Short Story Analysis: The Story of An Hour by Kate Chopin

I. THE STORY OF AN HOUR                      

by Kate Chopin

    II. SYNOPSIS/ SUMMARY

Mrs. Mallard is told by her sister Josephine that Mr. Mallard’s name is amongst those who were in a railroad accident. Upon hearing of her husband’s death, Mrs. Mallard cries at once in Josephine’s arms. Then Mrs. Mallard goes to her room after that storm of grief has passed. However, when she is alone in her room, her grief is replaced by a feeling of relief and happiness because at last, she will be free for the rest of her life. And though she has loved him sometimes, she frequently has not loved him. She is already thinking of the long days ahead that will just be for her alone. But the happiness and excitement go “ppfftt” when Mr. Mallard comes home: he was far from the accident’s scene. The story closes with Mrs. Mallard’s death, which is of “the joy that kills” according to the doctors.

III. SHORT STORY ELEMENTS

A. CHARACTERS

1.   Mrs. Louise Mallard - Developing and Round

2.   Josephine – Static and Flat

3.   Richards – Static and Flat

4.   Mr. Brently Mallard – Static and Flat

B. PLOT

a)  Introduction

This short story opens with the explanation that Mrs. Mallard has a heart problem.

b)  Rising Action

Because of such heart condition, her sister Josephine must break the news of Mr. Mallard’s death in the most acceptable manner.

c)  Climax

Even though Mrs. Mallard breaks into tears and grief, these are overpowered by happiness and relief when she is already alone in her room.

 d) Falling action

Mrs. Mallard’s excitement is shattered when she sees her husband alive.

 e)   Denouement

      Mrs. Mallard dies from a heart attack upon seeing her husband alive.

C. SETTING

a)  place – in Mr. and Mrs. Mallard’s home

b)  time- sometime in the 19th century

c)  weather conditions - fine

d)  social conditions- good

e)  mood or atmosphere – Before breaking the tragic news to Mrs. Mallard, the atmosphere is tense. After she finds out, the mood becomes sad, then happy, and sad again in the end.

D. POINT OF VIEW

The Point of View used in this short story is the Omniscient Limited - The author tells the story in third person (using pronouns they, she, he, it, etc).  We know only what the character knows and what the author allows him/her to tell us. We can see the thoughts and feelings of characters if the author chooses to reveal them to us.

E. LITERARY DEVICES

In my opinion, the literary devices used in this story are Foreshadowing,Symbolism and Imagery. For Foreshadowing, the start of the story already tells the readers that Mrs. Mallard has a heart problem, and this is what causes her death in the end. For Symbolism, the wide outdoors seen by Mrs. Mallard upon opening her bedroom window symbolizes her freedom whilst the smaller bedroom symbolizes what her heart feels, cramped and seemingly in prison. Finally, for Imagery, the beautiful scene outside her window - the trees, the sparrows, the blue sky, etc.- all show wonderful images that  go along with her happiness and excitement.

F. THEME

For me, the theme Sometimes, or oftentimes, to that matter, people cannot have what they want and also Be content on what you are can be applied to this story.

G. CONFLICT

The conflict here is Internal, that of Mrs. Mallard vs. Herself, as she struggles with herself, with her own soul, ideas of right or wrong, physical limitations, choices, etc. --- ARV

The Story of an Hour

The Story of an Hour

It’s was interesting to see how the main character of the story is referred to as Mrs. Mallard in the story until her sister Josephine calls her by her name, Louise, this to me represents how a woman loses her identity when she gets married. The time of the story suggest that the marriage might have been for monetary comfort, and social status as there was no mention of children throughout the story at all.

 In the very first paragraph the writer lets us know that Mrs. Mallard is afflicted with a heart condition. When I read this I instantly imagined an elderly lady. When you hear of someone have a heart condition you don’t think of a young person. Then in the eight paragraph we are told that Mrs. Mallard was a lady that was young. But then she is also referred to as also having a  fair, calm face whose lines bespoke representation, this to me is a little confusing because as you start to get old you start to get lines in your face or better known as wrinkles’ . So is the writer trying to say that Mrs. Mallard is aging faster than she is and if so why?

What importance does her husband’s friend Richards have in the story besides being there when she is told of her husband’s death? Was he trying to block Mr. Mallard’s view of his wife lying on the floor when he comes through the door? Or was he there to console her as friend only or something else?

When she is told of her husband’s death it doesn’t seem like she took the news like that of someone that has just lost her husband, best friend or even a lover, as the story states she did not hear the news as many women have heard the story with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance.

When she retreats to her room we are told that 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. This represents the beginning of new life because of the statement all aquiver with the new spring life. When she hears o her husband’s death I believe that she feels the freedom or even the beginning of a new life and that is what the writer is trying to pass along through her writing. I believe that Mrs. Mallard may have been in a marriage that she was not really happy with or even wanted to be in the marriage.

When she started to repeat the words that were parting from her lips “free, free, free” leads me to believe that she was being to realize that she was going to be free woman from the bonds of marriage that she was not to happy to be in.  Mrs. Mallard states that she loved him — sometimes and often she had not.  And when she also started to feel relaxed as the warmed blood warmed and relaxed every inch of her body, as she describes that she would weep again when she saw her husband’s kind, tender hands folded in death; the face that had never looked save with love upon her, fixed and gray and dead. The writer also goes on to say that Mrs. Mallard was able to look beyond the bitter moment for long years that would belong to her and she opened and spread her arms to welcome them.  She was also thinking of the days ahead of her and sais a quick prayer that the life ahead of her might be long. Leads me to believe that Mrs. Mallard was not happy with her marriage as she uses harsh words to describe her husband; fixed, gray and dead hands. It seemed like she was only weeping for a friend and not a husband. 

  When Josephine who is her sister begs her to open the door, asks her what she is doing is the first time we find out that Mrs. Mallards first name is Louise. Her sister tells her that she will make herself sick; I would imply that she was thinking that her sister was crying. When Louise replies that she is not going to make herself ill, the writer goes onto say that she is drinking in the very elixir of life through the open window which refers to a medicine for a cure all.

The writer also refers to Mrs. Mallard as goddess of Victory which to me implies that she finally won a battle that she has been fighting for many years. As her sister and she descend down the stairs Richard was waiting for them which, goes back to the first question. Was he there as a friend or something else?

When the door opened the writer refers to Mr. Mallard as a little travel stained, carrying a gripsack and umbrella. To me the writer is referring to him as being exhausted and tired. Question, why was he carrying a carrying a gripsack (suite case) and umbrella, why was he not near the railroad when the disaster happened?

As he entered the room he stood amazed at Josephine’s piercing cry and Richards’s quick motion to try to screen him from the view of his wife. Was Josephine’s piercing cry because Richard came through the door or because of her sister’s death? Also was Richard actually trying to screen him from the view of his wife?

 The last sentence says the doctors said the Louise died of heart disease-of the joy that kills. Did Louise actually die from the site of her husband coming through the door that she was over whelmed to see he was still alive and her fear of living in a marriage that she was not happy with just too much for her or did she die when she had heard that her husband was in a railroad accident and she thought he was dead. Was Louise a ghost throughout the story and was she seeing herself looking out the window in her room?  

Why did the author give the story the name “The Story of an Hour”? My guess would that maybe all of this took place within an hour.

The Story of an Hour - Kate Chopin (1851 – 1904)

PAR PHAMHO. VENDREDI 25 MAI 2007 05:00:20

KATE CHOPIN, LITERATURE, THE STORY OF AN HOUR

(Composed by Hoang Ngoc Trang - DH02G-AV28)
Feeling free is a wonderful sense. Sometimes we feel free after an examination, feel free to leave our house and live independently, or feel free after we repay a debt. However, it sounds odd and shocking that a woman releases a feeling of freedom owing to her husband's death. Why did Mrs. Mallard utter “Free! Body and soul free!” when knowing that Mr. Mallard leaved her forever? Is it an acceptable reaction? Whether does that utterance have any further significance?

Firstly, how could a woman find happiness and freedom out of her husband's death? The story has too few rooms to tell us how the marriage of the Mallards was, but several details in the story can be the evidences. When she was alone in her room after having heard the bad news of her husband's death, the woman sensed “the new spring life” and “the delicious breath of rain”. Then she heard the crying of a peddler, the notes of a distant song, and the twittering of countless sparrows in the eaves. The peddler could go on the street to cry his/her wares only when it stopped raining. The notes of a distant song could reached her only when they were not drowned out by the noise of the rain and the thunder maybe. And the birds would not fly out of their nests to sing in the eaves if the rain was still there. Obviously, everything seemed to revive after the rain; and whether was it the case of Mrs. Mallard? It must be so because the woman now could see “patches of blue sky”, which were an image of hope and joy, “showing here and there through the clouds”, which represented the gloom and the dark of her life, and her fate. The rain and the clouds that derived beautiful things in her life were a strong evidence for the hard time she had experienced. That was the reason why a young woman had a “fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression.” Now the answer was too apparent. It was the repression that made a woman look older than she really was. It was the repression that made this young woman wish not to prolong her life but the day after, with the news of the husband's death, she wished the life would be long! By the way, if we notice how she was addressed, we will see changes in the way that people called her. At first, she was called “Mrs. Mallard” and only after her husband was deemed to be killed, she was called by her name “Louise”. However, she was addressed “wife” when Mr. Millard returned. Was that a woman did not have her own identity a kind of repression? Whether Mr. Mallard intended to abuse his wife or not, whether he was aware that his domination on her wife was a crime, the situation was the same for Mrs. Mallard: she was oppressed. Further, this poor woman was not coerced not only by her husband but also by people around who “believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature.” Mrs. Mallard considered what her husband and other people did with her “no less a crime”, no matter how it was “kind” or “cruel”. For all those reasons, for the happiness of being escaped, the woman uttered “Free! Body and soul free!”

Secondly, the problem here is if the reaction of Mrs. Mallard towards the husband's departure is tolerable. It is necessary to go back to the nineteenth century to find out the answer. American women in the late nineteenth century did not talk openly about sex or even walk down the street while visibly pregnant. The women in her time lived serving their husband and became slaves of their husband and of the matrimony. It was Louise who was unlike many other women at that time (“she did not hear the story as many women have heard the same”); she recognized the real situation where the nineteenth century women were sank in. Bearing such a life, a woman had the right to hope for a life of her own; and it is understandable if a woman considered “self-assertion … as the strongest impulse of her being” rather than love, husband, marriage or stuff like that. If women today are badly treated by their husband or are not satisfied with their marriage life, they can come to women associations for help, they can write for the newspaper, even they can ask for the divorce. Unfortunately, the women at the time of Louise did not have such options; they had to live under the patriarchal dominance forever. Thus, the departure of the husband in this case means the disappearance of sorrow and subjugation. Louise, as far as I am concerned, might not to be happy because of the death of her husband, but because of the death of the intolerable power upon her life. If someone thinks Louise is a bad woman, it is fair to find out what make a woman bad. If Louise had a guilty, it was the guilty of seeking for self-assertion, the guilty of a voice of freedom that was a taboo in the patriarchal dominance in American society.

Finally, “Free! Body and soul free!”, in my opinion, is not just a slogan of Louise's own revolution, but of the struggle against the patriarchal dominance. “The story of an hour” portraits internal changes of a woman in an hour. It was one hour when the woman for the first time lived with happiness and full awareness of life. It was only an hour so that, after that short time, the woman fell down when the husband opened the door. Why was that woman so painful and exhausted in her marriage? Why did that woman die not because her husband died but because she saw him returning? Her death accused the patriarchal dominance of murder. “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 this possession of self-assertion which she suddenly recognized as the strongest impulse of her being!” This sentence says all about the nature of marriage or the nature of the relationship. There cannot be a happy relationship if one of the partners loses her/his freedom. The slogan has created a huge need for identity and individuality. How could a human being impose her/his private will upon another? It is frankly a crime. Anybody has the right to be fee, both body and soul.

All in all, “Free! Body and soul free!” brings up the idea of freedom, identity, and individuality and defy any form of dominance that derives these innate and inevitable rights of women as well as all human beings. However, this utterance was just whispered by Louise and it was the only external evidence of her changes, which showed the limitation of social norms on Mrs. Mallard and other women in America of the nineteenth century.

"The Story of an Hour" is a short story written by Kate Chopin on April 19, 1894, and published in Vogue on December 6, 1894. Initially, it was written and first published under the title "The Dream of an Hour". It was reprinted in St. Louis Life on January 5, 1895.

The title of the short story refers to the time elapsed between the moments at which the protagonist, Mrs. Mallard, hears that her husband is dead and discovers that he is alive after all. The Story of an Hour was considered controversial during the 1890s because it deals with a female protagonist who feels liberated by the news of her husband's death. In Unveiling Kate Chopin, Emily Toth argues that Chopin "had to have her heroine die" in order to make the story publishable.[2]

Contents

  [hide] 

·         1 Summary

·         2 Characters

·         3 Tone

·         4 Writing Style and Structure

·         5 Major Themes

·         6 Symbolism

·         7 Responses

·         8 Women's Liberation Movement

·         9 Analysis

·         10 Film adaptation

·         11 References

[edit]Summary

The story describes the series of emotions Louise Mallard endures after hearing of the death of her husband, who was believed to have died in a railroad disaster. Mrs. Mallard suffers from heart problems and therefore her sister attempts to inform her of the horrific news in a gentle way. Mrs. Mallard locks herself in her room to immediately mourn the loss of her husband. However, she begins to feel an unexpected sense of exhilaration. "Free! Body and soul free!" is what she believes is a benefit of his death. At the end of the story, it is made known that her husband was not involved in the railroad disaster and upon his return home Mrs. Mallard suddenly dies. The cause of her death is ambiguous and left for analysis as it can range from her known heart problems to psychological factors. We can ask ourselves if the real reason for the death was knowing that she wouldn't be free after she sees that her husband isn't really dead.

[edit]Characters

§  Mrs. Louise Mallard is the protagonist of the story. She is introduced as being "afflicted with a heart trouble", which is why great care is taken in telling her of her husband's death. She mourns her husband, but then begins to feel relieved and liberated.

§  Mr. Brently Mallard is the husband of Louise Mallard. He is assumed dead until the end of the story when we learn that the news of his death was a mistake. While we do not really meet him or learn much about him, it is assumed he is the typical husband of the time period. He is out working and traveling, with his wife home caring for his home.

§  Josephine is Louise's sister who she tells Louise of her husband's death. She embodies the feminine ideals of the time, acting as the picture perfect wife figure. She is overly concerned about her sister because according the standards of the time, she feels this should ruin her world. Through her, we see the norms of the time period contrasted to the rebellious reaction of Louise.

§  Richards is Mr. Mallard's friend and is the first person to hear of Brently's death, coming over to inform Louise safely. He represents the standard image and expectations of the man during the time period - responsible for protecting women. However, he fails which could have been a bit controversial for the time period.

[edit]Tone

Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour" follows an ironically detached and melancholy tone. "The unrecognized or unspoken unhappiness that seems to rule Louise Mallard's life is realized only upon word of her husband's demise, and swiftly taken away again at his revival." The story comes off as subtly cruel in that Louise's reaction to the death of her husband was not one of sadness from loss but rather a bitter joy she feels when she comes to the understanding that she is now free from the shackles of marriage, his perceived death representing freedom and independence from the role she is forever bound to by society—a wife.The tone is illustrated in the way in which Louise finds her autonomous 'self' at the end of another life: "The narrator's description of Mrs. Mallard shows someone who brushes off the notions of love and even the best of marriages for the glorious idea of pure freedom. Meanwhile, the people around her think she's crying her eyes out over her dead husband. Really, though, she's relieved to be free. No one understands her. At the end of the story, the doctors agree that she must have passed away from a sudden shock of extreme happiness from finding out that her husband lived after all: from 'joy that kills'". Chopin's story fills readers with the nonvocal but profound intimate feeling of the married woman of the 19th century. The story gives readers an almost out-of-body experience of the protagonist, Louise, and rather than sentimental, the story takes on the approach of revolutionary in a way into new perspectives that much of society at the time did not believe.

[edit]Writing Style and Structure

"The Story of an Hour" takes on a very specific style and structure which is perfect in the way in the story is written. The structure and style heightens the drama and plot line of the story. The story follows a third-person narrative in which Mrs. Mallard is the center of action. The non-participant narrator provides access to Mrs. Mallard's life: her medical condition or state, her strict marriage, her lack-luster relationship with her husband, her perspective on "love" she has for her husband, and her perspective on her newly awakened ideas on her personal freedom—which she associates with the death of her husband. In other words, the narrator describes Mrs. Mallard's thoughts, feelings, perceptions, and emotions, worries and decisions with reference to her past, present and hopes for a future in which she becomes a free, independent individual setting the scene for the feminist change in the 20th century. Therefore, the whole story can be seen as a deictic field in which Mrs. Mallard is its deictic center.

The use of an omniscient third-person narrator enables Chopin to tell a complete story that's not limited to the protagonist's point of view, but creates a sense of division in the individual as opposed to the ideas of society (for example when Louise isolates herself in her room and the narrator is able to further understand what she feels). This is key because the opening of the story begins with readers learning something Mrs. Mallard doesn't, and because the story ends after Mrs. Mallard has already died. If Louise were telling the story from her own perspective, readers would be exposed to a whole different explanation of why she suffers from a weak heart, giving a one sided opinion, and the story would end very differently – and somewhat earlier. The use of third-person omniscient narrative voice also keeps Mrs. Mallard more sympathetic and understandable. The narrator seems to be excusing her behavior and thought process, or at least providing reasoning for it alluding to the audience that the way in which Louise feels is understood by many.

“Chopin writes the piece in a series of short paragraphs made up of two to three sentences each. Likewise, the story covers only one hour in Louise Mallard’s life—from the moment she learns of her husband’s death to the moment he unexpectedly returns alive. The short, dense structure mirrors the intense hour Louise spends contemplating her new independence.” Just as Louise is completely absorbed in her thoughts unheard of at the time, the audience is immersed alongside her in this brief period of time. Due to the length of the story being so short—a tactic Chopin purposefully uses to exaggerate the need for self independence and how it can transform a person within a matter of minutes or an ‘hour—it leaves Chopin with the inability to add background information, flashbacks, or excessive speculation, so instead she employs the use of repetition when making specific intense points such as Louise's ability to now be "free, free, free" now that her husband is dead. Chopin also fills the plot with much imagery, for example when Louise is left alone in her own room to 'console' herself, used to symbolize her coming into her own as a woman.

[edit]Major Themes

Appearance vs. Reality: Mrs. Mallard is aware of how she must conduct herself as someone whose husband just passed away. Her true feelings is that she is happy her husband is now gone – but her conduct says otherwise. She puts on an act that would be a typical response upon hearing the death of her spouse. However, the narrator notes that she was quick to accept the death with any questions. “She did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance.” she then goes upstairs and keeps herself away from everyone else in order to make it seem as if she was coping. In reality, she is overjoyed at the loss of her husband. Even Louis is shocked at her behavior and wonders if her reaction was beyond the norm. “She did not stop to ask if it were or were not a monstrous joy that held her.”

Marriage vs Freedom: Mrs. Mallard believes that both women and men limit each other in matrimony. She does not express any apparent ill-will against Mr. Mallard and has even admitted to liking him and some point. Due to its structure as telling the story within an hour's time, no background information is given about Mr. and Mrs. Mallard's relationship. This is an effective style that Chopin utilizes. The story is not about the husband being abusive to his wife or vice-versa. Instead, it focuses on the individual's inner desires for freedom. The point-of-view of "Story of an Hour" is that of the wife. Louise's desire for freedom far exceeds her love for him - a controversial idea that goes against the norms of society. She would rather live freely than be in a marriage that subjects her to domesticity. “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.” The idea of Marriage vs. Freedom is a growing theme in modern American Women Writing during Kate Chopin's time. The idea that women can look beyond marriage as their lifelong goal to achieve is a teetering idea for women seeking independence.

[edit]Symbolism

Spring – Mrs. Mallard welcomes the new spring life. This symbolizes a new beginning for her. Spring represents life and that is what Mrs. Mallard gains as a widow. It also helps to note that spring comes after winter. Winter can be seen as Louise while she was married to her husband. Winter is symbolically a depressing, cold and isolated season. Contrasting that to Louise's new-found spirit and life in the story's "Spring" setting. “She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life.”

Mrs. Mallard’s Heart: In the beginning of the story, the reader is already aware of Louise's failing heart. It was her sister Josephine who breaks the news to her cautiously, being mindful of her sister's delicate condition. "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." By the end of the story, renewed with energy and a sense of enthusiasm for the future, Louis is struck with the news that Mr. Mallard returned home safe and sound - he didn't die from a train accident (a common cause of death during that time period with increasing use of newer technology) as originally thought. From the reader’s point-of-view, when Mrs. Mallard dies - the doctor claims “…she had died of heart disease--of the joy that kills.” Ironically, she actually dies when her dreams of living without any one to answer to vanishes. The doctor believes she died of overjoy upon learning that her husband is alive. But Mrs. Mallard's outward behavior stays true to the normal response her family expected. She dies of heart failure triggered by overwhelming emotional stress. No one will never know that the overwhelming emotional stress was due to her loss of hope for the future.

[edit]Responses

Bert Bender offers a biographical reading of the text and argues that Chopin's writing of the 1890s was influenced by Darwin's theory of sexual selection. Her understanding of the meaning of love and courtship, in particular, was altered and became more pessimistic. This attitude finds its expression in The Story of an Hour when Mrs. Mallard questions the meaning of love and ultimately rejects it as meaningless.[3]

Lawrence I. Berkove notes that there has been "virtual critical agreement" that the story is about female liberation from a repressive marriage. However, he contests this reading and argues that there is a "deeper level of irony in the story". The story, according to Berkove, depicts Mrs. Mallard as an "immature egotist" and a "victim of her own extreme self-assertion". He also challenges the notion that Chopin intended for the views of the story's main character to coincide with those of the author.[4] Xuding Wang has criticized Berkove's interpretation.[5]

[edit]Women's Liberation Movement

"The Story of an Hour" has been strongly linked with the ideals of the Women's liberation movement of the 1960s when feminists took a stand to fight to give women more freedom in America. The reason "The Story of an Hour" was an important piece of literary work at this time was because of its radical story. In the story, this housewife who has been confined to the social norms of the obedient wife, has an unorthodox reaction to the death of her husband. She anticipates her newfound freedom from the suppression of her husband, of men, and becomes invigorated by it. This idea is one of the key values of the feminist movement, and thus "The Story of an Hour" was an important literary work to show a woman breaking from the norm of society.

[edit]Analysis

In her article, "Emotions in 'The Story of An Hour,'" Jamil argues that Chopin portrays Mrs. Mallard’s perception of her husband’s supposed death as fostered by emotions, rather than by rationality. Jamil claims that up until that point, Mrs. Mallard’s life had been devoid of emotion to such an extent that she has even wondered if it is worth living. The repression of emotion may represent Mrs. Mallard’s repressive husband, who had, up until that point, “smothered” and “silenced” her will. Therefore, her newfound freedom is brought on by an influx of emotion (representing the death of the figure of the repressive husband) that adds meaning and value to her life. For, though Mrs. Mallard initially feels fear when she hears of her husband’s death, the strength of the emotion is so powerful that Mrs. Mallard actually feels joy (because she is feeling). Since, this "joy that kills," ultimately leads to Mrs. Mallard's death, so that one way of interpreting this is that the repression of Mrs. Mallard's feelings is what killed her in the end.

In the same article, Jamil shows that the repression that Mrs. Mallard faces as a wife. She realizes how after her husbands apparent death that she was "free, free, free". This shows how her life would change and she is now a new person and removed from the repressed life she faced before. No evidence is given in the story about how she is repressed, but her reaction of his death and her new found confidence and freedom is enough. This repression of herself that she dealt with she was now removed from and would be able to be free.

Mrs. Mallard's character shows no emotion until she hears that her husband has died; in fact, her "heart trouble" is more than physical issue, but rather more of an emotional concern. Similarly, by using her 5 senses, Louise familiarizes with how nature smells, sounds, etc. As well, her emotions create a harmony between her senses (body) and her own self (soul). The season of spring is a time of rebirth, where plants grow and develop; Louise is reborn, has a new energy and new perspectives on life. Louise envisions herself as a free woman now that her husband has tragically died. She can now live for herself and nobody else. In the end, the build up of emotion creates an overexcitement for Louise which takes a toll on her heart condition. Because Mrs. Mallard was able to branch out of her comfort zone and physically and emotionally experience the world, she has finally discovered who she is.

“The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin represents a negative view of marriage by presenting the reader with a woman who is clearly overjoyed that her husband has died. This is expressed through the language in “The Story of an Hour” (click for full plot summary) by Kate Chopin used to describe Louise’s emotions as she oscillates between numbness and extreme joy at her newfound freedom. The narrator of “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin relates what she observes in simple prose, but when her emotions are described, the words are vibrant and powerful. This suggests that Louis has a deep inner-life that is not connected to the outside world of her husband or friends and the fact that she cloisters herself in her room to discover her feelings is important. The world outside of her own bedroom is only minimally described, but the world inside of her mind is lively and well described by the narrator. The window outside of her room is alive and vibrant like her mind, while everything about her physically is cloistered.

While the mere use of certain words is indicative of this inner-world of detail and life, there are also several instances of ironic or playful uses of certain phrases or images to convey Louise’s happiness in “The Story of an Hour” and the ultimate message that marriage is constraining. In many ways, the fact that she dies at the end of simple “heart disease” (which the doctors think cam about as a result of her joy of seeing her husband) is symbolic of the “disease” of marriage. Much like an affliction, she cannot feel free unless the agent, her husband, is no longer present. The fact that it affects her heart as opposed to any other portion of her body shows that her misery from this symbolic disease stems from something inside of her, not anything external. For instance, in one of the important quotes from “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, it is clear that her husband loved her when his face is described as “the face that had never looked save with love upon her.” Her own feelings of love in return are also minimally described and it is clear that she does not share his sentiments. The narrator relates in one of the quotes from “Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, “And yet she loved him—sometimes. Often she did not.” This kind if simple and direct language is used only to describe the things Louise is not emotional about, thus the bare language would indicate—just as much as the actual words themselves do—that she did not have any strong feelings for her husband. As the thesis statement for this essay on “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin makes clear, the language constructs the reader’s understanding of her character.

When Louise’s emotions are described regarding something she is thrilled about, the language becomes lively and rich with color and vibrant images. This stands in sharp contrast to the sections in which she seems indifferent or emotionally unattached. For instance, in the above citation which begins with the very simple statement in one of the quotes from “Story of an Hour”, “And yet she loved him—sometimes. Often she did not” which demonstrates emotional passivity, but as the short paragraph continues and her true emotions come to the forefront, the language comes alive along with her character. The clipped line above is followed by, “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!” It is important to notice not only the language comes to life with the use of words like “mystery,” “possession,” and “impulse” but the very phrasing changing. The initial emotions portrayed in these quotes from “The Story of an Hour” (click for full plot summary) by Kate Chopin in which she was passive about are short tidy sentences, but as soon as she begins to feel an emotion, the sentences expand and the whole of one massive thought about “her being” becomes one very long sentence to stand in contrast to the previous one.

This happens again a few paragraphs before this instance when she is speaking in one of the quotes about the strain and crippling “disease” of marriage. When her emotions become overwhelming, so do the sentences and language. “There would be no one to live for in those coming years; she would live for herself” begins the paragraph. There are no lively words, just a matter of fact, unemotional statement without the slightest hint of sadness. In fact, almost as though she suddenly realizes again that she doesn’t need to be sad—that marriage is an unhappy institution for her, she comes to life again through language and sentence structure as seen in a meaningful passage from “Story of an Hour” such as, “There will 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.” Phrases such as “powerful will” and “blind persistence” are much more descriptive and full of energy than any she uses to describe the fact that she had no one to live for. Also, this seems to escape in one breath, as one long rant, only to lead back into the clipped sentence of “And yet she loved him—sometimes” which makes the reader keenly aware of the contrasts in numbness and almost manic emotion.

In terms of language and her emotions, it is interesting that Louise’s feelings are described as a “monstrous joy” since this matches her feelings and well-described strong emotions. There go from calm and passive to wild and uninhibited and the only way the reader can discern what means the most to her is by these passages describing this joy that is monstrous not only because it overwhelms her, but because she knows that she shouldn’t feel the way she does about her husband’s death—that the world of the dull reality would consider her reaction “monstrous” in itself. Again, there is a disconnect between the outer world and her introverted self. While her emotions are described as monstrous, she is described from the outside quite differently since she is “young with a fair, calm face” and has “two white slender hands.” Both of these cues would lead the reader to believe that she is a perfect gentlewoman, composed and serene, while inside her thoughts move with “sudden, wild abandonment.”

Through contrasting language and sentence structures to reveal the emotions of Louise, the reader is able to enter her wild mind just as easily if her every thought was described in an itemized list. The reader is forced to ignore the outside world, mostly because its description offers nothing remarkable, and focus on her inner-life, which depicts a sad portrait of marriage, indeed.

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