Name
The Story of an Hour
Date
by
1. What clues in the story indicate that it is set in the late 1800’s?
2. What is the significance of the title?
3. What are the conflicts in “The Story of an Hour”? Label the conflicts as internal or external.
4. Why did the author mention in the first paragraph that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with “heart
trouble”?
5. The setting of the story is very limited; it is confined largely to a room, a staircase, and a front
door. How does this limitation help to express the themes or big ideas of the story? In other
words, why is the setting so limited?
6. What tone is created in the description of the “open square before her house”? How does
Chopin create this tone?
7. What is Louise Mallard’s ultimate reaction to Brently Mallard’s death? Why? Provide evidence
from the text to justify your response.
8. Mrs. Mallard closes the door to her room so that her sister Josephine cannot get in, yet she
leaves the window open. What is the significance of the open window?
9. Mrs. Mallard is described as descending the stairs “like a goddess of Victory.” Explain the
literary devices Chopin uses here. (What are they, and what do they mean?)
10. Look back at the third paragraph. Explain the significance of the line, “She did not hear the
story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its
significance.” Knowing what you know now, how can you explain this statement and Mrs.
Mallard’s initial reaction to the news?
11. How is the ending of the story ironic? What type of irony is it?
12. Not until Paragraph Sixteen does the reader learn the protagonist’s first name. Why does
the narrator delay in providing the reader with Mrs. Mallard’s first name?
13. In the first full paragraph on the second page of the story, Mrs. Mallard considers if she did
or did not feel a “monstrous joy.” The phrase “monstrous joy” is an oxymoron—two unlike
terms which are paired together. Why does the narrator use this oxymoron? Justify your
response with evidence from the story.
14. What statement on women does this piece make?
Source: http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/primarysources_upload/images/kate_chopin_l.jpg