A paper on the imagery in Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour”, by Harry Maugans.

Chopin eloquently laces “œThe Story of an Hour” with vivid imagery to accentuate the contrasting segments and offset social paradigms, enchanting the reader to perceive the situation from her slant. Employing strong irony in a nearly satirical fashion, Chopin utilizes vivacious descriptions as a literary tool to portray the unexpected and coerce the reader to their own conclusions, instead of explicitly stating them. Her masterful crafting of graphic illustrations, employed at the appropriate places, brings a revitalizing light to the story.

In the story, Chopin waits until Mrs. Mallard received the news of her husband”™s death before diving into her visual exhibition. “œWhen the storm of grief had spent itself,” introduces a weather-oriented theme that vibrantly enhances the spike of mental anguish felt upon first receiving the ghastly news. This imagery depicts a violent and dismal entity, setting the oscillation”™s trough low for elevated contrast when juxtaposed against the later inundation of euphoria.

As Mrs. Mallard proceeds into her room, the reader immediately notices a peculiar shift in the imagery”™s façade. The dark and gloomy atmosphere is penetrated by her sitting in “œa comfortable, roomy armchair,” a less than distressing description. She then gazes outside and a gush of serenities pour into the reader”™s ears: a bombshell hits the ambiance.

She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life. The delicious breath of rain was in the air. In the street below a peddler was crying his wares. The notes of a distant song which some one was singing reached her faintly, and countless sparrows were twittering in the eaves.

This unexpected twist adds a whole new shade of color to the story. The unforeseen irony leaves the reader dumbfounded, struggling to make sense of Chopin”™s disconnected logic. Why would a distraught widow notice such a radiant image as “œnew spring life,” atop the trees outside her window? Chopin uses this imagery to serve as metaphorical symbolism to Mrs. Mallard herself. An important reference to the time of the year is made, spring, which is associated with new life and growth. As she breathes in a “œdelicious breath of rain,” she is being reborn without the implicit oppression in her past. This section of the story also extends the weather reference in the beginning, serving as a peaceful break from chaos, or the eye of the storm.

In the next paragraph, Mrs. Mallard notices “œpatches of blue sky showing here and there through the clouds.” This imagery is bursting with metaphorical connotation. The blue sky, symbolizing serenity and delight, is starting to appear through the clouds, symbolizing the last pieces of the turbulent storm in the previous scene. This also reinforces the reader”™s assumption that a bizarre joy is emerging. The clouds and sky continue to play off the weather theme, acting as a guide to her mindset. Like most other imagery in the story, this landscape is directly metaphorical of Mrs. Mallard, with her happiness beginning to show through her preceding anguish.

To support the postulation of oppression and dismay in Mrs. Mallard”™s past, Chopin masterfully adds that the clouds “œhad met and piled one above the other.” This image of unity is symbolic of the happiness she has never felt before. This emotional divergence overwhelmed Mrs. Mallard, leaving her “œthrown back upon the cushion of the chair, quite motionless, except when a sob came up into her throat and shook her, as a child who has cried itself to sleep continues to sob in its dreams.” In comparing her to a child, this image goes to further support the metaphorical rebirth she”™s undergoing. The emotional influx is such that she reverts to an innate state of mind, waiting for it to all sink in.

Chopin continues to strengthen her illustrative ties in the eighth paragraph, describing Mrs. Mallard”™s “œyoung” face with “œdull [eyes] whose gaze was fixed away off yonder on one of those patches of blue sky.” The word “œyoung” is a concrete reference to her childhood-like state- with the dull gaze emphasizing her overwhelmed condition. The “œpatches of blue sky” revisits the reader here, continuing the weather theme, while demonstrating a yearning for that happiness. This scene mirrors a youthful school-aged child staring out the window, wishing he wasn”™t sitting in a classroom. The child wants to play outside instead of working on English assignments all day, and Mrs. Mallard, like a young child, craves escaping her captivity and enjoying life as well.
As Mrs. Mallard”™s happiness began to build, she “œfelt it, creeping out of the sky, reaching toward her through the sounds, the scents, the color that filled the air,” using powerful imagery to personify her weathered state of mind, “œreaching” toward her, switching from a passive to an active voice. This image alleviates her personal guilt, as the happiness is reaching towards her: she”™s not pursuing it. When she “œfelt it, creeping out of the sky,” it shows reserve and hesitation in admitting a positive feeling”™s presence, yet exposed with such radiance, the reader can only assume she”™s craving those feelings with a passionate heart. The air has sound and color, clearly symbolic of a very upbeat mood transcending her.

Mrs. Mallard”™s “œbosom rose and fell tumultuously,” describing her state of raising anticipation and nearing acceptance. She describes the feeling as, “œapproaching to possess her,” reiterating her previous guilt scapegoat and further enhancing her child-like image through circumventing responsibility, even for her own thoughts and feelings. She engages in a graphic fruitless attempt to battle back that feeling, “œstriving to beat it back with her will,” ironic and juvenile since she hungers for her opposition, however quickly abandoned when “œa little whispered word escaped her slightly parted lips . . . free.” And there was light. The entire story from the beginning up to this point is summarized into one word: “œfree.” The word free today symbolically stands against any despotism and injustice, the very same evils the reader speculated earlier. This confirms her gloomy past, and explains the use of such intense positive imagery after receiving the news of her husband”™s death.

Chopin follows the epiphany by describing Mrs. Mallard”™s fast beating pulse and “œthe coursing blood [that] warmed and relaxed every inch of her body.” This is another brilliant wrench on the reader, as normally this imagery would be cheery, but here it depicts grave foreshadowing of a pending heart-attack, from her known heart condition.

Mentally progressing toward analysis, she discloses that “œshe would weep again when she saw the kind, tender hands folded in death,” a statement dripping with cynical undertone, as earlier she offered her dismay in her previous life. This imagery again touches on societal norms, symbolizing what she feels is expected of her, summarizing the antagonism in Chopin”™s absolute argument, and selfishly contending she followed her role until death.

All the while, Mrs. Mallard”™s friend “œwas kneeling before the closed door with her lips to the keyhold.” This imagery goes to show a strong sense of being disconnected. Mrs. Mallard is the only person standing in that room, and the only person, according to societal norms, to have those feelings. She is not only disconnected from society, but now she is also disconnected from the oppression of her husband. She is alone, and she is free. She “œ[drinks] in a very elixir of life through that open window,” emblematic of her emotional cure; the “œelixir” is her remedy. In her cured state, Mrs. Mallard speaks of “œspring days, and summer days, and all sorts of days that would be her own,” all images of joyous times- happier times. She “œbreathed a quick prayer that life might be long,” basking in the imagery of her liberated mindset. From a “œfeverish triumph in her eyes,” to carrying “œherself unwittingly like a goddess of Victory,” Chopin clearly depicts Mrs. Mallard”™s newfound bliss.

At the end of the story, Mr. Mallard enters “œa little travel-stained,” brilliant imagery of first impression, depicting him not as valiant, but as worn-down and meek. The juxtaposition of Mr. Mallard to his wife”™s elation is intensely ironic, as he depicts how the reader assumes Mrs. Mallard lived previously. Josephine’s “œpiercing cry,” highlights the shock of the situation, and serves as a curtain on that scene.

Chopin stuffs “œThe Story of an Hour” with strong imagery to effectively illustrate the vast unexpected twists she pulls off. From sarcasm to devastation, every graphical description helps entice the reader and pull them closer to the center cords of the story. As a master of prose, Chopin does not leave any reader in the metaphorical dark.

–
Parenthetical documentation dropped. Works Cited:
Chopin, Kate. “œThe Story of an Hour.” Third. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2006

Warning: This paper may contain spoilers to the future and life itself. If you”™d rather be surprised in coming years when this speculation becomes a concrete reality, I”™d suggest you stop reading at this point. If the flux capacitor is an interest of yours, please continue.

We don”™t know what will happen in the future. However by looking at historical events and landmark discoveries we can more accurately predict it, namely with societal trends. Neuroscience is a very intricate subject matter with deep roots in society, affecting nearly everything in our daily lives. If a major breakthrough occurs, it could drastically alter anything from the way your pot of coffee is made in the morning, to an individual”™s religion, to the global economy. For this reason, it”™s not a subject matter to be taken lightly, especially with us making steps forward in Neuroscience everyday.

As we further expand our familiarity of the inner-workings of the brain, the religious implications become more apparent. In answering the questions of how intelligent life thinks with proven evidence, we began to dissolve the miracles at the foundation of religion. Understanding the mind may allow us to create further bridges of similarities between man and beast, adding more points on evolution”™s scoreboard and upsetting some religious people. Religion is based on miracles and blind acceptance, but as our culture progresses toward a more logic-focused mindset, science and the theory of evolution progress with it. Sweden is often thought of as the most Atheistic country in the world with an estimated 85% of the entire population disbelieving in a God-like figure (Zuckerman), which is astounding when one realizes that just a few centuries ago, it was rare to find a single atheist”¦ and even then, if one was found they”™d be sentenced to death. There has been an undeniable historical parallel between the increase in scientific evidence and atheistic beliefs, and with further research and discoveries in such an unknown area as the mind, it”™s only likely to continue.

Beyond understanding the mind, the first development of true artificial intelligence will probably cause an even more colossal overhaul of societal thinking. There will be buildings built with supercomputers “œthinking” of new circuit designs, trying to invent better equipment. There will be a massive influx of new technology, and we will need additional employees to govern, control, monitor, update, extend, test, patch, and fix all of it”¦ or at least employees to build more computers to do that for us also. There will be pods forming of anti-technology zealots who watched the 1999 Warner-Brothers movie “œThe Matrix” (IMDB) too many times. Engineers, mathematicians, secretaries, accountants, and even the guy who talks to cars in the drive-through at McDonalds, will all lose their jobs to be replaced with perpetually friendly and never erroneous cybernetics. This will cause a surge of unemployment, then subsequent depression will spread throughout our society. The economy will face a polarity greater than history has ever shown, with the leaders of the AI movement pressing forward in fascist persistence. This is of course purely speculative, however society will face less than frivolous changes.

Ignorance is bliss. That is the reason artificial intelligence will cause a larger ripple in society than unlocking the secrets of the mind. When AI is invented, no one can deny it; ones asks a computer a question, and it answers in what appears to be a logical thought process. However demystifying the mental processes inside our brains begins to question divinity and the presence of an omniscient being. From this, people who are religious the majority of their lives may often choose to ignore or deny any conclusive evidence of such, mitigating societal impact through a delayed acceptance. A perfect historical example of society”™s delayed acceptance for controversial science is when Heliocentrism was introduced by Copernicus to replace the Ptolemaic model of Geocentricity in the 16th century (Artigas). Geocentricity, like religion, was the known standard among the population, and for anyone suggesting the Earth was not the center of the universe was declared absurd. Over the years, more and more concrete evidence was presented, such as ships disappearing from view as they move along the ocean, beyond the arch of the globe, and this treason become less of an offense. Eventually Kepler came along with his theory of planetary motion, Newton developed his theory of universal gravity, and everything began to fit together as a single, solid truth (Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia). While it was hard for people to accept at first, eventually the evidence could not be denied anymore by institution”¦ identical to religion and learning about the mind in the 21st century.

People have an innate yearning to explain things they cannot. They jump to conclusions, they guess and check, and eventually everything is established. However when a theory comes along and upsets that balance by saying what they knew as the truth was in fact inaccurate, mental pandemonium tends to occur. Neuroscience and the study of the mind is in the very early stage of this process, where we are still grabbing for any square plug that fits in the round hole, and when we find a fit, it”™s a big deal. As technology progresses in the 21st century, there well be a substantial impact on society, and through it, we will become a more developed civilization.

Casual Bibliography

- “The Matrix.” IMDB. Internet Movie Database, Inc., 2006. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0133093/

- Zuckerman, Phil. “œAtheism: Contemporary Rates and Patterns.” Michael Martin. Cambridge University Press, 2005. http://www.pitzer.edu/academics/faculty/zuckerman/atheism.html

- Artigas, Mariano. “œShedding new light on the Galileo Affair.” Science and Technology News. March 1, 2002. http://www.stnews.org/News-1885.htm

- “Heliocentrism.” The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Columbia University Press., 2003. Answers.com 20 Apr. 2006. http://www.answers.com/topic/heliocentrism

They had an overwhelming response of people supporting them to buy Sealand, but plans with that seemed to fall apart and now they’re looking into investing in an island of their own. They would them try to claim it as their own country, circumventing international copyright law for good. Hah
http://buysealand.com/?p=7

I just saw this on College Humor and had to post it. Haha

Jon F (aojon.com), owner of WickedFire.com, one of the biggest affiliate (and sometimes borderline spam) communities online, just confirmed MySpace launching lawsuits against over 20 different affiliate-based spam companies. Most of the companies are exploiting the bulletins system in MySpace to send spam to millions of users.

MySpace is choosing to prosecute these companies in California where the anti-spam laws are more harsh and penalties are steeper. for each around $20 to $75 million…. with CPA Empire at the top, being sued for $75 million.

Here is Jon’s entire post (link):

Well, while I sit here typing this, I’m pretty shocked by the news. Here at ASW in Vegas, spirits were high for the last 2 days, but have since been shattered by Myspace’s announcement to sue at least 20-25 ad networks that many of you know all too well. Some really big ones, others are small to medium sized. Basically, they aren’t just going after the big guys in this one, they are obviously doing this to make a point the first time around.

This news is coming from 3 different trusted sources, who gave me the thumbs up to leak the news (even before some of the companies on the list will find out they are on it) but would prefer to remain anonymous. Who can blame them either, eh?

I’ve got a bunch of confirmed sources on the story as well.

Here’s what I know for sure:

Myspace’s lawsuit against the networks are to ban them, and their owners from visiting the myspace.com site.

Myspace is seeking punitive damages from $20 million to $75 million PER network.

Myspace is using the strict California state anti-spam laws as basis for the punitive damages cash amount. These laws are meant for email, not bulletins, but for some reason, they are using this as the reason for the crazy damages suit.

I have a list of 6 confirmed networks and 14-17 unconfirmed networks, but will hold off on releasing the names of them until I am absolutely sure they are involved. I was debating on releasing the names, but seeing as this is one hell of a blow that will most likely kill off a network, I think it’s safer to just wait a bit and see who is really on the list and who isn’t.

The biggest network being hit is CPA Empire for a staggering $75 million.

I’ve been saying this for a while now, Myspace was actively monitoring the spam-friendly haven forum known as Screennameforum.com. The list of networks being sued reads like a shopping list, because they all, at some point or another drafted known Myspace spammers and phishers into their programs to promote their offers, even AFTER cease and desist letters were issued to them by Myspace.

It really sucks that this is happening, but at the same time, I don’t blame Myspace for their actions, nor do I blame them for doing this and using the networks as an example of their anti-spam rules. This should act as a warning to the entire industry, that spam, no matter email or social networking, is probably not the best route to pursue.

And his later follow-ups:

If this does in fact happen, and the confirmed networks are found guilty, we’ll be seeing a lot of people filing for bankruptcy. Shakeups like this are good for the industry in the long run. Kills off the bad ones and only keeps the good. I do feel bad for the networks on the list I have, because I’m pretty good friends with all of their owners and a lot of their AM’s, and would hate to see them close shop and disappear.

It’s 3am here in Vegas now, just got off the phone with 2 more network CEO’s that have confirmed that they are indeed being sued, and both are in the $20M-$30M area. Insane.

When he’s talking about ASW or Vegas… he’s referring to the Affiliate Summit 2007.

The news of MySpace launching lawsuits towards all these ad networks comes in the heels of an official announcement that MySpace is seeking damages from the infamous spammer Scott Richter (source).

However this time, by targeting all sized ad networks, from small to massive, MySpace is clearly trying to send a message through the industry that they’re tired of the abuse of their network… quite possibly the most heavily spammed website on the entire internet.

A friend of mine sent me a collection of hilarious poor English translations on signs and such. Enjoy!

In a Bangkok dry cleaner’s:
“Drop your trousers here for best results.”

In a Tokyo bar:
“Special cocktails for the ladies with nuts.”

In a Tokyo Hotel:
“Is forbidden to steal hotel towels please.  If you are not a person to do such thing is please not to read notis.”

In a Bucharest hotel lobby:
“The lift is being fixed for the next day.  During that time we regret that you will be unbearable.”

In a Leipzig elevator:
“Do not enter the lift backwards, and only when lit up.”
Read the rest of this entry …

I don’t think I’ve done any plugs on this blog before, but I have to say, I’ve never been so impressed with a keyword service before, as I am with Wordze. Levi (boogybonbon.com) dedicates countless hours night and day to building this service up, always messaging me to check out his latest additions and newest features. It’s a service that truly listens to customer requests, and acts on them.

But beyond customer support, the quality of the system he has in place is extraordinary. You can query a single keyword, and in a fraction of a second get back a hundred thousand highly-relevant keywords. And with the API it’s easy to tap into your current operations… then using it’s flexible search options… you can always find the exact keyword lists and keyword research (!!!) you’re looking for. Comparing Wordze and his competitors is like comparing apples to oranges. Sure, the other services have been around longer, but there is no doubt in my mind that the outstanding quality and flexibility of Wordze, Levi will easily surpass them in the future.

Check them out: Wordze Homepage - Wordze Tour

I recently was fixing up my blog to begin using it again, and one of the tweaks I wanted to add was a Digg Vote button on every blog post. After a little searching I found Digg This by Aviran Mordo. Great! I installed it and went on my way.

However about two hours later my email box was flooded with messages saying “Your post XYZ was dugg!”. My thoughts went chronologically somethings like this: “Nice!”.. “Uh oh, the digg effect”.. “Wait, that can’t be possible.”

I looked into it and, realized all the Digg buttons that popped up on all my posts were to someone else’s Digg story! Being a programmer myself, I dove into the source code to see what could have happened. It turned out, Digg This, while a great plugin, had some major security flaws” namely blindly assuming the referrer wasn’t spoofed by a hacker or spammer (as in the case that hit me).

I immediately began hacking the script apart, hardening the security behind it, as well as fixing a few other bugs I found. If the script received word (via a referrer) that the post was Dugg, my patched version doesn’t just assume that is accurate- it actually goes to digg.com and reads the story itself, checking if your link is actually the target of a story. If not, it blocks the hacking/spam attempt.

Essentially, what a very clever spammer did, was search for blogs with that plugin installed (not hard; it’s very popular), and sent fake hits to every post in your blog, forging the referrer to look like it came from a Digg article. Only instead of your article, they linked to theirs, causing a Digg button promoting their story to appear on every one of your blog posts! So if one of your visitors liked your article, and clicked the Digg button, they are actually benefited from the vote, not you!

My version is working great on my blog now. I called my updated, patched version Digg That, and you can download it from my Digg That - WordPress Plugin page.

There are a lot of WordPress blogs out there with a vulnerable Digg Vote button on them, let’s spread the word!