Draw Connections: “The Story of an Hour,” “The Storm,” and “Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions”

Draw Connections: “The Story of an Hour,” “The Storm,” and “Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions”

Kate Chopin’s work frequently deals with the limitations placed on women—and particularly wives—in the nineteenth century. Both of her stories, “The Story of an Hour” and “The Storm,” present marriages from the point of view of the wives. The nineteenth century was an important time for considering the role of women in society, and in the United States one of the most significant documents to articulate the concerns of women was Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s “Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions,” which she presented at the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848. While this convention occurred several decades before Chopin published these two stories, the issues that it raised continued to be relevant to women in the nineteenth and early twentieth century; even though the convention called for suffrage for women, the 19th amendment allowing universal suffrage was not ratified until 1920.

Download the comparison texts—“The Storm” and “Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions”—and the Annotated text of “The Story of an Hour,” and use them to answer the questions about the relationship between Chopin’s work and the historical context.

  1. Both “The Story of an Hour” and “The Storm” present women in marriages that don’t seem to fully satisfy them. How is Mrs. Mallard like Calixta and Clarisse? Aside from dying, what else differentiates Mrs. Mallard from Calixta and Clarisse?

    Question

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    Chapter 6: Both “The Story of an Hour” and “The Storm” present women in marriages that don’t seem to fully satisfy them. How is Mrs. Mallard like Calixta and Clarisse? Aside from dying, what else differentiates Mrs. Mallard from Calixta and Clarisse?
  2. How are details of setting in “The Story of an Hour” and “The Storm” symbolically important? What do they represent in terms of the themes of the stories? How are they different? Explain.

    Question

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    Chapter 6: How are details of setting in “The Story of an Hour” and “The Storm” symbolically important? What do they represent in terms of the themes of the stories? How are they different? Explain.
  3. In “Declarations of Sentiments and Resolutions,” Elizabeth Cady Stanton asserts that, “He [man] has made her [woman], if married, in the eye of the law, civilly dead.” How does this idea apply to Mrs. Mallard’s case in “The Story of an Hour”?

    Question

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    Chapter 6: In “Declarations of Sentiments and Resolutions,” Elizabeth Cady Stanton asserts that, “He [man] has made her [woman], if married, in the eye of the law, civilly dead.” How does this idea apply to Mrs. Mallard’s case in “The Story of an Hour”?
  4. How are marriage, love, and lust separated out in “The Story of an Hour” and in “The Storm”? Explain your examples.

    Question

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    Chapter 6: How are marriage, love, and lust separated out in “The Story of an Hour” and in “The Storm”? Explain your examples.