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Imagine a world where women are fighting for unprecedented rights, the economic climate is unpredictable, and new developments in technology are made every year. While this world might sound like the present day, it also describes America in the 1890s . 

It was in this world that author Kate Chopin wrote and lived, and many of the issues of the period are reflected in her short story, “The Story of an Hour.” Now, over a century later, the story remains one of Kate Chopin’s most well-known works and continues to shed light on the internal struggle of women who have been denied autonomy.

In this guide to Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour,” we’ll discuss:

• A brief history of Kate Chopin and America the 1890s
• “The Story of an Hour” summary
• Analysis of the key story elements in “The Story of an Hour,” including themes, characters, and symbols

By the end of this article, you’ll have an expert grasp on Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour.” So let’s get started!

“The Story of an Hour” Summary

If it’s been a little while since you’ve read Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour,” it can be hard to remember the important details. This section includes a quick recap, but you can find “The Story of an Hour” PDF and full version here . We recommend you read it again before diving into our analyses in the next section! 

For those who just need a refresher, here’s “The Story of an Hour” summary: 

Mrs. Louise Mallard is at home when her sister, Josephine, and her husband’s friend, Richards, come to tell her that her husband, Brently Mallard, has been killed in a railroad accident . Richards had been at the newspaper office when the news broke, and he takes Josephine with him to break the news to Louise since they’re afraid of aggravating her heart condition. Upon hearing the news of her husband’s death, Louise is grief-stricken, locks herself in her room, and weeps.

From here, the story shifts in tone. As Louise processes the news of her husband’s death, she realizes something wonderful and terrible at the same time: she is free . At first she’s scared to admit it, but Louise quickly finds peace and joy in her admission. She realizes that, although she will be sad about her husband (“she had loved him—sometimes,” Chopin writes), Louise is excited for the opportunity to live for herself. She keeps repeating the word “free” as she comes to terms with what her husband’s death means for her life. 

In the meantime, Josephine sits at Louise’s door, coaxing her to come out because she is worried about Louise’s heart condition. After praying that her life is long-lived, Louise agrees to come out. However, as she comes downstairs, the front door opens to reveal her husband, who had not been killed by the accident at all. Although Richards tries to keep Louise’s heart from shock by shielding her husband from view, Louise dies suddenly, which the doctors later attribute to “heart disease—of the joy that kills .”

Kate Chopin, the author of "The Story of an Hour," has become one of the most important American writers of the 19th century. 

The History of Kate Chopin and the 1890s

Before we move into “The Story of an Hour” analysis section, it’s helpful to know a little bit about Kate Chopin and the world she lived in. 

A Short Biography of Kate Chopin

Born in 1850 to wealthy Catholic parents in St. Louis, Missouri, Kate Chopin (originally Kate O’Flaherty) knew hardship from an early age. In 1855, Chopin lost her father, Thomas, when he passed away in a tragic and unexpected railroad accident. The events of this loss would stay with Kate for the rest of her life, eventually becoming the basis for “The Story of an Hour” nearly forty years later.

Chopin was well-educated throughout her childhood , reading voraciously and becoming fluent in French. Chopin was also very aware of the divide between the powerful and the oppressed in society at the time . She grew up during the U.S. Civil War, so she had first-hand knowledge of violence and slavery in the United States. 

Chopin was also exposed to non-traditional roles for women through her familial situation. Her mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother chose to remain widows (rather than remarry) after their husbands died. Consequently, Chopin learned how important women’s independence could be, and that idea would permeate much of her writing later on. 

As Chopin grew older, she became known for her beauty and congeniality by society in St. Louis. She was married at the age of nineteen to Oscar Chopin, who came from a wealthy cotton-growing family. The couple moved to New Orleans, where they would start both a general store and a large family. (Chopin would give birth to seven children over the next nine years!) 

While Oscar adored his wife, he was less capable of running a business. Financial trouble forced the family to move around rural Louisiana. Unfortunately, Oscar would die of swamp fever in 1882 , leaving Chopin in heavy debt and with the responsibility of managing the family’s struggling businesses. 

After trying her hand at managing the property for a year, Chopin conceded to her mother’s requests to return with her children to St. Louis. Chopin’s mother died the year after. In order to support herself and her children, Kate began to write to support her family. 

Luckily, Chopin found immediate success as a writer. Many of her short stories and novels—including her most famous novel, The Awakening— dealt with life in Louisiana . She was also known as a fast and prolific writer, and by the end of the 1900s she had written over 100 stories, articles, and essays. 

Unfortunately, Chopin would pass away from a suspected cerebral hemorrhage in 1904, at the age of 54 . But Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” and other writings have withstood the test of time. Her work has lived on, and she’s now recognized as one of the most important American writers of the 19th century. 

American life was undergoing significant change in the 19th century. Technology, culture, and even leisure activities were changing. 

American Life in the 1890s

“The Story of an Hour” was written and published in 1894, right as the 1800s were coming to a close. As the world moved into the new century, American life was also changing rapidly. 

For instance, t he workplace was changing drastically in the 1890s . Gone were the days where most people were expected to work at a trade or on a farm. Factory jobs brought on by industrialization made work more efficient, and many of these factory owners gradually implemented more humane treatment of their workers, giving them more leisure time than ever.

Though the country was in an economic recession at this time, technological changes like electric lighting and the popularization of radios bettered the daily lives of many people and allowed for the creation of new jobs. Notably, however, work was different for women . Working women as a whole were looked down upon by society, no matter why they found themselves in need of a job. 

Women who worked while they were married or pregnant were judged even more harshly. Women of Kate Chopin’s social rank were expected to not work at all , sometimes even delegating the responsibility of managing the house or child-rearing to maids or nannies. In the 1890s, working was only for lower class women who could not afford a life of leisure .

In reaction to this, the National American Woman Suffrage Association was created in 1890, which fought for women’s social and political rights. While Kate Chopin was not a formal member of the suffragette movements, she did believe that women should have greater freedoms as individuals and often talked about these ideas in her works, including in “The Story of an Hour.” 

Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour" a short exploration of marriage and repression in America.

“The Story of an Hour” Analysis

Now that you have some important background information, it’s time to start analyzing “The Story of an Hour.”

This short story is filled with opposing forces . The themes, characters, and even symbols in the story are often equal, but opposite, of one another. Within “The Story of an Hour,” analysis of all of these elements reveals a deeper meaning.

“The Story of an Hour” Themes

A theme is a message explored in a piece of literature. Most stories have multiple themes, which is certainly the case in “The Story of an Hour.” Even though Chopin’s story is short, it discusses the thematic ideas of freedom, repression, and marriage. 

Keep reading for a discussion of the importance of each theme! 

Freedom and Repression

The most prevalent theme in Chopin’s story is the battle between freedom and “repression.” Simply put , repression happens when a person’s thoughts, feelings, or desires are being subdued. Repression can happen internally and externally. For example, if a person goes through a traumatic accident, they may (consciously or subconsciously) choose to repress the memory of the accident itself. Likewise, if a person has wants or needs that society finds unacceptable, society can work to repress that individual. Women in the 19th century were often victims of repression. They were supposed to be demure, gentle, and passive—which often went against women’s personal desires. 

Given this, it becomes apparent that Louise Mallard is the victim of social repression. Until the moment of her husband’s supposed death, Louise does not feel free . In their marriage, Louise is repressed. Readers see this in the fact that Brently is moving around in the outside world, while Louise is confined to her home. Brently uses railroad transportation on his own, walks into his house of his own accord, and has individual possessions in the form of his briefcase and umbrella. Brently is even free from the knowledge of the train wreck upon his return home. Louise, on the other hand, is stuck at home by virtue of her position as a woman and her heart condition. 

Here, Chopin draws a strong contrast between what it means to be free for men and women. While freedom is just part of what it means to be a man in America, freedom for women looks markedly different. Louise’s life is shaped by what society believes a woman should be and how a wife should behave. Once Louise’s husband “dies,” however, she sees a way where she can start claiming some of the more “masculine” freedoms for herself. Chopin shows how deeply important freedom is to the life of a woman when, in the end, it’s not the shock of her husband’s return of her husband that kills Louise, but rather the thought of losing her freedom again.

Marriage as a “The Story of an Hour” theme is more than just an idyllic life spent with a significant other. The Mallard’s marriage shows a reality of 1890s life that was familiar to many people. Marriage was a means of social control —that is to say, marriage helped keep women in check and secure men’s social and political power. While husbands were usually free to wander the world on their own, hold jobs, and make important family decisions, wives (at least those of the upper class) were expected to stay at home and be domestic. 

Marriage in Louise Mallard’s case has very little love. She sees her marriage as a life-long bond in which she feels trapped, which readers see when she confesses that she loved her husband only “sometimes.” More to the point, she describes her marriage as a “powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature.” In other words, Louise Mallard feels injustice in the expectation that her life is dictated by the will of her husband.

Like the story, the marriages Kate witnessed often ended in an early or unexpected death. The women of her family, including Kate herself, all survived their husbands and didn’t remarry. While history tells us that Kate Chopin was happy in her marriage, she was aware that many women weren’t. By showing a marriage that had been built on control and society’s expectations, Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” highlights the need for a world that respected women as valuable partners in marriage as well as capable individuals.

While this painting by Johann Georg Meyer wasn't specifically of Louise Mallard, "Young Woman Looking Through a Window" is a depiction of what Louise might have looked like as she realized her freedom.

"The Story of an Hour" Characters

The best stories have developed characters, which is the case in “The Story of an Hour,” too. Five characters make up the cast of “The Story of an Hour”:

Louise Mallard

Brently mallard.

• The doctor(s)

By exploring the details of each character, we can better understand their motivations, societal role, and purpose to the story.

From the opening sentence alone, we learn a lot about Louise Mallard. Chopin writes, “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.”

From that statement alone, we know that she is married, has a heart condition, and is likely to react strongly to bad news . We also know that the person who is sharing the bad news views Louise as delicate and sensitive. Throughout the next few paragraphs, we also learn that Louise is a housewife, which indicates that she would be part of the middle-to-upper class in the 1890s. Chopin also describes Louise’s appearance as “young,” “fair, calm face,” with lines of “strength.” These characteristics are not purely physical, but also bleed into her character throughout the story.

Louise’s personality is described as different from other women . While many women would be struck with the news in disbelief, Louise cries with “wild abandonment”—which shows how powerful her emotions are. Additionally, while other women would be content to mourn for longer, Louise quickly transitions from grief to joy about her husband’s passing.  

Ultimately, Chopin uses Louise’s character to show readers what a woman’s typical experience within marriage was in the 1890s. She uses Louise to criticize the oppressive and repressive nature of marriage, especially when Louise rejoices in her newfound freedom. 

Josephine is Louise’s sister . We never hear of Josephine’s last name or whether she is married or not. We do know that she has come with Richards, a friend of Brently’s, to break the news of his death to her sister. 

When Josephine tells Louise the bad news, she’s only able to tell Louise of Brently’s death in “veiled hints,” rather than telling her outright. Readers can interpret this as Josephine’s attempt at sparing Louise’s feelings. Josephine is especially worried about her sister’s heart condition, which we see in greater detail later as she warns Louise, “You will make yourself ill.” When Louise locks herself in her room, Josephine is desperate to make sure her sister is okay and begs Louise to let her in. 

Josephine is the key supporting character for Louise, helping her mourn, though she never knows that Louise found new freedom from her husband’s supposed death . But from Josephine’s actions and interactions with Louise, readers can accurately surmise that she cares for her sister (even if she’s unaware of how miserable Louise finds her life). 

Richards is another supporting character, though he is described as Brently’s friend, not Louise’s friend. It is Richards who finds out about Brently Mallard’s supposed death while at the newspaper office—he sees Brently’s name “leading the list of ‘killed.’” Richards’ main role in “The Story of an Hour” is to kick off the story’s plot. 

Additionally, Richard’s presence at the newspaper office suggests he’s a writer, editor, or otherwise employee of the newspaper (although Chopin leaves this to readers’ inferences). Richards takes enough care to double-check the news and to make sure that Brently’s likely dead. He also enlists Josephine’s help to break the news to Louise. He tries to get to Louise before a “less careful, less tender friend” can break the sad news to her, which suggests that he’s a thoughtful person in his own right. 

It’s also important to note is that Richards is aware of Louise’s heart condition, meaning that he knows Louise Mallard well enough to know of her health and how she is likely to bear grief. He appears again in the story at the very end, when he tries (and fails) to shield Brently from his wife’s view to prevent her heart from reacting badly. While Richards is a background character in the narrative, he demonstrates a high level of friendship, consideration, and care for Louise. 

Brently Mallard would have been riding in a train like this one when the accident supposedly occurred.

  Mr. Brently Mallard is the husband of the main character, Louise. We get few details about him, though readers do know he’s been on a train that has met with a serious accident. For the majority of the story, readers believe Brently Mallard is dead—though the end of “The Story of an Hour” reveals that he’s been alive all along. In fact, Brently doesn’t even know of the railroad tragedy when he arrives home “travel-stained.”

  Immediately after Louise hears the news of his death, she remembers him fondly. She remarks on his “kind, tender hands” and says that Brently “never looked save with love” upon her . It’s not so much Brently as it’s her marriage to him which oppresses Louise. While he apparently always loved Louise, Louise only “sometimes” loved Brently. She constantly felt that he “impose[d] a private will” upon her, as most husbands do their wives. And while she realizes that Brently likely did so without malice, she also realized that “a kind intention or a cruel intention” makes the repression “no less a crime.” 

Brently’s absence in the story does two things. First, it contrasts starkly with Louise’s life of illness and confinement. Second, Brently’s absence allows Louise to imagine a life of freedom outside of the confines of marriage , which gives her hope. In fact, when he appears alive and well (and dashes Louise’s hopes of freedom), she passes away. 

The Doctor(s)

Though the mention of them is brief, the final sentence of the story is striking. Chopin writes, “When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease—of the joy that kills.” Just as she had no freedom in life, her liberation from the death of her husband is told as a joy that killed her.

In life as in death, the truth of Louise Mallard is never known. Everything the readers know about her delight in her newfound freedom happens in Louise’s own mind; she never gets the chance to share her secret joy with anyone else.

Consequently, the ending of the story is double-sided. If the doctors are to be believed, Louise Mallard was happy to see her husband, and her heart betrayed her. And outwardly, no one has any reason to suspect otherwise. Her reaction is that of a dutiful, delicate wife who couldn’t bear the shock of her husband returned from the grave. 

But readers can infer that Louise Mallard died of the grief of a freedom she never had , then found, then lost once more. Readers can interpret Louise’s death as her experience of true grief in the story—that for her ideal life, briefly realized then snatched away. 

In "The Story of an Hour," the appearance of hearts symbolize both repression and hope.

“The Story of an Hour” Symbolism and Motifs

  Symbols are any object, word, or other element that appear in the story and have additional meanings beyond. Motifs are elements from a story that gain meaning from being repeated throughout the narrative. The line between symbols and motifs is often hazy, but authors use both to help communicate their ideas and themes. 

  In “The Story of an Hour,” symbolism is everywhere, but the three major symbols present in the story are: 

•   The heart
• The house and the outdoors
• Joy and sorrow

Heart disease, referred to as a “heart condition” within the text, opens and closes the text. The disease is the initial cause for everyone’s concern, since Louise’s condition makes her delicate. Later, heart disease causes Louise’s death upon Brently’s safe return. In this case, Louise’s ailing heart has symbolic value because it suggests to readers that her life has left her heartbroken. When she believes she’s finally found freedom, Louise prays for a long life...when just the day before, she’d “had thought with a shudder that life might be long.”

As Louise realizes her freedom, it’s almost as if her heart sparks back to life. Chopin writes, “Now her bosom rose and fell tumultuously...she was striving to beat it back...Her pulses beat fast, and the coursing blood warmed and relaxed every inch of her body.” These words suggest that, with her newfound freedom, the symptoms of her heart disease have lifted. Readers can surmise that Louise’s diseased heart is the result of being repressed, and hope brings her heart back to life. 

  Unfortunately, when Brently comes back, so does Louise’s heart disease. And, although her death is attributed to joy, the return of her (both symbolic and literal) heart disease kills her in the end. 

The House and the Outdoors

The second set of symbols are Louise’s house and the world she can see outside of her window. Chopin contrasts these two symbolic images to help readers better understand how marriage and repression have affected Louise. 

First of all, Louise is confined to the home—both within the story and in general. For her, however, her home isn’t a place to relax and feel comfortable. It’s more like a prison cell. All of the descriptions of the house reinforce the idea that it’s closed off and inescapable . For instance, the front door is locked when Mr. Mallard returns home. When Mrs. Mallard is overcome with grief, she goes deeper inside her house and locks herself in her room.

In that room, however, Mrs. Mallard takes note of the outdoors by looking out of her window.  Even in her momentary grief, she describes the “open square before her house” and “the new spring life.” The outdoors symbolize freedom in the story, so it’s no surprise that she realizes her newfound freedom as she looks out her window. Everything about the outside is free, beautiful, open, inviting, and pleasant...a stark contrast from the sadness inside the house . 

The house and its differences from outdoors serve as one of many symbols for how Louise feels about her marriage: barred from a world of independence.

Joy and Sorrow

  Finally, joy and sorrow are motifs that come at unexpected times throughout “The Story of an Hour.” Chopin juxtaposes joy and sorrow to highlight how tragedy releases Louise from her sorrow and gives her a joyous hope for the future. 

At first, sorrow appears as Louise mourns the death of her husband. Yet, in just a few paragraphs, she finds joy in the event as she discovers a life of her own. Though Louise is able to see that feeling joy at such an event is “monstrous,” she continues to revel in her happiness. 

  It is later that, when others expect her to be joyful, Josephine lets out a “piercing cry,” and Louise dies. Doctors interpret this as “the joy that kills,” but more likely it’s a sorrow that kills. The reversal of the “appropriate” feelings at each event reveals how counterintuitive the “self-assertion which she suddenly recognized as the strongest impulse of her being” is to the surrounding culture. This paradox reveals something staggering about Louise’s married life: she is so unhappy with her situation that grief gives her hope...and she dies when that hope is taken away. 

Key Takeaways: Kate Chopin's “The Story of an Hour” 

Analyzing Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” takes time and careful thought despite the shortness of the story. The story is open to multiple interpretations and has a lot to reveal about women in the 1890s, and many of the story’s themes, characters, and symbols critique women’s marriage roles during the period .

There’s a lot to dig through when it comes to “The Story of an Hour” analysis. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, just remember a few things :

• Events from Kate Chopin’s life and from social changes in the 1890s provided a strong basis for the story.
• Mrs. Louise Mallard’s heart condition, house, and feelings represent deeper meanings in the narrative.
• Louise goes from a state of repression, to freedom, and then back to repression, and the thought alone is enough to kill her.

Remembering the key plot points, themes, characters, and symbols will help you write any essay or participate in any discussion. Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” has much more to uncover, so read it again, ask questions, and start exploring the story beyond the page!

What’s Next? 

You may have found your way to this article because analyzing literature can be tricky to master. But like any skill, you can improve with practice! First, make sure you have the right tools for the job by learning about literary elements. Start by mastering the 9 elements in every piece of literature , then dig into our element-specific guides (like this one on imagery and this one on personification .)

Another good way to start practicing your analytical skills is to read through additional expert guides like this one. Literary guides can help show you what to look for and explain why certain details are important. You can start with our analysis of Dylan Thomas’ poem, “Do not go gentle into that good night.” We also have longer guides on other words like The Great Gatsby and The Crucible , too.

If you’re preparing to take the AP Literature exam, it’s even more important that you’re able to quickly and accurately analyze a text . Don’t worry, though: we’ve got tons of helpful material for you. First, check out this overview of the AP Literature exam . Once you have a handle on the test, you can start practicing the multiple choice questions , and even take a few full-length practice tests . Oh, and make sure you’re ready for the essay portion of the test by checking out our AP Literature reading list!

Ashley Sufflé Robinson has a Ph.D. in 19th Century English Literature. As a content writer for PrepScholar, Ashley is passionate about giving college-bound students the in-depth information they need to get into the school of their dreams.

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A Summary and Analysis of Kate Chopin’s ‘The Story of an Hour’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

Some short stories can say all they need to do in just a few pages, and Kate Chopin’s three-page 1894 story ‘The Story of an Hour’ (sometimes known as ‘The Dream of an Hour’) is a classic example. Yet those three pages remain tantalisingly ambiguous, perhaps because so little is said, so much merely hinted at. Yet Chopin’s short story is, upon closer inspection, a subtle, studied analysis of death, marriage, and personal wishes.

Written in April 1894 and originally published in Vogue in December of that year, the story focuses on an hour in the life of a married woman who has just learnt that her husband has apparently died.

‘The Story of an Hour’: plot summary

What happens in that brief hour, that story of an hour? A married woman, Mrs Louise Mallard, who has heart trouble, learns that her husband has died in a railroad accident.

Her sister Josephine breaks the news to her; it was her husband’s friend Richards who first heard about the railroad disaster and saw her husband’s name, Brently Mallard, at the top of the list of fatalities. Her first reaction is to weep at the news that her husband is dead; she then takes herself off to her room to be alone.

She sinks into an armchair and finds herself attuned to a series of sensations: the trees outside the window ‘aquiver with the new spring life’, the ‘breath of rain’ in the air; the sound of a peddler crying his wares in the street below. She finds herself going into a sort of trancelike daze, a ‘suspension of intelligent thought’.

Then, gradually, a feeling begins to form within her: a sense of freedom. Now her husband is dead, it seems, she feels free. She dreads seeing her husband’s face (as she knows she must, when she goes to identify the body), but she knows that beyond that lie years and years of her life yet to be lived, and ‘would all belong to her absolutely’.

She reflects that she had loved her husband – sometimes. Sometimes she hadn’t. But now, that didn’t matter: what matters is the ‘self-assertion’, the declaration of independence, that her life alone represents a new start.

But then, her sister Josephine calls from outside the door for her to come out, worried that Louise is making herself ill. But Louise doesn’t feel ill: she feels on top of the world. She used to dread the prospect of living to a ripe old age, but now she welcomes such a prospect. Eventually she opens the door and she and Josephine go back downstairs.

Richards is still down there, waiting for them. Then, there’s a key in the front door and who should enter but … Mrs Mallard’s husband, Brently Mallard.

It turns out he was nowhere near the scene of the railroad accident, and is unharmed! Mrs Mallard is so shocked at his return that she dies, partly because of her heart disease but also, so ‘they’ said, from the unexpected ‘joy’ of her husband’s return.

‘The Story of an Hour’: analysis

In some ways, ‘The Story of an Hour’ prefigures a later story like D. H. Lawrence’s ‘ Odour of Chrysanthemums ’ (1911), which also features a female protagonist whose partner’s death makes her reassess her life with him and to contemplate the complex responses his death has aroused in her.

However, in Lawrence’s story the husband really has died (in a mining accident), whereas in ‘The Story of an Hour’, we find out at the end of the story that Mr Mallard was not involved in the railroad accident and is alive and well. In a shock twist, it is his wife who dies, upon learning that he is still alive.

What should we make of this ‘dream of an hour’? That alternative title is significant, not least because of the ambiguity surrounding the word ‘dream’. Is Louise so plunged into shock by the news of her husband’s apparent death that she begins to hallucinate that she would be better off without him? Is this her way of coping with traumatic news – to try to look for the silver lining in a very black cloud? Or should we analyse ‘dream’ as a sign that she entertains aspirations and ambitions, now her husband is out of the way?

‘The Dream of an Hour’ perhaps inevitably puts us in mind of Kate Chopin’s most famous story, the short novel The Awakening (1899), whose title reflects its female protagonist Edna Pontellier’s growing awareness that there is more to life than her wifely existence.

But Louisa Mallard’s ‘awakening’ remains a dream; when she awakes from it, upon learning that her husband is still alive and all her fancies about her future life have been in vain, she dies.

‘The Story of an Hour’ and modernism

‘The Story of an Hour’ is an early example of the impressionistic method of storytelling which was also being developed by Anton Chekhov around the same time as Chopin, and which would later be used by modernists such as Katherine Mansfield, James Joyce, and Virginia Woolf.

Although the story uses an omniscient third-person narrator, we are shown things from particular character perspectives in a way that reflects their own confusions and erratic thoughts – chiefly, of course, Louisa Mallard’s own.

But this impressionistic style – which is more interested in patterns of thought, daydreaming, and emotional responses to the world than in tightly structured plots – continues right until the end of the story.

Consider the final sentence of the story: ‘When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease – of joy that kills.’ The irony, of course, is that Louisa appears to have accepted her husband’s death and to have taken his demise as a chance to liberate herself from an oppressive marriage (note Chopin’s reference to the lines on her face which ‘bespoke repression and even a certain strength’ – what did she need that strength for, we wonder?).

So it was not joy but disappointment, if anything, that brought on the heart attack that killed her. But the (presumably male) doctors who attended her death would not have assumed any such thing: they would have analysed her death as a result of her love for her husband, and the sheer joy she felt at having him back.

Chopin’s story also foreshadows Katherine Mansfield’s ‘The Garden Party’ , and Laura Sheridan’s enigmatic emotional reaction to seeing her first dead body (as with Chopin’s story, a man who has died in an accident). If you enjoyed this analysis of ‘The Story of an Hour’, you might also enjoy Anton Chekhov’s 1900 story ‘At Christmas Time’, to which Chopin’s story has been compared.

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Analysis of "The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin

Self-Determination and Louise Mallard Living for Herself

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• Ph.D., English, State University of New York at Albany
• B.A., English, Brown University

"The Story of an Hour" by American author Kate Chopin is a mainstay of feminist literary study . Originally published in 1894, the story documents the complicated reaction of Louise Mallard upon learning of her husband's death.

It is difficult to discuss "The Story of an Hour" without addressing the ironic ending. If you haven't read the story yet, you might as well, as it's only about 1,000 words. The Kate Chopin International Society is kind enough to provide a free, accurate version .

At the Beginning, News That Will Devastate Louise

At the beginning of the story, Richards and Josephine believe they must break the news of Brently Mallard's death to Louise Mallard as gently as possible. Josephine informs her "in broken sentences; veiled hints that revealed in half concealing." Their assumption, not an unreasonable one, is that this unthinkable news will be devastating to Louise and will threaten her weak heart.

A Growing Awareness of Freedom

Yet something even more unthinkable lurks in this story: Louise's growing awareness of the freedom she will have without Brently.

At first, she doesn't consciously allow herself to think about this freedom. The knowledge reaches her wordlessly and symbolically, via the "open window" through which she sees the "open square" in front of her house. The repetition of the word "open" emphasizes possibility and a lack of restrictions.

Patches of Blue Sky Amid the Clouds

The scene is full of energy and hope. The trees are "all aquiver with the new spring of life," the "delicious breath of rain" is in the air, sparrows are twittering, and Louise can hear someone singing a song in the distance. She can see "patches of blue sky" amid the clouds.

She observes these patches of blue sky without registering what they might mean. Describing Louise's gaze, Chopin writes, "It was not a glance of reflection, but rather indicated a suspension of intelligent thought." If she had been thinking intelligently, social norms might have prevented her from such a heretical recognition. Instead, the world offers her "veiled hints" that she slowly pieces together without even realizing she is doing so.

A Force Is Too Powerful to Oppose

In fact, Louise resists the impending awareness, regarding it "fearfully." As she begins to realize what it is, she strives "to beat it back with her will." Yet its force is too powerful to oppose.

This story can be uncomfortable to read because, on the surface, Louise seems to be glad that her husband has died. But that isn't quite accurate. She thinks of Brently's "kind, tender hands" and "the face that had never looked save with love upon her," and she recognizes that she has not finished weeping for him.

Her Desire for Self-Determination

But his death has made her see something she hasn't seen before and might likely never have seen if he had lived: her desire for self-determination .

Once she allows herself to recognize her approaching freedom, she utters the word "free" over and over again, relishing it. Her fear and her uncomprehending stare are replaced by acceptance and excitement. She looks forward to "years to come that would belong to her absolutely."

She Would Live for Herself

In one of the most important passages of the story, Chopin describes Louise's vision of self-determination. It's not so much about getting rid of her husband as it is about being entirely in charge of her own life, "body and soul." Chopin writes:

"There would be no one to live for her during those coming years; she would live for herself. There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a will upon a fellow-creature."

Note the phrase men and women. Louise never catalogs any specific offenses Brently has committed against her; rather, the implication seems to be that marriage can be stifling for both parties.

The Irony of Joy That Kills

When Brently Mallard enters the house alive and well in the final scene, his appearance is utterly ordinary. He is "a little travel-stained, composedly carrying his grip-sack and umbrella." His mundane appearance contrasts greatly with Louise's "feverish triumph" and her walking down the stairs like a "goddess of Victory."

When the doctors determine that Louise "died of heart disease -- of joy that kills," the reader immediately recognizes the irony . It seems clear that her shock was not joy over her husband's survival, but rather distress over losing her cherished, newfound freedom. Louise did briefly experience joy -- the joy of imagining herself in control of her own life. And it was the removal of that intense joy that led to her death.

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The Story of an Hour

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Welcome to the LitCharts study guide on Kate Chopin's The Story of an Hour . Created by the original team behind SparkNotes, LitCharts are the world's best literature guides.

Story of an Hour: Introduction

Story of an hour: plot summary, story of an hour: detailed summary & analysis, story of an hour: themes, story of an hour: quotes, story of an hour: characters, story of an hour: symbols, story of an hour: literary devices, story of an hour: quiz, story of an hour: theme wheel, brief biography of kate chopin.

Historical Context of The Story of an Hour

Other books related to the story of an hour.

• Full Title: The Story of an Hour
• When Written: April 19, 1894
• When Published: 1894
• Literary Period: American Realism
• Genre: Realistic fiction
• Setting: The domestic realm of the late 19th century.
• Climax: Having accepted and rejoiced in her newfound freedom, Louise exits her bedroom only to find her husband coming through the front door, a sight that fatally shocks her heart with a “joy that kills.”
• Antagonist: The sexist and inhibiting expectations of women in 19th century society.
• Point of View: Third-person omniscient

Extra Credit for The Story of an Hour

Vogue Magazine. “The Story of an Hour” was originally published as “The Dream of an Hour” in Vogue magazine. Back then, Vogue was a newspaper published every week and was intended to cater to the upper class of New York. The publication also published another of Chopin’s most famous short stories, “Désirée’s Baby.”

Film Adaptation. In 1984, PBS aired a film adaptation of “The Story of an Hour.” The film was called “The Joy that Kills,” taken from the story’s last line, and was written by Tina Rathborne and Nancy Dyer.

Literary Theory and Criticism

Home › Literature › Analysis of Kate Chopin’s The Story of an Hour

Analysis of Kate Chopin’s The Story of an Hour

By NASRULLAH MAMBROL on July 28, 2021

Originally entitled “The Dream of an Hour” when it was first published in Vogue (December 1894), “The Story of an Hour” has since become one of Kate Chopin’s most frequently anthologized stories. Among her shortest and most daring works, “Story” examines issues of feminism, namely, a woman’s dissatisfaction in a conventional marriage and her desire for independence. It also features Chopin’s characteristic irony and ambiguity .

The story begins with Louise Mallard’s being told about her husband’s presumed death in a train accident. Louise initially weeps with wild abandon, then retires alone to her upstairs bedroom. As she sits facing the open window, observing the new spring life outside, she realizes with a “clear and exalted perception” that she is now free of her husband’s “powerful will bending hers” (353). She becomes delirious with the prospect that she can now live for herself and prays that her life may be long. Her newfound independence is short-lived, however. In a surprise ending, her husband walks through the front door, and Louise suffers a heart attack and dies. Her death may be considered a tragic defeat or a pyrrhic victory for a woman who would rather die than lose that “possession of self-assertion which she suddenly recognized as the strongest impulse of her being” (353). The doctors ironically attribute her death to the “joy that kills” (354).

BIBLIOGRAPHY Chopin, Kate. The Complete Works of Kate Chopin. Edited by Per Seyersted. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1969. Koloski, Bernard. Kate Chopin: A Study of the Short Fiction. New York: Twayne, 1996. Seyersted, Per. Kate Chopin: A Critical Biography. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1969. Toth, Emily. Kate Chopin. New York: Morrow, 1990

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Easy Insightful Literature Notes

The Story of an Hour Summary & Analysis

The story line / plot summary.

‘The Story of an Hour’ written by Kate Chopin in 1894 is about the tragic event or events that happened with Mrs. Louise Mallard one day.

The story starts with the news that Mr. Brently Mallard has died in a railroad accident. Richards, Mr. Mallard’s friend, is first to hear this shocking news and he informed the Mallard family immediately. Mrs. Louise Mallard has heart disease, so great care is taken in informing Mrs. Mallard about her husband’s death.

Josephine, Louise’s sister, takes the responsibility to break the horrible news to her. She says in broken sentences, the truth veiled in concealment. At once Mrs. Mallard breaks down completely. She goes wild with grief. When the storm of grief has subsided, she locks herself in her bedroom.

Sitting on an armchair near the open window of her room, she looks at the blue sky, physically exhausted. The spring air smells of upcoming rain, of fresh greenery and flowers. She can hear a distant voice singing a song, countless sparrows twittering madly somewhere.

Mrs. Mallard is now motionless in the chair with periodic sobs in between. She was quite young with a calm face. But now there’s a steeliness in her stare. But her gaze isn’t of reflection, there is no sign of intelligence and knowledge in that gaze. She goes quite still and waits with fear for what is coming for her. But she doesn’t know what exactly is coming her way.

Her bosom rises and falls tumultuously. She struggles to keep herself free from the clutches of whatever is trying to drown her. She fights and wins. In her semi-conscious state, she keeps whispering the word “free!” repeatedly. The fear and vacant expression is replaced by a calm, bright and keen expression. ‘At last I’m free’ is her first thought. She thinks that her husband, though kind, never really loved her. She felt suffocated and hopeless with him, not loved and cherished. But now that he’s dead, she can be free. ‘Free soul! Free body!’ are her exact words.

Josephine was kneeling outside Louise’s door, begging her sister to open the door. Louise screams that she’s fine and asks her not to worry for her. Her imagination has taken her on a riot. She was imagining herself during summer, winter, spring and in all the seasons alone, enjoying herself, without any restrictions or sadness.

All of a sudden, she rises and opens the door and walks down the stairs, hand in hand with her sister. But when she reaches the bottom stair, someone opens the door with a latch key. On the threshold stood Mr. Mallard, travel-stained and calmly carrying his umbrella and grip-sack. It is known that he was quite far from the place where the accident had taken place. In fact, he didn’t know there had been an accident at all, let alone that someone had put his name in the dead men’s list.

Then everything happens quite fast; Richard tries to shield Mr. Mallard from Mrs. Mallard’s view but it is too late. The shock of seeing him again kills Louise at once. When the doctors come, they say she died due to her heart disease.

The Story of an Hour: A Commentary on the Story

‘The story of an hour’, as the title suggests, is really a story of an hour of Mrs. Mallard’s life. It’s written in third person narrative technique from an unknown narrator’s perspective. The writing style is quite simple but intriguing as well. The author has done a great job in describing Mrs. Mallard’s despair and then her happiness. The story flow is quite smooth; nothing seems forced or unnatural.

The story starts with the news of Mr. Mallard’s death. The description is quite simple and can make the reader quite curious at the same time. The main concern of the story has been the character of Mrs. Mallard and the purging of her heart by the sad news. At first, upon hearing the news of her husband’s death, she went wild with grief but later came up quite happy to be free from all bondage — from the confinement of marriage. She has come out as a self-asserting and confident woman ahead of her time.

Mrs. Mallard was apparently never loved by her husband and was trapped in a loveless marriage. The event of her husband’s death prompted a kind of rebirth for her. And through this story, the author presents the social themes like male domination in society, and loveless, unsuccessful marriages. The position of women in the society is under the author’s scanner. It has been almost an identity crisis for Louise, which she feels she finds back after her husband’s death. That is why the unexpected return of her husband was so shocking for her.

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The Story of an Hour: Summary and Analysis 

July 24, 2023

Students who read this “ The Story of an Hour ” summary will gain a comprehensive understanding of a classic American text. In this article we’ll cover symbols and motifs, as well as several other significant literary devices. We’ll also revisit Kate Chopin’s past, and consider how a 19th century woman wrote relevant yet timeless works of fiction. Before reading on, make sure you’ve familiarized yourself with The Story of an Hour. (As the title suggests, it shouldn’t take more than an hour.)

“The Story of an Hour” Summary: The Author

Kate Chopin, born Katherine O’Flaherty in 1850 in St. Louis, Missouri, became renowned as a Southern writer of  short stories and novels. Yet she didn’t set out to write. Rather, the nuns who instructed her at the Sacred Heart Academy prepared her for the life of a well-to-do wife. She learned to conduct herself in matters of finance and household expenses. She consumed books of poetry, allegories, fairy tales, and novels. With the help of her great-grandmother, she also learned French, music, and history. Another teacher, Mary O’Meara, played a significant role by encouraging and forming Chopin’s talent in writing.

At the age of 20, she married Oscar Chopin, a cotton broker, and moved to New Orleans. Over the next eight years, she gave birth to six children and moved again, to Natchitoches, Louisiana. Only after her husband’s death in 1882, and her mother’s death three years later, did Kate Chopin start writing for an audience. Initially she wrote for therapeutic reasons, to combat depression born from loss and monetary struggles. (Her husband’s failed business left her with a debt of what would amount to 1.27 million dollars today.) By 1894, she’d published a number of short stories in newspapers and magazines, including “The Story of an Hour.”

Kate Chopin’s Works and Reception

Chopin’s stories showcased Louisiana culture and creole heritage. She set many stories in her own city of Natchitoches. Readers knew her as a Southern writer, writing with a particular geographical flavor. In fact, Chopin’s work, though regional, often attempted to go beyond identifiers of gender, class, and race. She wanted to change opinions on such matters by dropping characters into situations that would dissolve or muddle accepted conventions. In her story “Desiree’s Baby,” Chopin tackles a controversial topic of the time: miscegenation, or the state of being mixed-race. Her white character Armand must confront his own racism when he discovers he has black ancestry.

“The Story of an Hour” Summary (Continued)

As for the quality of her writing, critics did not remark so much on her literary finesse. Yet they condemned certain stories, as well as her most famous novel from 1899, The Awakening , as having immoral content. They found that Chopin’s depictions of female repression, troubled marriages, sexual constraints, and motherhood challenged prevailing opinions on a women’s place in society. Readers of “The Yellow Wallpaper” will remember how laws and codes prevented women from obtaining the same freedoms as men. We’ll see in the coming “The Story of an Hour” analysis how marriage acted as another institution to constrain women.

“The Story of an Hour” Summary

So what happens in “The Story of an Hour”? We can summarize this short story as the following. A woman with a heart condition learns of her husband’s death from her sister and husband’s friend. The woman retreats to her room. She sits facing an open window, as unknown feelings overwhelm her. After some minutes, she feels something beyond sorrow for her husband: an elated sense of freedom. She realizes that the rest of the years of her life will belong to her, and her alone.

She gets up and goes to her sister, who’s been calling through the door, attempting to check on her. Together they descend the stairs. Meanwhile, down below, the front door opens and the husband appears in the doorway, alive. The sister shrieks, and the friend attempts to shield the sight of the husband from the wife. Too late—the wife dies. According to the doctors who arrive shortly after, her death was brought on by excessive joy.

“The Story of an Hour” Summary: Characters

Four main characters populate “The Story of an Hour.” The first sentence introduces us to our protagonist, Mrs. Louise Mallard, who learns of her husband’s death. Thus, the husband, Mr. Brently Mallard, emerges as a second, offstage character. Josephine, Louise’s sister, and Richards, Brently’s friend, comprise the other characters. Josephine appears as a doting and considerate sister. She worries about her sister’s health in response to the news. When the sisters appear at the top of the stairs near the end, Louise is clasping her sister’s waist. This gesture implies an intimacy between them. And yet this intimacy does not extend to the Mallard’s marriage, which has a stronger hold over Louise than her sister. Josephine can only see her sister’s true feelings through a “keyhole.” She mistakes Louise’s emancipation for grief.

Richards appears just as considerate as Josephine, as well as logical and efficient in delivering the news of Brently’s death. Perhaps he works for the press, for he hears of his friend’s death in a newspaper office. Richards acts decisively at the end, too, attempting to shield Louise from something that will make her heart race. The doctors who arrive, while inconsequential as characters, prove to have more agency than Louise. They (falsely) write the end of her story in her place. Finally, offstage characters appear in “the list of ‘killed’” men, women, and children on the wrecked train. These characters play no part in the unfolding domestic scene. However, they serve as a reminder of the world the characters inhabit. Though women faced many ordeals in 19th century America, daily life exposed everyone to brutal risks and realities.

Characters in Depth: The Married Couple

Mrs. Mallard initially seems like a delicate, vulnerable character, due to her “heart trouble.” This nebulous affliction may give readers some doubt about her health. While the immediate mention of her heart may appear as a red flag, it could also act as a false alarm. Readers familiar with the 19th century will know that doctors at the time often misdiagnosed women. Fainting from wearing a tightly-tied corset, for example, could lead to a diagnosis of “nerves” and a month of bedrest.

The reader can deduce little about Brently. Everything we know of him comes through the siphon of his wife. As Louise digests the news of his death, she thinks about how “she had loved him—sometimes. Often she had not.” He does not appear in her eyes as a cruel man. And yet, Brently had what his wife calls a “powerful will.” He used this force of character over her, “bending hers” in “blind persistence.” Brently imposed his views, rules, and desires on his wife, simply because he believed she belonged to him. (While various states had begun enacting Married Women’s Property Acts , men still considered a marriage contract akin to a property deed. The property, in this case, was the wife herself.)

As Brently’s persona takes shape in Louise’s mind, so too does her character sharpen in the reader’s mind. Beneath her sickly appearance, we find compassion and a ferocious desire to live freely. Louise’s immediate tears for her husband and lack of calculation in wishing to be free of him reveal her kindness. Yet her joy at finding herself emancipated reveals an independence and strength of character.

“The Story of an Hour” Summary: Symbols and Motifs

A major symbol emerges in the form of Louise’s heart. While a heart traditionally represents love, Louise’s heart complicates this tradition. The “trouble” with her heart implies that trouble exists in her relationship. Though Brently “had never looked save with love upon her,” his feelings were only partly reciprocated. Louise’s love for her husband fluctuates—how could she fully love a man who expected her to behave like property? A closer look at the heart also sheds light on the motif of indoor/outdoor spaces. Just as Louise remains inside, with no freedom to move about independently, her heart resides within herself. No one can see its true feelings. Her feelings remain unknown, deemed irrelevant to her role of dutiful wife.

Other symbols support this indoor/outdoor motif. An open window in Louise’s room provides a passage between the two. Yet Louise cannot cross this boundary, she can only look out. (This window is already open when Louise returns to her room, implying that she contemplates this off-limits space frequently.) The square is also “open” and filled with noises: a peddler hawking goods, a neighbor singing, and chirping birds. The outside is full of life, as well as spring weather, which represents rebirth and new possibilities. Finally, the symbols of keys cement the indoor/outdoor motif. Josephine attempts to reach Louise by calling through a keyhole, yet marriage has created a wall between the sisters. It is Brently who possesses a latchkey, as seen at the end of the story. This key empowers him to move freely between indoor and outdoor spaces.

What’s in a Name?

Finally, we find another symbol in the “Mallard” surname. A mallard is a wild duck, from which comes the domesticated species. In marrying a Mallard, Louise has taken on a domesticated role, yet she seems to wish for a wilder existence. Male mallards have showy, iridescent colors. It doesn’t take much imagination to anthropomorphize the male mallard. It seems to be wearing a white collar, green hat, and brown suit. As for its more subdued partner, the female mallard has a plain, speckled brown plumage.

Finally, the mallard symbol adds to another subtler motif, this time of flight. As Louise watches the clouds, she realizes that Brently’s death will allow her to fly free of her subordinate position. The feeling that overwhelms her seems to come “creeping out of the sky.” And finally, when she emerges from her room, she “carried herself like a goddess of Victory.” Artists often depict this goddess with wings.

“The Story of an Hour” Summary: More Literary Devices

While examining the text for clues, we should mention several other literary devices that shape our analysis. For example, while symbolizing troubled love, Louise’s weak heart also foreshadows her sudden death. As it turns out, Josephine and Richards were right to worry. Another literary device, allusion, occurs when Chopin compares Louise to the goddess of Victory. In Greek mythology, this goddess, also called Nike, represents triumph. This allusion would have worked particularly well in Chopin’s day, when Greek and Roman Classics were widely studied. Chopin would have seen representations of Nike looking valiant in books, museums, and reproductions.

Finally, Chopin’s subtle and suggestive prose style could be considered another literary device. Her sentences, seemingly simple, discreet, and demure, act as a reflection of Louise’s multilayered personality. Through the writing itself, the reader can enter into her thoughts, and access a complex layering of ideas and emotions.

“The Story of an Hour” Themes

Major “The Story of an Hour” themes build on the symbols and motifs previously mentioned. Together, a troubled relationship, indoor/outdoor spaces, and flight work to critique the constrictive institution of marriage in America. While Louise does not appear to be in an abusive or manipulative relationship, the fact is that she feels trapped. While her husband lives, “she had thought with a shudder that life might be long.” When she hears he’s dead, she glimpses “a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely.”

Neither Louise nor Brently can fully live while the other is alive. Brently expects a humble, obedient, submissive wife—a wife without a will of her own. Yet Louise has a heart that beats a singular rhythm. As a wife, she must submit to living a reduced life, veiled behind pretense. She must feign being a person she is not, loving a man she does not.

While we know little about the circumstances of their marriage, we can guess Louise’s parents arranged it to some degree. Perhaps Louise selected Brently from among a larger set of suitors. Whatever the case, she must pretend to love Brently, and to mourn him. This charade is part of her marriage contract. Only as a widow can Louise benefit from the advantages of marriage without sacrificing her identity. This theme points to a larger critique Chopin makes throughout her works on the limited power of 19th century women.

“The Story of an Hour” Analysis

Much goes unsaid in “The Story of an Hour,” which makes analysis particularly important. For example, we know nothing of Brently’s income, industry, or fortune. We can presume he belonged to the upper-middle classes and has a sizeable amount of money tucked away. Otherwise, his apparent death would only add to Louise’s problems. Without money, Louise would have had to find work, and few jobs existed for women back then. While Louise might have become a governess, poorer widows would look for work in sweatshops, or even on the street.

Brently lives the life Louise envies. He can move about freely, on foot or by train. In fact, this train trip plants a mystery which remains unanswered by the end of the story. Why did Brently not ride his train? Did business—or pleasure—take him elsewhere? And why did he not send a telegram? Did he think his wife need not know? Whatever the reason, be it negligence, accident, or intentional deception, Brently’s lack of communication points to an imbalance of power. He answers to no one, while Louise remains bound to him.

“The Story of an Hour” Analysis Continued

Louise’s death can come as a shock to readers, despite the foreshadowing through her troubled heart. We can’t know for sure why Chopin gave her protagonist a tragic ending. Yet we can attempt our own explanations by considering the work as a whole. For a short story, “The Story of an Hour” is particularly short—more like the length of a fable. Fables impart basic truths or morals about life. In this light, we might find some moral or truth that Chopin wished to impart in Louise’s death.

Louise’s brief dreams of a better future are quashed when she sees Brently at the door. She realized that she remains his wife. Thus, the death of Louise can be read as a metaphor to represent the death of hope. Certainly, women had little room for hopes and dreams when their futures were decided for them by others.

Finally, when the doctors arrive, they pronounce Louise dead of “heart disease—of the joy that kills.” Yet readers have been given a window into Louise’s heart. We know she died of great disappointment. The joy her heart felt in finding herself free “warmed and relaxed every inch of her body.” It was the sight of her husband that stopped her heart. Louise’s tragedy is twofold. Not only does she die, but she remains misunderstood in death as she was in life. Even her memory becomes prisoner to a man who did not know who she could truly be.

“The Story of an Hour” Summary – What’s Next?

Readers who enjoyed this “The Story of an Hour” summary may want to try works by Henry James and Edith Wharton . And, for more English literature resources, look no further than the following resources:

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The Story of an Hour

Kate chopin.

The Story of an Hour

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Analysis: “The Story of an Hour”

The title “The Story of an Hour” references the amount of time that elapses in Chopin’s tale, which tracks the emotions and thoughts of the protagonist , Mrs. Louise Mallard , upon learning of her husband’s death. Though the story barely exceeds 1,000 words, Chopin creates a sense of temporal expansion by intricately plotting the transition of Louise’s feelings from grief, to liberation, to joy, to determination, and finally to shock at her husband’s unexpected return. By employing a third-person omniscient narrator, Chopin balances these observations of Louise’s interior life with observations of contemporary social expectations for women in 1890s America. She uses psychological realism , a literary genre that prioritizes character interiority over action, and that was popular with late 19th-century writers who were also influenced by the naturalist and realist literary movements.

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“The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin Literary Analysis: Plot, Themes, Characters, Setting, and Symbolism

Kate Chopin’s (1850-1904) short story “ The Story of an Hour” narrates events that happen within an hour. 

Louise Mallard is a young, calm, and frail woman who suffers from a heart disease. On this day, Louise learns from her sister Josephine and a family friend, Richards, that her husband, Brently Mallard, has died. She briefly weeps in Josephine’s arms and then heads to her room alone. 

While watching the street from her window, she feels an unknown feeling building up and when she gives in to this, Louise realizes that it is the joy of being free from her husband’s constant impositions on her life. The primary character then begins to envision an exciting future and imagines a life where she will live for herself. 

However, these feelings of joy and freedom are short-lived. As Louise walks down the stairs from her room, Brently walks into the house and she learns that her husband did not perish in the accident. Mrs. Mallard dies on the spot and the doctor rules that she died of joy. However, with the knowledge of her previous joy, it’s clear that her death is from the disappointment of losing the full free life she had envisioned. 

Let’s look at an analysis of the plot, main themes, characters, setting, and other minor literary devices in “ The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin

The Story of an Hour Plot Analysis

“The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin has a linear or traditional plot structure with an introduction, rising action, climax, falling action, and a resolution at the end.

The very first line serves as an introduction or exposition to the plot. Chopin states that Mrs. Mallard “is afflicted with a heart trouble.” This point sets up the rest of the events to come in the story, while it also introduces Mrs. Mallard’s signature trait. Her heart condition also creates a meek perception of her and explains why the other characters have to take great care when telling her sensitive information.  The exposition continues with news of Mr. Mallard’s death. Knowing Mrs. Mallard’s frail heart, Josephine breaks the news with care and “veiled hints that revealed in half concealing”.

A rising action begins in the next part of the story regarding how Mrs. Mallard takes in the news of her husband’s death. It’s expected that a woman learning that her husband just died would take the news with disbelief, loud wailing, or any reaction contrary to Mrs. Mallard. Instead, Chopin explains that Mrs. Mallard “wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister’s arms.” She then goes into her room, supposedly to mourn her husband.

The story comes to a climax when Louise experiences a feeling that’s contrary to the sadness of losing a husband. She realizes and revels in her newfound freedom thinking, “There would be no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself. There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature” 

“‘Free! Body and soul free!’ she kept whispering.”

After this, a falling action starts with Mrs.Mallard giving in to her sister’s incessant requests and opening her room’s door. Together, they descend the stairs, with Louise feeling victorious and triumphant over her new life. The story finally concludes with a resolution as Brently Mallard enters the room, revealing that he did not die in the railroad accident. Mrs. Mallard dies not because of the joy of her husband’s return, but because of the disappointment as her envisioned life of freedom flashes before her eyes.

Themes in The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin

Love and marriage as inherent issues is one of the themes this short story presents. The presence of love is not synonymous with a good marriage, as suggested throughout the plot.

Love and Marriage

Mr. and Mrs. Mallard love each other, and Chopin ensures we know this several times. While welcoming the freedom ahead of her, she still feels bad about her husband’s death because nevertheless, he was a kind man who loved her. “She knew that she would weep again when she saw the kind, tender hands folded in death; the face that had never looked save with love upon her, fixed and gray and dead” 

Louise also admits that she loves Brently, but not all the time. Most of the time she doesn’t. Despite this, she still perceives her husband’s death as a good thing and a gateway to freedom. It’s almost as if she has just been freed from an oppressive situation. 

Note that Mrs. Mallard does not state specifically any specific thing that happens during their marriage to change her feelings towards her husband. She instead rants on how marriage is will-bending, with men and women feeling the need to impose their will on others. In his analysis of the author’s works, Kate Chopin’s Life and Personal Influence , Jasdomin Tolentino affirms that Chopin grew up in an environment where women were always taught “to think independently, but also to be submissive to men.” This is reflected in the story as Mrs. Mallard rejoices in her newfound freedom and independence. 

Elaine Fortin in her 2014 essay Early Nineteenth Century Attitudes Toward Women and Their Roles as Represented By Literature Popular in Worcester, Massachusetts adds on this forced submission; “Submissive wives, who followed the, advice not to retort an abusive husband, received praise and were supposedly rewarded with a happy home and a faithful husband.” Chopin describes Mrs. Mallard with a “calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain strength.” Men, and the patriarchal society at large, repressed a woman’s need for individuality and independence, not even the strong could survive. 

Gender Roles and Gender Inequality

Like most feminist literature published around this time (1894), “The Story of an Hour” covers gender roles and gender inequality heavily as themes too.   

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, women got the brunt of gender inequality, as society perceived them as inferior to men. They were expected to always depend on their husbands or other male figures in the society like fathers or brothers, as Fortin describes in her literature review above. Domestic roles, including accommodating their husbands through cleaning and cooking, were among a woman’s primary responsibilities. And for those who managed to break these barriers, employment was characterized by lower wages with equal responsibilities, as well as gender discrimination at the workplace. Most women did not seek employment because they lived under their husband’s impositions, including the patriarchal perception that women should stay and tend to the home as men go out and become breadwinners. Fortin also adds that the women had little to no financial independence because everything either belonged to their husbands or fathers. 

In The Story of an Hour, Mrs. Mallard is an ideal representation of a woman in the 19 th century who is in search of lost identity and only feels she can achieve this in the absence of her husband. Of interest in the story is that it is only through a husband’s death that a woman during this time would grasp the taste of independence and freedom because then, she’s not living in the shadows of a man. Therefore, despite the sad news and her grief, Mrs. Mallard cannot help but feel happy because life is about to change for the best: she’s finally free. A majority of women did not have the slightest clue about independence and when Louise finally realizes that she is about to live life on her own terms, she’s in utter disbelief.

“She was beginning to recognize this thing that was approaching to possess her, and she was striving to beat it back with her will.”

It is also important to note that Chopin does not refer to Louise by her own name, but that of her husband, until later when we learn of her newfound freedom. In other words, Louise only finds her identity and independence after Brently dies because women in the 19 th century had to identify with a male figure.

From a feminist literature lens , The Story of an Hour falls under the first wave of feminism, when the movement heavily criticized the power of the patriarchal society and the effects it had on women, especially in marriage. An example is married women whose desires and identities were repressed to fit and serve men.

Character Analysis 

The story uses both direct and indirect characterization techniques to develop its four characters. Chopin uses a lot of direct characterization of Mrs.Mallard, while she leaves the audience to deduce the traits of the other three characters through indirect characterization. 

Mrs. Mallard is the primary character and protagonist . The story begins with details about her heart problem, casting her as fragile and setting the pace for the entire plot. “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.” Because of this, Josephine and Richards are careful when breaking the news of Brently’s death. It’s the same reason Josephine worries about Louise’s health when she locks herself in her room. 

“Louise, open the door! I beg; open the door–you will make yourself ill. What are you doing, Louise? For heaven’s sake open the door.”

The two worry that the news of her husband’s death would affect her while ironically, it’s the news of his survival that kills her.

Chopin further characterizes Mrs. Mallard as physically weak and mentally exhausted; traits that bolster the issue of repression painted in the story. 

 “…she was striving to beat it back with her will–as powerless as her two white slender hands would have been.”

It’s also evident in several instances that Mrs. Mallard feels exhausted with life, so much that, “It was only yesterday she had thought with a shudder that life might be long.” This exhaustion seems to stem from her marriage which has made her a repressed, dutiful, and submissive wife. 

 As she sits to process Brently’s death in her room, there’s “a physical exhaustion that haunted her body and seemed to reach into her soul.” Notice how this perception of her changes when she opens the door and descends the door to welcome and live her new free life. There’s “a feverish triumph in her eyes, and she carried herself unwittingly like a goddess of Victory.”

Although there’s no direct characterization of Brently, we can deduce a few things from Mrs.Mallard’s thoughts and actions. Given her perception of marriage, including hers, her husband  shares the same societal and patriarchal expectations of women during that period. She marvels, “There would be no one to live for during those coming years; … that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature.”

And yet, Mrs. Mallard knows that her husband loved her. She “ knew that she would weep again when she saw the kind, tender hands folded in death; the face that had never looked save with love upon her.”

The Story of an Hour Setting Analysis

The entire story takes place in Mrs. Mallard’s storied house. Spring season is just starting as the trees come to life and “patches of blue sky showing here and there.” 

Spring comes after winter; the cold, lifeless, gloomy, and repressed season. Spring is like a rebirth with its warm weather, as trees grow new life and nature becomes vibrant again. This setting is parallel with what’s happening in Mrs. Mallard’s life. After years of repression in a marriage to someone she doesn’t love, she’s finally free. Life suddenly feels vast and she longs for the life ahead of her, a life she’ll spend living off her own will. 

The two rooms where the story’s 60-minutes events take place both represent Louise’s different experiences that all shape the plot. The living room is where she learns about Brently’s death and also where she dies after learning of her husband’s return/survival. It’s a place where cannot be herself and is always under her husband’s will. Even in the end, the doctors conclude that she dies from the happiness of seeing her husband alive, while the true reason is that she has gained and lost her free will in less than an hour.    

Mrs. Mallard’s room, on the other hand,  is a setting that allows her to be herself, feel her true emotions, and envision a life of freedom. 

Symbolism and Motifs in The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin

Several objects in the story signify the freedom and rebirth Louise experiences, at least for a few minutes. Besides the setting discussed above, Chopin tactfully includes other instances of symbolism to signify Mrs. Mallard’s new life that promises “Spring days, and summer days, and all sorts of days that would be her own.”  

The open window with the view before her house has a view of things like trees filled with new spring life, patches of the blue sky amidst clouds, birds chirping, a distant note of someone singing, and so on. All these are signs of something coming to life. She’s embracing and welcoming her new life without Brently, “drinking in a very elixir of life through that open window.” These images and symbols of springtime also double as motifs that reinforce the new great life Mrs.Mallard envisions. 

Do you have any literary analysis questions for your essay writing or just loved reading ‘ The Story of an Hour’ by Kate Chopin and wanna start a conversation? Let me know in the comment section below! 🙂

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News and analysis from the day’s top stories., trump's last-minute pressure campaign to change nebraska's electoral system falls short.

By Clarissa-Jan Lim

Nebraska lawmakers soundly defeated an effort in the Legislature to shift the state to a winner-take-all system of awarding electoral votes , a measure whose fate drew interest from the Biden campaign — and pressure from Donald Trump .

Legislators struck down state Sen. Julie Slama's attempt to attach the bill to unrelated existing legislation Wednesday, by a vote of 36-8, leaving Republicans with a shrinking window to bring the measure up for a vote before the legislative session ends April 18.

Unlike most other states, Nebraska splits its five electoral votes by awarding two to the statewide winner and the remaining three to the presidential candidate who wins each of its three congressional districts. Although Trump won Nebraska in 2020, the state's 2nd District, which encompasses the purple Omaha area, went to President Joe Biden , nabbing him one electoral vote.

Trump was trying to prevent a repeat of that scenario in this year's election by publicly pressuring Nebraska's senators on the bill in a Truth Social post Tuesday. Republican Gov. Jim Pillen also put out a statement earlier that day voicing his support for the measure.

The pressure campaign originated from conservative activist Charlie Kirk , who called on listeners of his podcast to press Pillen on it this week. An unnamed legislative staffer told NBC News that there had been little movement on the bill, which was introduced in January 2023 — until Kirk raised it in his show.

Kirk, 30, and his far-right group Turning Point USA have substantial sway over Trump's MAGA movement, as my MSNBC colleague Ja'han Jones has noted .

The sudden burst of activity surrounding the bill led the Biden campaign to reach out to Democrats about the vote, NBC News reported . Their concern about its fate underscores how critically the campaigns regard every single electoral vote in what is slated to be a tight presidential race.

Another state with a split electoral vote system like Nebraska's is Maine, where Biden won in 2020 but Trump notched one electoral vote from his district win. Lawmakers in Maine are moving ahead with a measure to award all four of its electoral votes to the presidential candidate who wins the national popular vote — an effort that Maine Republicans largely oppose .

Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking/trending news blogger for MSNBC Digital. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News.

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Stock Market News: The Dow Falls 500 Points

Markets took a downturn ahead of friday's jobs report..

Last Updated: 

What to Watch Today

The major indexes took a sharp fall in afternoon trading, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipping 500 points.

Oil prices spiked on worries over the Middle East, and the 10-year Treasury yield dropped.

Investors had a lot of headlines to digest on geopolitics and the economy.

Several Fed officials were also scheduled to speak, including Patrick Harker, Thomas Barkin , Austan Goolsbee, Loretta Mester, and Neel Kashkari.

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Stocks closed sharply lower, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average clocking in its worst weekly performance in over a year.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 530 points, or 1.4%, while the S&P 500 lost 1.2% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite lost 1.4%.

All three indexes were in the green for most of the day.

Thursday's drop from session highs was the biggest blown gain for all the three indexes since mid-2023, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

Oil prices hit their highest level since October.

The 10-year yield saw the biggest decline in about two weeks to 4.308%. Yields drop when demand for Treasuries rises.

Markets had a lot to digest. Middle East tensions escalated after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu indicated Israel would take an aggressive stance against Iran and its proxies. Earlier, the White House said President Joe Biden called for an “immediate ceasefire” in Gaza.

Eight Federal Reserve officials were on tap to speak Thursday. The Fed’s Neel Kashkari indicated that interest-rate cuts may not be needed at all this year if progress on inflation stalls.

Next up, investors are paying attention to the March jobs report .

Economists polled by FactSet expect a gain of 200,000 in payrolls, a healthy showing and not far off from February’s 275,000.

A higher-than-expected number could further dampen stocks as it might delay the timing and pace of interest rate cuts.

Still, Thursday’s decline will be tough to surpass. The S&P 500 fell 2% from its latest record level set a week ago, the largest drawdown since the the current market rally began in late October.

DJIA (Dow Jones Global)

S&P 500

SPX (S&P US)

COMP (Nasdaq)

Anthony Harrup, Dow Jones Newswires

Crude futures shake off early uncertainty and settle higher as geopolitical tensions keep alive market concerns about tight supplies.

"The escalation of tensions in both Iran and Ukraine, coupled with OPEC+ confirming the continuation of production cuts until June, has fueled this extension of gains," says Rebecca Babin, senior energy trader at CIBC Private Wealth US in emailed comments.

While the outlook is positive for the next few months, downside risks include the possibility of OPEC+ bringing back some production, a possible weakening of demand and fewer-than-expected Fed interest-rate cuts, Babin adds.

WTI for May delivery settles up 1.4% at $86.59 a barrel, its highest settlement since Oct. 20, and June Brent rises 1.5% to $90.65 a barrel.

Oil prices sharply rose mid-day Thursday.

Brent crude , the international standard, hit $90.93 a barrel, up 1.8% from its last close. West Texas Intermediate , the U.S. benchmark, rose to $86.72, up 1.5% after staying below Wednesday’s price through the day.

President Joe Biden spoke with with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netenyahu on Thursday, where “he underscored that an immediate ceasefire is essential to stabilize and improve the humanitarian situation” in Gaza, the White House said.

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How Parasyte: The Grey Is Connected to Parts 1 & 2

The new Netflix live-action series Parasyte: The Grey may be connected to the first and second parts in more ways than you can imagine.

• Parasyte: The Grey is a Netflix series connected to the original manga, set in the same universe as the first two live-action films.
• The series features a female protagonist in South Korea during the alien invasion, with some differences from the previous films.
• While Parasyte: The Grey shares similarities with the movies, it focuses more on horror and may have inconsistencies in the timeline compared to the original story.

With the popularity of the recent live-action anime adaptations of One Piece and Yu Yu Hakusho , Netflix has increased its level of involvement in producing these shows. While Netflix has always taken the initiative to bring epic anime shows to life, the majority of them ended up becoming disasters, leading to preconceived notions about subsequent projects. Having said that, the streaming service has certainly subverted fans' expectations with back-to-back quality productions, the most recent being Avatar: The Last Airbender .

As usual, Netflix is back with yet another highly anticipated live-action series, Parasyte: The Grey , which will consist of six episodes and is based on the successful Parasyte anime and manga franchise. Since both the anime and manga have achieved immense recognition and success, fans are heavily invested in the upcoming series, mainly due to the fact that it has been adapted into a Korean drama . Many fans are now wondering how this new K-drama will be tied to the original two Parasyte live-action films and whether it is a standalone story.

Parasyte: The Grey Is Set in the Same Universe as Parts 1 & 2

Japanese live-action adaptations more or less replicate the original story depicted in anime and manga for a variety of reasons, the most significant being the authenticity they want to present to viewers. In this regard, the Parasyte films Parasyte: Part 1 (2014) and Parasyte: Part 2 (2015) are rather remarkable, retelling the story of manga in a more compact manner. The manga's premise begins with mysterious alien parasites invading Earth and taking over humans so that they can co-exist. When one of them fails to possess Shinichi's brain, it takes over his right hand, triggering a chain of events in which the human and parasite exist in tandem in this new world.

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The premise here remains largely the same as the anime and the previous two live-action features. In addition, the creators of Parasyte: The Grey have made it clear that it would be based on the same manga written by Iwaaki Hitoshi, implying that it will have certain recurring elements from the main story. The official trailer reveals that The Grey features a female protagonist, although Shinichi was male in the original films.

The creators have not only entirely changed the protagonist's gender, but also the narrative is different from what we've seen in prior films. The Netflix series is set in South Korea and depicts the events of the alien invasion we witnessed in the previous two films, which took place in Japan. In some ways, Parasyte: The Grey is more of a spin-off to the original, much like Bird Box Barcelona was to Netflix's Bird Box .

How Parasyte: The Grey Connects to Parts 1 & 2

The introduction of parasites in the original story is presumably a global invasion that extends beyond Japan. So, the events recounted in Parasyte: The Grey will take place concurrently with the incidents that transpired in Japan, shown from the lens of Shinichi and Migi. While they will not make any appearances given the location, the series will nonetheless be considered a canonical part of the Parasyte universe.

In fact, the series will incorporate several elements from the original films, such as the authorities organizing special teams to track down these extraterrestrial beings, as shown in Netflix's most recent trailer. On top of that, Jung Soon In (Jeon So Nee), the protagonist, also appears to be a notable exception from this search, much like Shinichi, despite being entirely possessed by a parasite.

The Differences Between The Grey and the Movies

While Parasyte: The Grey shares many similarities with the first and second parts, it also varies significantly, focusing solely on the horror aspect rather than developing an emotional connection like the original. Netflix's adaptations of Korean dramas have always been somewhat of improvisations on the source material, and Parasyte: The Grey may follow the same pattern, drawing inspiration from the first two films and executing them in a way that is appropriate for the present audience.

As a result, it is highly probable that we may find no connections other than the fact that they have taken place in the same universe and during the initial stages of the alien invasion, particularly because not everyone who watches Parasyte: The Grey is aware of what transpired in Parasyte Part 1 and Part 2 .

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Certainly, there may be some inconsistencies when it comes to the timeline since the Netflix series seems to have taken a more action-oriented approach as opposed to the films. For example, in the original story, Migi forces Shinichi not to reveal the existence of these parasites to the authorities, resulting in their discovery much later. However, it appears that this is not the case in Parasyte: The Grey , where the police seemed to have found it way sooner, leading to an unprecedented confrontation between humans and parasites.

Having said that, differences and parallels go hand in hand, which results in many connections to the original, but not to the point where watching the first two films is a necessity. In any case, we highly recommend watching the Parasyte live-action films or anime since they are incredibly good and add a lot of context to the Netflix series. Stream on Netflix.

Pontiac’s United Wholesale Mortgage targeted in lawsuit, exposé alleging fraud

Pontiac-based United Wholesale Mortgage, now the nation's top mortgage lender, this week found itself in the crosshairs of a new activist hedge fund — on a mission to tank the company's stock price so it can make money — as well as a lawsuit coloring UWM as corrupt.

The hedge fund is Hunterbrook Capital, and its media arm, Hunterbrook Media, published an exposé-style article on Tuesday alleging that UWM's rise in the mortgage industry was accomplished through possible fraud, specifically by pressuring independent mortgage brokers to send all of their business to UWM, rather than shopping competing lenders that may have better pricing for their mortgage borrower clients.

While Hunterbrook Media's article didn't cite examples of explicit kickbacks or bribes, it included a complex analysis of federal mortgage and county-level data that was done by its reporters, in collaboration with data scientists and a former mortgage-backed securities trader. The analysis determined:

• Some UWM borrowers paid UWM more in closing costs than they otherwise would have if their broker had gone with other lenders.
• Over the past three years, UWM has issued nearly $39 billion in mortgages through ostensibly "independent" brokers, who nevertheless referred 99% of their business to UWM.

The article included a disclosure that Hunterbrook Capital, the hedge fund, recently raised $100 million and has taken a "short" position on UWM stock and a "long" position on Dan Gilbert's Detroit-based Rocket Companies, which is UWM's biggest competitor.

These are bets that UWM's stock price will go down and that Rocket's will go up.

The same day the article appeared, the lawsuit was filed against UWM in U.S. District Court in Detroit with claims essentially mirroring those in the Hunterbrook Media article. The lawsuit accuses the mortgage company and its chief executive, Mat Ishbia, of racketeering and violating federal and various state laws.

The four plaintiffs named in the suit are mortgage borrowers in Tennessee, Florida and North Carolina who each thought they were working with an ethical mortgage broker who would shop around for the best deal, only to find out that their broker was "a corrupt UWM loyalist" who led them to overpay for their mortgages, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit is seeking class-action status for similar UWM borrowers in 27 states (not including Michigan) from March 2021 to the present and whose broker referred 75% or more of their loans to UWM.

The lead law firm that prepared the lawsuit is New York-based Boies Schiller Flexner, a high-profile firm whose chairman, David Boies, once represented Al Gore in the 2000 presidential election legal fight as well as victims of the Jeffrey Epstein sex-trafficking enterprise.

Asked about any coordination among various Hunterbrook organizations on the timing of the lawsuit filing and the appearance of the article, Hunterbrook Media Publisher Sam Koppelman said in a statement that Hunterbrook Foundation, its nonprofit affiliate, did share research with the law firm.

"And we hope homeowners have a path to restitution for what our data analysis indicates could be substantial damages," the statement said.

UWM, which had about 6,700 employees as of early this year, issued its own statement, calling the lawsuit "a sham."

"Although the real party behind it is a hedge fund named Hunterbrook, the lawyers concealed the hedge fund’s involvement," the UWM statement said. "Hunterbrook’s business model is to sensationalize public information to manipulate the stock market, thereby enriching their wealthy funders at the expense of regular investors, many of whom are hard-working UWM employees. UWM will defend these allegations to the fullest extent permitted by law."

The Boies Schiller Flexner law firm did not respond Thursday to a message seeking comment.

UWM operates with a "wholesale" lending business model, meaning that it underwrites all its loans for independent mortgage brokers, who essentially are the firm's customers. By comparison, Rocket Mortgage does a mix of direct-to-consumer and wholesale lending.

UWM surpassed Rocket in the third quarter of 2022 to become the top mortgage lender by volume in the U.S. It was the first wholesale-only mortgage lender to achieve that No. 1 ranking.

Short-seller campaigns

Public relations campaigns by activist short-sellers are not new. Their goal is to advance negative claims about a company, such as allegations of fraud or other bad behaviors.

One example is the 2010s crusade by prominent hedge fund manager Bill Ackman against Herbalife, a multilevel-marketing firm that sells nutritional supplements.

Ackman used media appearances and hourslong presentations to press his claim that Herbalife was an illegal pyramid scheme. Because his hedge firm had a short position on the company, it stood to profit if enough investors came to believe that Herbalife's business was indeed unsustainable — and thereby lead to a collapse of its stock price. It also lobbied regulators to take a closer look at the company's business practices.

More: In local and national mortgage war, is UWM's Mat Ishbia a genius or 'bully?'

More: Billionaire Mat Ishbia razing 5 Bloomfield Twp. homes to build mansion, 'amusement park'

Herbalife ended up paying $220 million in settlements to the Federal Trade Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission over allegations that it deceived consumers and misled investors, yet it remained in business, and Ackman eventually ended what was reported to be a $1 billion bet against the company.

What is unique about Hunterbrook Capital as a short-seller is that it has the news division, Hunterbrook Media, albeit one that is said to operate independently.

A November article in the Financial Times described how Hunterbrook's founders, who are in their 20s, last year envisioned starting up a venture that would combine a hedge fund and a newsroom, with the newsroom funded with profits from the hedge fund, which would get an early peek at the newsroom's output to trade on the information.

One of the lead writers of the Hunterbrook Media article about UWM is an attorney who, until February, worked in legal affairs for an online mortgage broker and had no previous professional journalism experience, according to the individual's LinkedIn profile that was once online.

The article said Hunterbrook Media and its affiliates plan to share its findings on UWM with federal regulators and state attorneys general, and asks borrowers who think they might be paying too much for their UWM mortgage to go to the website WasIRippedOff.com .

UWM's stock fell from about $6.60 a share to just under $6 in the wake of the article and lawsuit, but recovered and closed Thursday at $6.45. It also closed Friday at $6.45.

'Brokers are in business for themselves'

Guy Cecala, a mortgage industry insider who is executive chairman of Inside Mortgage Finance, an industry-observer publication, said the claim that some UWM brokers are sending all or nearly all of their business to UWM isn't necessarily a red flag.

“If (borrowers) are getting good rates and good service for it? No, it’s not unusual," Cecala said.

“There is the understanding that brokers work for their borrower clients and try to get them the best deal," he said. "But it’s also true that (brokers) go for the best compensation they can get in a wholesale deal. And if United Wholesale, for example, allows them to make more money on a loan than Rocket Mortgage or some competitor, they are going to take their business there.

"So let’s face it: Brokers are in business for themselves, primarily, and they are not going to originate money at a loss, even if that’s the best deal for their borrower customers.”

Other mortgage industry insiders say there are factors besides price that come into play when lenders compete for brokers to send them business, such as speed for closing loans and technology platforms that can simplify the mortgage application process.

Cecala also said it can be hard to determine whether or not a borrower was overcharged for a mortgage because so many variables are involved — not just interest rates, but also closing and processing fees.

And he noted how a core dataset used in Hunterbrook Media's analysis — Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data — doesn't specify the credit scores of the borrowers.

“The most important factor in determining a borrower’s interest rate and/or costs are credit score," Cecala said. "And unless you can factor that in, it makes it very hard to say that somebody was charged too much or whatever for a specific loan."

Cecala said a smart consumer should do some shopping of their own before signing for a mortgage.

"You don’t just go to a broker and say ‘tell me what I need to pay,' " he said.

More specifics from the lawsuit

The lawsuit includes more specifics than the article as to how plaintiffs say UWM "corrupted" brokers to steer business to UWM, rather than consider other wholesale lenders for better pricing.

The lawsuit claims UWM provides various things of value to brokers, including:

• Flying out brokers for free to UWM's headquarters campus in Pontiac for conventions, training courses and events that often feature "lavish meals and live entertainment."
• Assigning brokers a "PRO score," essentially a proxy for loyalty to UWM, with higher scores snagging a broker faster turn times between the beginning of the loan approval process and the closing.
• Providing them templates for advertising materials that were produced by UWM for no cost.
• Higher visibility on the website mortgagematchup.com for brokers who funnel more loans to UWM.

"The behavior of a broker who steers such high proportions of her loans to a single lender — UWM — is incompatible with that broker’s fiduciary and agency responsibility to her clients," the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit also takes issue with UWM's "All In" initiative, sometimes dubbed Ishbia's "ultimatum," which began in March 2021 when the CEO announced that any broker wishing to continue working with UWM must stop working with Rocket Mortgage or a Wisconsin-based competitor that recently closed down its wholesale operation.

Mortgage industry insiders at the time could not recall any past instance of a bank or lender forbidding brokers from doing business with a competitor.

The lawsuit claims that since Ishbia laid down the ultimatum, the number of brokers who funnel 75% of more of their loans to UWM has mushroomed.

In addition to the lawsuit seeking class-action status, it seeks an unspecified amount of compensatory damages for borrowers and disgorgement of any illegally obtained UWM profits.

'All In' initiative in court

UWM has sued several brokers for violating the "All In" initiative, in some instances seeking millions in damages.

The mortgage firm recently won favorable judgments in two of those cases, one against a California-based broker and the other from Florida. Those judgments centered on whether the "All In" initiative violated antitrust laws.

In the case against the California broker, America's Moneyline Inc., federal judge Laurie Michelson last week granted UWM's motion to dismiss the broker's countercomplaint.

Judge Michelson's order said she agreed with the reasoning of a Florida judge in the other "All In" case who determined that UWM doesn't yield enough market power to significantly harm competition with the ultimatum.

Even though UWM is the bigger player in the wholesale lending category, at just under 50% of market share, its overall market share among all mortgage lenders — banks, credit unions, and other non-bank companies — is only about 8%, according to figures cited in this week's lawsuit.

Contact JC Reindl: 313-378-5460 or  [email protected] . Follow him on X @ jcreindl .

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NBA Fines Sixers for Joel Embiid's Injury Status Against the Thunder

Joel Embiid was upgraded to available just an hour before game time against the Thunder this week.

• Author: Ross Lovelace

In this story:

Philadelphia pulled a fast one on Oklahoma City Tuesday night. The Thunder traveled to play the Sixers on the road, and OKC was without its two best players. The assumption was Philadelphia would be without its two best, too.

Joel Embiid hadn’t played since January 30 with a knee injury that caused him to miss significant time. The hope was to get him ready for the end of the season, and in particular, the playoffs. It was rumored that Embiid was ramping up and could potentially play against the Thunder, but later that idea was dismissed. He wasn’t at shoot around and was ruled out for Tuesday’s contest.

Then, just over an hour before the game, Embiid was listed as questionable out of the blue, and was soon activated and able to play. He did indeed make his return against the Thunder despite being listed out all day.

Embiid was rusty, but still his MVP self. He logged 29 minutes in his first game back, recording 24 points, seven assists and six rebounds. Oklahoma City led nearly the entire game, but a late comeback bid from Philadelphia lifted the Sixers over the hobbled Thunder.

On Friday, the NBA took action. Shams Charania reported that the “NBA has fined the Philadelphia 76ers for $100,000 due to violating injury reporting rules regarding Joel Embiid.” Because Embiid was listed as out and then later played in the game, the NBA was able to file a charge.

The NBA has fined the Philadelphia 76ers for $100,000 due to violating injury reporting rules regarding Joel Embiid playing vs. Thunder on Tuesday. — Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) April 5, 2024

Believe it or not, this actually happened to Oklahoma City recently, too. Early last season in November, the NBA issued $25,000 in fines for the Thunder for violations of the league’s policies regarding injury reporting. It was reported that the Thunder did not disclose the availability status of guard Josh Giddey “in an accurate and timely manner” before their home game against Orlando.

The following was released by the NBA: pic.twitter.com/w7tAFP0PQY — NBA Communications (@NBAPR) April 5, 2024

With Embiid back, Philadelphia could make a run in the playoffs. On the other side, Oklahoma City is dealing with injuries of its own. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams are set to miss their third consecutive game. It appears the Thunder are being extra cautious so that the star duo is ready for the postseason.

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