SPEAKER_00 0:18

Hey everyone, I'm Miles Ellison.

SPEAKER_02 0:21

And I'm Kimbria Shaw. Welcome.

SPEAKER_00 0:23

Great to have you with us.

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We're exploring short stories, poems, drama, all sorts of things.

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We call the series Stay Lit. That's right, Stay Lit. Today we're plunging into a story that's, well, incredibly short, but sparks just huge amounts of discussion. It's Kate Chopin's The Story of an Hour.

SPEAKER_02 0:44

Mm-hmm. And it's amazing how focused it is. It's really centered on just one character, Louise Millard, her inner world, and how she reacts to this sudden, massive piece of news.

SPEAKER_00 0:55

Right. And it all happens so quickly. Like the whole thing unfolds in maybe an hour, mostly in just one room.

SPEAKER_02 1:01

Exactly. But it covers so much ground emotionally, societally, it's kind of vast in its own way.

SPEAKER_00 1:08

People are still talking about it, arguing about it, really, more than a hundred years later.

SPEAKER_02 1:13

Sounds good. Let's dive in.

SPEAKER_00 1:15

Okay. So the story kicks off by introducing us to Mrs. Mallard. We find out her name's Louise later on.

SPEAKER_02 1:21

Right. But first, the key detail. She's afflicted with a heart trouble.

SPEAKER_00 1:27

Aaron Powell Not just some random medical fact. It seems like it's uh crucial for the plot, maybe symbolic.

SPEAKER_02 1:35

Absolutely. It sets everything up. It explains why everyone's so careful, so worried about how to tell her the f well the terrible news about her husband, Brentley Mallard.

SPEAKER_00 1:45

And the news is bad. He's supposedly been killed in a railroad disaster.

SPEAKER_02 1:49

Yeah. And who tells her? It's her sister, Josephine, who breaks it really gently. You know, broken sentences, veiled hints.

SPEAKER_00 1:57

And their friend Richards is there too. He was the one who actually saw the name, Brentley Mallard's name, on the list of killed at the newspaper office.

SPEAKER_02 2:06

Right. He saw it and then got a second telegram to confirm it. He wanted to be absolutely sure.

SPEAKER_00 2:12

And he rushed over there, didn't he? He wanted to get there before someone else, maybe someone less sensitive, could just blurt it out.

SPEAKER_01 2:19

Exactly. Especially given her heart condition. They're trying to protect her from the shock.

SPEAKER_00 2:24

Now her reaction is it's interesting. The story mentions that maybe you'd expect a kind of numbness, a paralyzed inability like some women experience. But Louise weeps immediately, like full-on sudden wild abandonment in her sister's arms.

SPEAKER_02 2:42

Yeah, it's this huge storm of grief right away. Very intense.

SPEAKER_00 2:46

But then what happens? After that initial outburst.

SPEAKER_02 2:50

Well, once that sort of that storm passes, she wants to be alone. She goes up to her room, locks the door, doesn't want anyone with her.

SPEAKER_00 2:58

And the description there is pretty vivid. She sinks into this comfortable, roomy armchair and it's facing an open window.

SPEAKER_02 3:06

Ah, the open window. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:09

She sees and hears through that window.

SPEAKER_02 3:10

So yeah. It's all laid out, the tops of trees, a quiver with the new spring life. You've got the smell of rain, the delicious breath of rain.

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Sounds too. A peddler crying his wares, someone singing far off, sparrows twittering.

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Patches of blue sky showing through the clouds. It's like all her senses are suddenly alive to the world outside.

SPEAKER_00 3:34

And that window itself.

SPEAKER_02 3:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:36

It's hugely symbolic.

SPEAKER_02 3:37

Totally. It's not just letting air in, it's like freedom blowing in, opportunity, a connection to life.

SPEAKER_00 3:45

A reinvigoration of Louise's senses.

SPEAKER_02 3:48

Exactly. Connecting her to that new spring life outside, but also, maybe more importantly, connecting to her own desire for a new kind of life, a life ready to burst forth. It's pivotal.

SPEAKER_00 4:02

So she's sitting there, kind of exhausted from crying, head back, just staring blankly at the sky.

SPEAKER_02 4:08

Yeah. Dull stare. She's not really thinking, just waiting. Waiting fearfully for something. Something subtle and elusive.

SPEAKER_00 4:16

And how does this thing arrive?

SPEAKER_02 4:18

It sort of creeps in, doesn't it? The writing is beautiful here. It comes out of the sky through the sounds, the smells, the colors coming through that window.

SPEAKER_00 4:26

And there's a physical reaction, too.

SPEAKER_02 4:28

Oh yeah. Her chest starts rising and falling tumultuously. She's beginning to recognize whatever this feeling is that's approaching to possess her.

SPEAKER_00 4:38

But she fights it at first.

SPEAKER_02 4:39

She does. Tries to beat it back with her will. But you know, it's too strong. It washes over her. She gives in.

SPEAKER_00 4:47

And then comes the word.

SPEAKER_02 4:48

Mm-hmm. Whispered over and over under her breath.

SPEAKER_00 4:52

Free.

SPEAKER_02 4:52

Free. Free. Free. And bam, everything changes.

SPEAKER_00 4:56

Her eyes aren't vacant anymore.

SPEAKER_02 4:58

Nope. They become keen and bright. Her pulse quickens. Blood flows. She's physically transformed by this realization.

SPEAKER_00 5:06

And the story calls this feeling. What was the phrase? A possession of self-assertion.

SPEAKER_02 5:12

Yeah, possession of self-assertion. It's such a strong phrase.

SPEAKER_00 5:16

What do you think that means? Possession sounds almost involuntary.

SPEAKER_02 5:21

Well, maybe it suggests something taking hold of her, something powerful that maybe wasn't consciously there before, but the situation just unleashed it.

SPEAKER_00 5:30

And self-assertion.

SPEAKER_02 5:31

That's about her claiming herself, right? Her own identity, separate from being Mrs. Mallard, recognizing herself as an individual.

SPEAKER_00 5:39

And then there's that other label the story uses, monstrous joy.

SPEAKER_02 5:43

Ah, yes.

SPEAKER_00 5:45

The big one. That's quite the contradiction. Joy isn't usually monstrous.

SPEAKER_02 5:50

It's a classic oxymoron. And the analysis we read really digs into this. Why monstrous? Well, maybe from society's viewpoint, right? Feeling joy at your husband's death, that's taboo. Forbidden.

SPEAKER_00 6:03

But for Louise.

SPEAKER_02 6:04

For Louise, in that moment, it wasn't monstrous at all. The story says she had this clear and exalted perception and dismissed the idea of it being monstrous as trivial. For her, it was profound.

SPEAKER_00 6:16

Aaron Ross Powell True. Okay, so that raises the big question. Why this joy? The story does say Brentley was kind, right? Tender even.

SPEAKER_02 6:23

He was. And that's what makes Chopin's point so radical, especially for the 1890s. She's arguing that any marriage, even a kind one, could be inherently oppressive. Because structurally, it robbed women, maybe even men. The story hints of their independence. Louise isn't celebrating because she hated Brentley. She explicitly thinks she'll cry again when she sees his dead body.

SPEAKER_00 6:46

So it's not personal malice.

SPEAKER_02 6:48

No, it's a release from oppression. It's the feeling that marriage itself, the institution, meant she had to live for someone else. Had her will bent by his will, even if it was a kind will imposing itself.

SPEAKER_00 7:04

So it's escaping the role, the structure.

SPEAKER_02 7:06

Exactly. She suddenly sees this future, this long procession of years that belong completely to her. Years to live for herself, no powerful will bending hers. That's the freedom she's feeling.

SPEAKER_00 7:19

And the story is quite blunt about her feelings for him. She had loved him sometimes, often she had not.

SPEAKER_02 7:24

Right. And it goes further, suggesting that love itself, that unsolved mystery, might not actually measure up against this incredibly powerful possession of self-assertion.

SPEAKER_00 7:34

Implying that independence, for her at least, was more fundamental than love within that particular structure.

SPEAKER_02 7:40

It's a challenging idea. And while she's having this huge internal revolution, her sister Josephine is banging on the door, right?

SPEAKER_00 7:48

Yeah, pleading with her. Louise, open the door. I beg, open the door, you will make yourself ill. Worried sick about her.

SPEAKER_02 7:56

But Louise is firm. Go away. I am not making myself ill.

SPEAKER_00 8:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:00

And the description she's drinking in a very elixir of life through that open window.

SPEAKER_00 8:06

That contrast again.

SPEAKER_02 8:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:08

The closed door keeping out the concerned conventional world.

SPEAKER_02 8:12

Aaron Ross Powell And the open window bringing in this intoxicating freedom, this elixir.

SPEAKER_00 8:17

Trevor Burrus And her imagination is just going wild now. Thinking about the days ahead, spring days, summer days, all sorts of days that would be her own.

SPEAKER_02 8:25

Aaron Powell And the biggest sign of her transformation, she prays for a long life.

SPEAKER_00 8:29

Aaron Ross Powell Which is the complete opposite of how she felt just the day before, when the thought of a long life made her shudder.

SPEAKER_02 8:36

Yeah. Now she wants it. Because it's hers. It belongs to her, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 8:40

So this feeling, this triumph almost changes how she even carries herself when she finally opens the door.

SPEAKER_02 8:48

She descends the stairs like a goddess of victory. There's feverish triumph in her eyes. She's ready to face the world, completely changed.

SPEAKER_00 8:56

And then the twist, the gut punch. As they're coming down the stairs, the front door opens.

SPEAKER_02 9:04

Someone's using a latch key. Just walks in, a little travel stand, got his bag, his umbrella, completely fine. He wasn't even near the accident, didn't know anything about it.

SPEAKER_00 9:16

Imagine the shock. He's surprised by Josephine's scream. Richards tries to jump in front of him to shield Louise.

SPEAKER_02 9:23

Too late.

SPEAKER_00 9:24

And then the final line just brutal. When the doctors came, they said she had died of heart disease of joy that kills.

SPEAKER_02 9:32

Ugh, the irony. It's just biting.

SPEAKER_00 9:35

So the doctors, representing conventional understanding, they think she died from the overwhelming joy of seeing him alive.

SPEAKER_02 9:41

Right. The happy shock was too much for her weak heart. But we, the readers, know the truth. Dramatic irony or situational irony.

SPEAKER_00 9:50

It wasn't joy at his return.

SPEAKER_02 9:52

No. It was the shock of losing that freedom, losing that joy she'd just discovered, the independence she'd tasted for one brief hour, that initial heart trouble. It wasn't just physical. It symbolized her trapped life, her unhappiness.

SPEAKER_00 10:09

And seeing him alive just slammed the door shut on that escape.

SPEAKER_02 10:13

Instantly extinguished it. And that shock, the loss of freedom, is what truly broke her heart, literally and figuratively.

SPEAKER_00 10:20

It's amazing how Chopin packed all of that into such a tiny story.

SPEAKER_02 10:24

It really is. A masterclass. And Kate Chopin herself, uh, she was American, lived 1850 to 1904, wrote this in the 1890s.

SPEAKER_00 10:32

Aaron Ross Powell Known for writing about women, sensitive, smart women, often in Louisiana, which is where she lived for a while.

SPEAKER_02 10:38

Aaron Powell Right, born Catherine O'Flaherty. And it's pronounced Chopin, by the way. There's like a tiny bit of debate on the birth year, but 1850 is generally accepted. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_00 10:48

And she wrote The Awakening, too, right? Her big novel. Which was also pretty controversial. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_02 10:52

Hugely controversial. Like this story, it was seen as very early feminist work.

SPEAKER_00 10:56

Trevor Burrus And that core theme in the story of an hour, the importance of independence for women, having their own voice.

SPEAKER_02 11:04

Totally against the grain for Victorian times. Women were supposed to be passive, content in the domestic sphere. Louise's inner life, her secret joy, flies in the face of all that.

SPEAKER_00 11:16

Even the setting being so confined helps focus that theme, doesn't it? It's all about her internal space.

SPEAKER_02 11:22

Exactly. And some sources even suggest that holding back her first name, Louise, until she has this awakening. It's like she starts as Mrs. Mellard, defined by marriage, and then becomes Louise, the individual.

SPEAKER_00 11:36

Little details, big impact.

SPEAKER_02 11:37

Definitely. Every word counts in this story. It's not just telling a story, it's making an argument about freedom, identity.

SPEAKER_00 11:45

So thinking about all this, a story from the 1890s. Why do you think it still hits so hard today? Why does it still spark discussion?

SPEAKER_02 11:54

That's a great question.

SPEAKER_00 11:55

What does this story about this woman's brief taste of freedom make you, our listener, think about? About relationships now, about independence, or just those subtle pressures society still puts on us.

SPEAKER_02 12:09

And maybe a final thought to leave you with something that comes right out of the source material we've been discussing. What does it really mean when someone's deepest sense of self, that strongest impulse of self-assertion, feels like it has to be a secret? Feels monstrous even. Or can only exist as this fragile, forbidden pleasure. Something to chew on. Definitely.

SPEAKER_00 12:34

Thanks so much for joining us for this deep dive.

SPEAKER_02 12:36

Stay lit.