1Generating Topics: Generate an essay topic by analyzing your initial response to "The Story of an Hour." Read section 34.1.3 Identifying Topics in the Writing about Literature portion of The Norton Introduction to Literature (section 29.1.3 in the Eleventh Shorter Edition), paying particular attention to the paragraph titled Analyze your initial response. Return to your earliest notes on the story and think about what moments, aspects, or elements of the text affected you. How did you feel about Mrs. Mallard and her experience? Did you sympathize with her? Why or why not? Did the story challenge your assumptions or values? What lines or expressions contributed to your reaction? Use your insights to develop a topic question that you could address in an analytical essay.
Close Reading Exercise: The words "abandoned" and "abandonment" are repeated in the story. Write a one- or two-page response in which you examine the significance of these words. What are the different definitions of the word "abandon"? What connotations are associated with the word? How is the word used differently at different moments in the story? What does it mean that Mrs. Mallards sense of self-possession comes only after she unwillingly "abandons herself" to the "thing that was approaching to possess her"? How does the diction affect our sense of the level of Mrs. Mallards active participation in her own discovery of freedom?
Research Exercise: The narrator tells us near the end of the story that Mrs. Mallard "unwittingly" moved "like a goddess of Victory" after she emerged from her room. Research the mythology surrounding Nike, the Greek goddess of victory. How is she depicted? What qualities does she stand for? How is this reference relevant to the character of Mrs. Mallard? You might also research images of Nike, particularly the sculpture known as "Winged Victory" now in the collection of the Louvre.
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