• Southwest Texas Junior College

• ENGL 3102

What is the conflict in The Story of an Hour?
I agree with the previous poster. The conflict in Kate Chopin's short story "The Story of an Hour" is
entirely expressed through the thoughts of Mrs. Mallard -- the report of her husband's death makes her,
perhaps for the first time, understand how she has been feeling all this time. That self-awareness -- that
thing "too subtle and elusive to name" -- is achieved when she utters the words "free, free, free!" That
Mrs. Mallard has indeed been dominated by men, as the previous poster, and by the rigid social
conventions for women of her class at the turn of the century can be seen in how she is treated in the
story. Her husband's friend is the first to hear and deliver the news of the accident and the one who tries
to "screen" the husband from the wife's view. Her sister is the one who breaks the news to her and
pleads to be allowed into her locked room. Everyone seems to act on her; she does almost nothing
physical, on her own, in the story