Hollis 1

Connor Hollis

Junior English

Sheets-Sagoo

March 18th 2010

Responses to “Story of an Hour”

Psychoanalytical Criticism – She sobs like a child. There are many ways that a reader could

compare the actions of someone to a child. You could look at how they are physically acting;

perhaps they are in the fetal position. And the way that she cries, seems to resemble a child who

has recently thrown a tantrum, perhaps she is recovering from some emotional trauma and is

thrown into an infantile state of depression.

New Criticism – There are quite a few references to the sky, the blue sky, or like matters. “The

delicious breath of rain…” is another reference to a meteorological event. The story begins when

it is a rough cloudy day, and she experiences much pain and suffering, but as it goes along, she

seems to embrace his death, and the skies open as she starts feeling much better. The storms fade

as she accepts his death.

Reader Response – To me, I thought that Richard was keeping Brently out of the view of his

wife, because he was worried about what she might think of him, since he had delivered the sad

news. So, I can create a reader response critique by forming my thoughts of how the characters

in the story respond to certain events before Brently came into the house. It seems that Richard

was a nice guy, but wanted to be the one to deliver the news. So, if he is the one that delivers bad

news, and it is false he will be seen as a liar.

Hollis 2

Feminist Criticism – It would mean a wild duck, but since it comes from the Latin “masculus” it

is intended to mean a wild male duck. Since she is a woman, it could mean something about how

she might not have to depend on her man for strength. She is a strong woman perhaps? Chopin

was most likely using the roots of words to create a deeper meaning too much of the story. A

feminist critic would look at the details of the characters names to see where the influence of

actions, represents parts of the word or the words roots.

A Feminist Reading – The person that wrote this is quite a lot more perceptive to the inner

workings of the story than I could ever hope to be. The author sees that there is a masculine

dominance throughout the story. The fact that her name is mallard implies that man will always

be a part of her. And that she is being oppressed by the “masculine discourse”. Her death is

another example of how the man wins, because she had no offspring, and her husband was dead,

she was worthless to the male word. I find this a bit inane, but I’m not a critic. Her brief freedom

was because of her husband’s death, and she loves her freedom from male dominance. This

critique seemed a bit over-the-top, but it makes sense after I look back over the story.