"The Story of An Hour" by Kate Chopin (1894)
Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble, great care was taken to
break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband's death.
It was her sister Josephine who told her, in broken sentences; veiled hints that revealed
in half concealing. Her husband's friend Richards was there, too, near her. It was he who had
been in the newspaper office when intelligence of the railroad disaster was received, with
Brently Mallard's name leading the list of "killed." He had only taken the time to assure himself
of its truth by a second telegram, and had hastened to forestall any less careful, less tender
friend in bearing the sad message.
She did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed
inability to accept its significance. She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her
sister's arms. When the storm of grief had spent itself she went away to her room alone. She
would have no one follow her.
There stood, facing the open window, a comfortable, roomy armchair. Into this she sank,
pressed down by a physical exhaustion that haunted her body and seemed to reach into her
soul.
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 someone was singing reached
her faintly, and countless sparrows were twittering in the eaves.
There were patches of blue sky showing here and there through the clouds that had met
and piled one above the other in the west facing her window.
She sat with her head thrown 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.
She was young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and even a
certain strength. But now there was a dull stare in her eyes, whose gaze was fixed away off
yonder on one of those patches of blue sky. It was not a glance of reflection, but rather indicated
a suspension of intelligent thought.
There was something coming to her and she was waiting for it, fearfully. What was it?
She did not know; it was too subtle and elusive to name. But she felt it, creeping out of the sky,
reaching toward her through the sounds, the scents, the color that filled the air.
Now her bosom rose and fell tumultuously. She was beginning to recognize this thing
that was approaching to possess her, and she was striving to beat it back with her will--as
powerless as her two white slender hands would have been. When she abandoned herself a
little whispered word escaped her slightly parted lips. She said it over and over under her
breath: "free, free, free!" The vacant stare and the look of terror that had followed it went from
her eyes. They stayed keen and bright. Her pulses beat fast, and the coursing blood warmed
and relaxed every inch of her body.
She did not stop to ask if it were or were not a monstrous joy that held her. A clear and
exalted perception enabled her to dismiss the suggestion as trivial. She knew that she would
weep again when she saw the kind, tender hands folded in death; the face that had never
looked save with love upon her, fixed and gray and dead. But she saw beyond that bitter
moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely. And she
opened and spread her arms out to them in welcome.
There would be no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself.
There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and
women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature. A kind intention
or a cruel intention made the act seem no less a crime as she looked upon it in that brief
moment of illumination.
And yet she had loved him--sometimes. Often she had not. What did it matter! What
could love, the unsolved mystery, count for in the face of this possession of self-assertion which
she suddenly recognized as the strongest impulse of her being!
"Free! Body and soul free!" she kept whispering.
Josephine was kneeling before the closed door with her lips to the keyhold, imploring for
admission. "Louise, open the door! I beg; open the door--you will make yourself ill. What are you
doing, Louise? For heaven's sake open the door."
"Go away. I am not making myself ill." No; she was drinking in a very elixir of life through
that open window.
Her fancy was running riot along those days ahead of her. Spring days, and summer
days, and all sorts of days that would be her own. She breathed a quick prayer that life might be
long. It was only yesterday she had thought with a shudder that life might be long.
She arose at length and opened the door to her sister's importunities. There was a
feverish triumph in her eyes, and she carried herself unwittingly like a goddess of Victory. She
clasped her sister's waist, and together they descended the stairs. Richards stood waiting for
them at the bottom.
Some one was opening the front door with a latchkey. It was Brently Mallard, her
husband, who entered, a little travel-stained, composedly carrying his grip-sack and umbrella.
He had been far from the scene of the accident, and did not even know there had been one. He
stood amazed at Josephine's piercing cry; at Richards' quick motion to screen him from the view
of his wife.
When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease--of the joy that kills.
Chopin, K. (1895, January 5). The story of an hour. St. Louis Life.
How to Write an Evaluation Paper
Updated on May 17, 2017 | Virginia Kearney
Virginia has been a university English instructor for over 20 years. She specializes in helping
people write essays faster and easier.
What is an Evaluation Paper?
Evaluation essays are just like reviews. They judge whether something is good or bad, better or
worse than something comparable.
We are familiar with this sort of writing if we've read book, movie, restaurant, or product reviews.
Evaluation papers can be serious or funny, earnest or sarcastic. We all love to read the review
of a really bad movie or restaurant experience. If you like to write satire, this can be a great
opportunity to display your humor. Chances are you will have a great time, and so will your
reader.
Choosing a Topic
Your topic can be something you've experienced once or many times. Keep in mind that you will
write a better paper if you:
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Have a strong opinion—positive or negative—about this topic.
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Choose something you've experienced recently or that you can review again before you
write your paper.
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Know a lot about this type of experience.
Use the following list of categories to brainstorm ideas for what you might want to evaluate.
Performances
Products
Experiences
Places
Movie
Technological Device
Restaurant
Museum
Play
Website
Store
Sports Stadium
Concert
Book
Event (like State Fair)
Concert Venue
Sporting Event
Album
Club
Park
Advertising Campaign
Luxury Item
Program (like Study
Abroad)
Zoo
Fashion Show
Clothing Line
Vacation
Unique Building
Use this list of categories to brainstorm topic ideas for your essay.
Evaluate an advertising campaign: Does this ad make you want to buy those clothes?| Source
Steps in Writing
Finding Criteria for Evaluation Essays
To turn your opinion into an evaluation, you will need to use criteria to judge your subject. What
are criteria? Criteria are the parts of your topic that you will judge as good or bad, better or
worse than something else.
How can you find criteria? Criteria are the parts of the thing you are evaluating. Here are
some examples of criteria:
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movie criteria: plot, actors, scenery, score, directing, chemistry between actors, humor.
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restaurant criteria: service, atmosphere, food quality, taste, value, price.
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website criteria: ease of navigation, design, visuals, writing, content.
Finding the best criteria for your evaluation: In order to do this kind of writing well, you need
to determine what sort of a topic you are evaluating. If it is a movie, then what genre is it: horror,
romance, drama, etc.? Then you need to decide what would make an excellent movie in that
genre in your opinion. For example, you may decide that a good romantic comedy has to have
three things: humor, surprising plot twists, and actors you enjoy getting to know. Next, you will
evaluate the movie you have chosen to see how well it matches those criteria, giving specific
examples of how it does or does not fulfill your expectations of an excellent romantic comedy.
Turning Your Topic into an Essay
In order to evaluate something, you need to compare it with the best example of that particular
thing. So, to help you develop your topic into an essay, there are two important questions to ask
when you are choosing your topic to evaluate:
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First question: What category of a thing is it?
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Second question: What is the ideal example of something in that category?
Example: McDonald's
What category is it? For the best evaluation essay, you want to compare your topic with things
that are very similar, so try to narrow the category as much as possible. To get there, you want
to keep on asking the question, "What kind is it?" What category does McDonald's fit into?
Answer to first question: Restaurant. (What kind of restaurant?) Fast food restaurant. (Better,
but what kind of fast food?) Hamburger-serving fast food restaurant. (This is what you want!)
So if you were evaluating McDonald's, you would want to compare it to other fast food
restaurants that mostly serve hamburgers.
Now the second question: What is the ideal example of something in that category? What
makes that example better than others? Thinking about what you consider to be the very best
example of something in the category of what you are reviewing can help you decide what
criteria you will use, and also what judgement you can make. For example, here is a list of
criteria my students have come up with for an ideal burger fast food restaurant:
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looks clean
serves food fast
makes it easy to order
has great fries
has options on the menu
offers large drinks with free refills
serves juicy burgers with lots of grease
doesn't cost a lot of money
No two people will come up with exactly the same list, but most restaurant reviews look at the
following criteria:
1.
2.
3.
4.
service
atmosphere
food
value
Answer to second question: A great fast food burger joint offers great service, atmosphere,
and food at a fair cost.
Now you know what your paper is going to be about how close McDonald's comes to this ideal.
Is This an Effective Advertisement?
How to Organize Your Essay
Using the list of criteria above, we can make a very fast outline for an essay about an imaginary
fast food hamburger restaurant called Bob's Burgers:
Thesis Statement: While you may have to wait a while to get your meal at Bob's Burgers, that
is because everyone finds the meal is worth the wait; Bob's Burgers offers not only great
service, but a fun atmosphere for eating with friends or family, terrific food, and a good value for
the price.
Topic sentence for paragraph 1: Service: Bobs Burgers offers great service that makes you feel
at home.
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Food served quickly
Easy to order
Friendly
Not pushy
They get the order correct
Topic sentence for paragraph 2: Atmosphere: Walking into Bob's, you know you will enjoy
eating there.
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Looks clean
Attractive colors
Interesting pictures or other decorations
Comfortable tables and chairs
Topic sentence for paragraph 3: Food: Most importantly, Bob's burgers are the best in town.
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Juicy burgers with lots of grease
Many choices for toppings, including grilled onions, mushrooms, and peppers
Small or large burgers
Have great fries
One downside: No options for those who don't like burgers
Topic sentence for paragraph 4: Value: While Bob's doesn't have the cheapest meals, they do
offer a good value for the price.
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Quality ingredients
Burgers and fries fill you up
Toppings on burgers are free
Large drinks with free refills
Using this quick outline, most of you could probably write your own essay on Bob's or another
fast food hamburger joint pretty easily.
Other Ways to Organize
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Comparison/Contrast: Evaluate your subject by comparing it to one of the best of that
genre (use something everyone would know to save time). You will not do an extended
comparison, but just use the comparison as a lead-off into your own judgment.
Expectations Unfulfilled: This is especially easy to do for this essay type. Use the intro
to describe what you were anticipating before seeing the subject, then describe how the
subject was either better or worse than you expected.
Frame: Use a description of the subject to frame the essay. That way you get right into
the action. Then break off half-way through to keep your reader in suspense. Give your
evaluation and then conclude with the end of your frame.
Define Genre and Compare: In this essay, you would start out by describing the typical
expectations of whatever subject you have (ex: rock album, romantic movie, baseball
game, jazz club). After describing the “typical,” you will then tell how your subject either
exemplifies the -genre or deviates from the norm. Probably this type of organization is
best used for a satire or for a subject that deliberately tries to break out of the normal
expectations of that genre.
Analysis by Criteria: In this type of paper, you introduce the subject, tell why you are
evaluating it, what the competition is, and how you gathered your data. Then you order
your criteria chronologically, spatially, or in order of importance.
Chronological Order: You might use this for all or part of your paper. It means telling
what happened in the order it happened. This is particularly useful for a performance or
restaurant review.
Causal Analysis: This measures the effect on the audience. How does this subject
cause a certain effect?
Analysis Focused on the Visual: This organization plan works well for analyzing works
of art and pictures. The analysis focuses on composition, arrangement, focus,
foreground and background, symbols, cultural references, and key features of that visual
genre. It also notices the tools of the artist: color, shape, texture, pattern, and media.
This paper analyzes these details in order to explain how they are related to the cultural
and historical context of the work of art and then tells how they relate to the overall
meaning of the piece. Be sure to evaluate if and why this piece is effective or ineffective.
Analysis Focused on the Social Context or the Story: This type of evaluation takes
an image and analyzes how it is effective for a particular point. Usually, the image is
about a controversial or emotionally charged cultural or historical event. Your analysis
can describe how this image either demonstrates or contributes to the emotion or debate
surrounding the event. It may be that the image is ironic or misleading.
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Introduction and Conclusion
The only problem with our example above is that it is so easy to write, and so it might seem
rather trite and unoriginal. How can you make your essay stand out?
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Describe vividly, using interesting verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.
Make the reader feel that they have been to the restaurant with you.
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Use the introduction and conclusion to entice the reader.
Introduction and Conclusion Ideas
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Use a conversation about the food.
Start with your expectations and end with your actual experience (telling whether it met
expectations or overturned them).
Talk about popularity or history of the restaurant.
Use statistics of people eating fast food more. Discuss the controversy about fast food
and obesity and health.
See the chart below for more ideas.
How to Connect Introduction and Conclusion
Introduction Ideas
Conclusion Ideas
Frame story.
Finish frame story.
Vivid description of subject.
What your audience should expect.
Explain your expectation before seeing or
experiencing subject.
Were expectations fulfilled or unfulfilled?
Discuss what other people think of this
subject.
Should agree with other people?
Give a quote from someone about this
(especially if you disagree).
Tell your audience what they should think, do,
or believe about this subject.
Describe how popular or unpopular it is.
Is popularity a good judge for this?
Show a conversation of people talking about
it.
Show a conversation of what people think
after experiencing it.
Give a scenario of a typical person interested
in this.
Would you recommend this? Do you have a
better idea?
Tell a personal story of your interest in the
subject.
Explain your final conclusion about this
subject.
Give history of event, piece of art, or other
object.
What is the meaning of this thing over time?
Describe previous work of musician, director,
actor, or artist.
How does this work compare to rest of work?
Cite statistics or evidence about this subject.
How does this subject fit into or challenges
statistics or facts?
Introduction Ideas
Conclusion Ideas
Define this thing or genre and what people
typically expect.
Does this fulfill, fall short of, or reverse the
conventions of the genre?
You can mix and match these introduction and conclusion ideas.
Tips for Writing a Great Essay
1. Present the Subject in an Interesting Way
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Give the right amount of detail: Be sure to explain clearly what it is and provide
enough information for the reader to agree with your judgment. Sometimes movie
reviews leave the reader in suspense as to the outcome of the story. You will have to
decide what you want to tell.
Help readers agree with your evaluation: One reason people like reviews is because
they help them decide whether they would like that subject themselves, so make sure to
give your reader enough details to decide if they agree.
Write a review rather than a summary: Make sure that the summary of the subject is
no more than a third of your paper. The main part of your paper is supposed to be the
evaluation, not the summary. It is possible to do the summary separately and then do
the evaluation, or you can summarize as part of your evaluation.
Make sure what you are evaluating is clear: It is often effective to use an introduction
which describes the subject or gets the reader involved in the action quickly.
2. Make a Clear, Authoritative Judgment (2/3 of paper)
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Thesis sentence should tell exactly what you think. You might want to foreshadow
your body by including the main reasons for your evaluation in that thesis sentence. (Ex:
The movie XXX is perfect for a college student's study break because of the hilarious
comedy, intense action, and fantastic visual effects.)
Define the audience you are addressing and the genre of the subject (in the above
example, the audience is college students and the genre is action comedy).
Create a three-column-log to help you make notes for your paper. Separate your notes
into three columns for criteria, evidence, and judgment.
Pick at least three criteria to talk about in your essay. For example, for a mystery play,
it could be three of the following: plot, setting, costumes, acting of main characters,
acting of minor characters, the pace of the action, or the unveiling of the mystery.
Be opinionated! Passionate reviews are always more interesting to read. Use vivid
nouns and engaging verbs. Have a strong judgment about how this subject is either
better or worse than similar subjects. Your judgment can be mixed. For example, you
might say the concert on the mall was a good mix of bands and that the new songs from
the main act were energetically played, but that the sound equipment was poorly set up
and tended to make it hard to hear the singers.
Order the body paragraphs from least to most important.
Back up your opinions with concrete examples and convincing evidence.
3. Argue for Your Judgment
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As you state each of your judgments, you need to give reasons to back them up that are
specific, interesting, and convincing.
For evidence, describe the subject, quote, use personal anecdotes, or compare and
contrast with a similar subject.
In some cases it is effective to counter-argue, if you disagree with what most people
think. For example, if your subject is very popular and you think it is terrible, you may
want to state what most people think and tell why you disagree.
Evaluate the Hype Around a Movie
Pre-Writing Exercise
This exercise is intended to help you prepare to write your paper. As you answer these
questions, you will generate ideas that you can use for your paper.
1. What is the topic (subject) you are going to evaluate? Do a short description of it in a
list or paragraph.
2. What category is your topic? Be as specific and narrow as possible.
3. Who might be interested in this? This is your audience for the paper.
4. What does this audience already know? What do they want or expect from this thing?
(This can help you develop criteria)
5. What criteria can you use for evaluating your topic? (Think of what is most important, or
what can be either good or bad, or what parts there are of your topic)
6. What did you expect before you experienced your topic? How did your experience
either fulfill or reverse your expectations?
7. In your evaluation of your topic, what is good?
8. In your evaluation of your topic, what is not as good?
9. What is the best example of something in your topic? (Or what other things can you
use to compare your topic with?). How does your topic compare to the best of this sort
of thing?
10. If I had to put my evaluation in a single sentence, I would say:
11. Look at “How to Write and Evaluation Essay” Organization Strategies. Which of these
will you use? Explain how you will use it.
12. Introduction/Conclusion ideas: Which of these will work best for you?
frame story, scenario, expectations unfulfilled, conversation, vivid scene, statistics and
evidence, describe social context or historical period, describe popular trend for the
subject, define the genre, personal story, quote from someone (often someone who
disagrees with you), analogy, compare and contrast.
13. How will you use this introduction and conclusion idea in your essay?
14. Now write a brief outline of your paper (see hamburger example above).
Group Exercise
Most of us can tackle a writing project more easily after talking about our ideas. Instructors may
have you work in groups to talk out your ideas. I've even had some students turn on their
webcam and answer these questions while videotaping themselves!
If your instructor doesn't have you work in a group, you can get together with some friends to
answer the following questions and take notes to help you get ideas for your paper. Take turns
in your group. The main goal is to help one another prepare to write. Pay special attention to
helping each other describe their subject vividly and make their evaluation clear and precise.
Also, look for good ways to organize papers.
1. Tell your subject to your group. Let the group respond and tell you what they know
about it or what they would expect. You write down their answers.
2. Explain your subject. Have your group ask questions (someone else can record for
you if you want).
3. Explain your criteria for judging it (#5 in pre-writing). Have the group respond. Do
these seem like the best criteria? Any other suggestions?
4. Tell your group your one-sentence evaluation (this is your thesis). Get suggestions
for how to make is more effective.
5. Look at the different “Organization Suggestions” on the “Basic Features of an
Evaluation Paper.” What type of organization would work best for this paper? Try to
write a simple outline.
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