feel about the loss. In the end, she realized that she was free at last; not without the grief of loss. Now, she intends to live her life to the fullest.
Quotes
"She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister's arms." Page 1 (Paragraph 3)
"She was beginning to recognize this thing that was approaching to possess her, and she was striving to beat it back with her will" - Page 1 (Paragraph 10).
"There was a feverish
triumph in her eyes, and she carried herself unwittingly like a goddess of Victory." Page 2 (Paragraph 9).
Climax
The climax of the story is when Brently Mallard arrives home, very much alive and completely unaware of the accident. This shocks Josephine, Richards, and Mrs. Mallard. This is climatic because the previous part of the story was building up to this moment, where emotions quickly changed.
Quotes
Quotes
"It was Brently Mallard who entered" Para.20
"He had been far from the scene of the accident, and did not even know there had been one" Para.20
"He stood amazed at Josephine's piercing cry; at Richards' quick motion to screen him from the view of his wife." Para.20
Falling Action
The falling action consists of the reaction of Mrs.Mallard when she saw her husband all the way to her death. It is inferred that Mrs.Mallard had no readable reaction (no facial expression) as though it is said in the story that both Richards & Josephine had a clear reaction, nothing about Mrs.Mallard is stated.
Quotes
"He stood amazed at Josephine's piercing cry; at Richards' quick motion to screen him from the view of his wife. When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease--"
-Final Para.20
Denouement
The denouement of the story took place in the final few words--which states the protagonist's death. More specifically stating that she had died due to heart failure, or rather due to "The joy that kills"(verbal irony was used to force the reader to look deeper into the story's meaning).
The theme was also established at this point: "live every moment, for you do not know which one may be your last”
"When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease--of the joy that kills." Para.21