The Story of an Hour

Question 1

“Story” (Title)

Answer 1

• Form of the text
• Mrs. Mallard’s story she tells herself - unlikely

Question 2

“Hour” (Title)

Answer 2

Brief moment of joy / escape

Question 3

“heart trouble” (line 1)

Answer 3

• Shows Mrs Mallard’s fragility
• Metaphor for unhappy marriage?
• Foreshadowing later events

Question 4

“great care” (line 1), “gently” (line 2), “broken sentences; veiled hints” (line 3), “half concealing” (line 4)

Answer 4

• Protective language
• Sensitive

Question 5

“She did not hear the story as many women have heard the same” (line 9)

Answer 5

First indication she is diferent

Question 6

“She wept at once” (line 10)

Answer 6

Clearly upset but suggests a willingness to accept the news?

Question 7

“wild” (line 10)

Answer 7

Connotations of freedom / untamed

Question 8

“storm” (line 11)

Answer 8

Metaphor suggests short lived

Question 9

“alone” (line 12)

Answer 9

Indication of independance

Question 10

“open” (line 13), “open” (line 16)

Answer 10

Repetition - symbol of freedom

Question 11

“comfortable” (line 13)

Answer 11

At odds with situation

Question 12

“pressed down by a physical exhaustion that haunted her body and seemed to reach into her soul”

Answer 12

Personification - no control over her grief

Question 13

“new spring life” (line 17)

Answer 13

Symbol of new life

Question 14

“trees that were all aquiver” (line 16), “delicious breath of rain” (line 17), “crying his wares” (line 18), “twittering in the eaves” (line 19)

Answer 14

Senses are heightened - pathetic fallacy - nervous excitement

Question 15

“patches of blue sky” (line 20)

Answer 15

Symbol of hope

Question 16

“west”

Answer 16

Symbol of new beginnings / fresh starts