Question at position 25 What does The Story of an Hour suggest about the institution of marriage in the late 19th century? 4ELIM27It is confining and oppressive.It is irrelevant.It is a symbol of social status. It is a source of liberation.It provides ultimate happiness.

Question

BlackTom AI · Accepted Answer

Kate Chopin’s The Story of an Hour portrays marriage as confining and oppressive through Mrs. Mallard’s emotional journey and the story’s ironic ending.

1. Relevant knowledge points and concepts
- Historical context: late 19th-century gender roles confined women to the domestic sphere with limited legal and personal autonomy. 
- Literary elements: irony, free indirect discourse, symbolism (open window, sky), and characterization of Mrs. Mallard. 
- Key textual evidence: Mrs. Mallard’s whispered “free, free, free!” and her vision of “years to come that would belong to her absolutely.”

2. Step-by-step reasoning process
- At news of her husband’s death, Mrs. Mallard’s immediate physical reaction is grief, but this shifts quickly to an overwhelming sense of relief and imagined freedom. 
- The narrator emphasizes her new consciousness of autonomy: she anticipates living for herself, making choices without obligation. 
- Chopin contrasts social expectation (marriage as woman’s primary role) with Mrs. Mallard’s private longing for independence, showing marriage as a constraint on personal identity.

3. Intermediate textual steps (evidence)
- “She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment” shows social script of grief. 
- “When she abandoned herself, a little whispered word escaped her... ‘free, free, free!’” is the turning point revealing repression. 
- The open window and blue sky symbolize possibilities beyond marital confinement. 
- The final irony—husband returns alive and Mrs. Mallard dies (doctors say “joy that kills”)—underscores the lethal pressure of being returned to marital constraints.

4. Why the correct answer is correct
- The narrative consistently frames marriage as limiting Mrs. Mallard’s individuality; her elation upon its apparent end demonstrates oppression rather than fulfillment.

5. Why other options are incorrect
- “Irrelevant”: marriage is the central catalyst of the plot and emotional transformation. 
- “A symbol of social status”: the story focuses on personal freedom, not social standing. 
- “A source of liberation”: Mrs. Mallard experiences liberation only when she believes marriage has ended, so marriage itself is not liberating. 
- “Provides ultimate happiness”: her imagined happiness comes from freedom, not from married life.

6. Conclusion
The text’s imagery, irony, and Mrs. Mallard’s reaction support the answer that marriage is portrayed as confining and oppressive, matching the provided correct answer.

Question at position 25 What does The Story of an Hour suggest about the institution of marriage in the late 19th century? 4ELIM27It is confining and oppressive.It is irrelevant.It is a symbol of social status. It is a source of liberation.It provides ultimate happiness.单项选择题

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