Here is the synopsis of our sample research paper on A Formalist Look at Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour”, 1894
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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
This is a 7 page paper that studies Kate Chopin’s short story “The Story of an Hour” from a formalist perspective. Writer Kate Chopin (1851-1904) wrote during the time of naturalism which was considered as a “literature of manly men”. However, critics argue that a purely masculine approach to naturalism and the reality of the 19th century ignores “one of the most fascinating aspects of this work: its ongoing concern with women’s relationship to modernity”. A formalist approach to Chopin’s short story “The Story of an Hour” incorporates all of the traditional analytical and formal procedures dealing with the work such as the structure, relationship between the parts, narration, characters, setting and language. Instead of being merely analytical however, readers of Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” understand Burke’s definition of form as “the arousing of fulfillment of desires” which stresses the “realistic rather than an idealistic basis for form”. Within the work, Chopin also attends to the aspects used within the “American short story” genre which was becoming popular in the 19th century. “The Story of an Hour” not only develops the “practical applications of the notion that the nineteenth-century short story was a generic locale where authors attempted to construct ideological and literary boundaries out of opposing impulses” but the story itself tells of the “imposing impulses” faced by all women at the time, including women writers such as Chopin.
Page Count:
7 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_TJSHour1.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
purely masculine approach to naturalism and the reality of the 19th century ignores "one of the most fascinating aspects of this work: its ongoing concern with womens relationship to modernity"
(Fleissner 57). A formalist approach to Chopins short story "The Story of an Hour" incorporates all of the traditional analytical and formal procedures dealing with the work such as the
structure, relationship between the parts, narration, characters, setting and language. Instead of being merely analytical however, readers of Chopins "The Story of an Hour" understand Burkes definition of form as
"the arousing of fulfillment of desires" which stresses the "realistic rather than an idealistic basis for form" (Burke, Counterstatement; Klumpp 148). Chopin also shows readers Burkes precept of "imagination" in
a poetic framework which in a sense replaces "reason" as an "ideal" basis of formalism (Burke, Rhetoric, 86). Within the work, Chopin also attends to the aspects used within the
"American short story" genre which was becoming popular in the 19th century. "The Story of an Hour" not only develops the "practical applications of the notion that the nineteenth-century short
story was a generic locale where authors attempted to construct ideological and literary boundaries out of opposing impulses" but the story itself tells of the "imposing impulses" faced by all
women at the time, including women writers such as Chopin (Levy 242). Structure The structure of Chopins short story "The Story of an Hour" is considered as a "sandwich structure"
in which the first and last sections are related to the reader in an objective (masculine) voice while the center section is that of the feminine perspective (Miall). The center
section also relates to the inner feelings of Louise Mallard upon hearing of the death of her husband. The plot and structure of the story relate to the idea that
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