![]() ![]() Despite the existence of cheesy theories about how love never dies, it is, in the end, like a machine that needs to be maintained. The railroad can be seen as a symbol of distance between couples back then, eliminating opportunities for them to spend some quality time together, which probably explains Louise's contradictory and confused opinions regarding her husband's love, as well as her thirst for freedom. During that point in time, despite facing a severe recession, America witnessed the genesis of technological advancements such as electric lighting and the radio, and 'The Story of an Hour', which has strong feminist undertones, can also be considered to be a warning against the massive impact that technology has on our lives. Having watched the women of her family choose to remain widows rather than remarry, Chopin came to learn about the importance of independence in a woman's life. Mallard in the conclusion stemmed from her childish hope of having wanted to see her father again. It can be interpreted that the idea of the sudden, unprecedented arrival of Mr. ![]() One can trace the inspiration of the short story's railroad disaster (which supposedly kills the protagonist's husband) back to a tragic accident that took away Chopin's father when she was only five years old. As Sandhya rightfully noted, "When women get wise, everyone calls them mad ( pagglait)". 'The Story of an Hour' did inspire a 1985 cinematic adaptation, The Joy That Kills (the title has its roots in the concluding line of the story), but I feel that if it was made into a short film today, it would come across as phenomenal in several aspects, especially for depicting how patriarchy has – like a deadly python – silently and successfully wrapped itself around the unsuspecting and ignorant victim that is humanity, and continues to suffocate its prey in its inescapable grasp even today. Truly, is Sanya Malhotra's Sandhya that different from Louise Mallard? In a way, even the husbands in both works seem to almost be mirror images of each other. ![]() Both tales proficiently examine the nuances of marriage and the complications of relationships, which are not as fluffy as they appear to be. 'The Story of an Hour' captures the very essence of Pagglait perfectly, and several concepts in the former can be explained using instances from the latter. While the plots are entirely different, both the story and the movie complement each other in various ways. I chose to analyse this short story due to the striking similarities in themes between this piece and the recently released Netflix film Pagglait (this article focuses solely on the story). In both cases, only one death occurred, that of a happy ending. Mallard's husband, who was presumed to be dead). Mallard, is a possible alter ego for Chopin herself, a chained writer who had her dreams of independently creating her own conclusion broken, due to the sudden arrival of the prevailing prejudiced mindset reminiscent of Brently Mallard (Mrs. A tale of a widowed woman celebrating a bright future in the aftermath of her husband's supposed death would never have seen the light of day, which is probably why the author – renowned for her works like 'The Storm' and The Awakening – conjured an unexpected anti-climax for the story. Keeping in mind the economic and chauvinistic climate of the country back then, as well as the personal life of Chopin, most critics and readers have branded it as a work of feminism written much ahead of its time, which would have had the alarming potential of stirring a controversy. Kate Chopin's 'The Story of an Hour', written in the 1890s, when women's rights were just as much a myth as a booming American economy, is a lush forest of words and descriptions teeming with different species of irony.
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