Story Of An Hour Symbolism Essay

Every person has the right to be and feel free. They have the right to be independent and live how they want to. In Kate Chopin’s, “The Story of an Hour,” it discusses the death of Mrs. Mallard’s husband and her freedom. Chopin starts off the story by having Mr. Mallard die in a train crash, leaving Mrs. Mallard devastated. Instead of feeling sadness or grief, Mrs. Mallard actually feels free. To show this, Chopin uses a variety of literary terms in this story, but several are more of a focus than others. Chopin successful uses vivid imagery, point of view, and irony that gives a different view of marriage that is not usually viewed as such.

I n the Story of an Hour, Kate Chopin gives us the feeling that Mrs. Mallard is unhappy in the by telling us “she was presses down by physical exhaustion that haunted her body and seemed to reach into her soul” (227). We learn right off that Mrs. Mallard has a heart condition and should be treated tenderly. When she heard the news of her husbands death, she was at first upset and distraught. She did not begin to feel better until she had time to sit and think, with “the delicious breath of rain was in the air” (227). Mrs. Mallard felt lonely and did not know what to do with herself anymore. She realized that there would no longer be someone there with her to be there when her life expired. She often had the feeling that life was too long and that the end would never come for her. That was a sign that Mrs. Mallard was a lonely and isolated woman. She was sitting there in the chair when it came to her in a sudden rush. That she is “Free! Body and soul free” (228). Mrs. Mallard knew then that life was not short after all. Life was short and she should live it to the fullest. She is now free to do as she pleases. Mrs. Mallard has a feeling of freedom, freedom form the loneliness and isolation that she has felt for a very long time. She is now free to be herself

The symbols and imagery used by Kate Chopin's in “The Story of an Hour” give the reader a sense of Mrs. Mallard’s new life appearing before her through her view of an “open window” (para. 4). Louise Mallard experiences what most individuals long for throughout their lives; freedom and happiness. By spending an hour in a “comfortable, roomy armchair” (para.4) in front of an open window, she undergoes a transformation that makes her understand the importance of her freedom. The author's use of Spring time imagery also creates a sense of renewal that captures the author's idea that Mrs. Mallard was set free after the news of her husband's death.

Kate Chopin’s short story, “The Story of An Hour,” emotionally illustrates the hour in which a young woman with a heart condition finds out her husband has been killed in a mining accident. In the beginning, she grieves over the loss of her husband, but she soon becomes relieved and joyous when she realizes that she is now free. However, her husband returns after having been far from the mines for the day and her heart problems return and she dies. Kate Chopin was an early feminist author and was well acquainted with death after losing many siblings as a child, her husband (who left her a large amount of debt), and her mother with whom she was very close. As a means of therapy, Chopin took up writing and her ideas about feminism and death are very clear. In “The Story of An Hour,” Chopin uses multiple symbols and an allusion to a Greek god to illustrate and support the idea that male oppression harms the souls and lives of women.

Setting in a story can create certain moods, influence the way we feel about a character, and change the reader's perceptions. “The Story of An Hour” by Kate Chopin is a short story about a woman named Mrs. Mallard, who learns of her husband’s death. This tragic news causes a range of emotions and internal conflict for the main character. The century, season, and room, in which the story takes place, prepares readers for the overflowing emotions and gives clarity to the character’s frame of mind. Kate Chopin uses the setting to help set the structure of the story.

I chose to do my analysis on the short story, “The Story Of An Hour”. The themes I see in this story is the quest for identity/coming of age, romantic/love, birth, and death. It is about a woman named Mrs. Mallard. She was an elderly lady and had a heart complications. Her sister Josephine and her husband’s friend Richards had to break the news to her that her husband, Brently Mallard, has been killed in a railroad disaster. Mrs. Mallard was sorrowful and sobbed in her sisters’ arms. After her grieving process, she wanted to be alone, so she went to her room and locked herself in. As she sat in the window, she seem to be calmer and accepted her husband’s death. She was not distressed of what had happened. She began to say the words “free” and her heart

The Story of an Hour," by Kate Chopin is the tragic story of a woman whose newfound position as a widow gives her strength. She develops a sense of freedom as she embraces her husband's death as an opportunity to establish her own identity. The tragedy is when her newfound identity gets stripped away as the appearance of her husband reveals that he is still alive. The disappointment from this tragedy kills her with a heart attack symbolizing the many conflicts that she faced throughout the story. The conflicts the character faces within herself and society show that the social norms for women were suppressing to their strength and individuality as human beings.

The story of an hour by Kate Chopin introduces us to Mrs. Mallard as she reacts to her husband’s death. In this short story, Chopin portrays the complexity of Mrs. Mallard’s emotions as she is saddened yet joyful of her loss. Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” argues that an individual discover their self-identity only after being freed from confinement. The story also argues that freedom is a very powerful force that affects mental or emotional state of a person. The story finally argues that only through death can one be finally freed.

The “Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin is a short story about a woman who struggles with the oppression she experiences at the hands of her husband and her secret desire for independence. Louise Mallard didn’t realize how upset she was in her marriage until she found out about her husband’s death. She grieves for only a short period of time before mentally creating a new life for herself. This new life she envisions help her to see the silver lining in a tragic event. Chopin uses symbolism throughout the story to portray the theme of a quest for identity.

“The Story of an hour” a complex piece of literature by Kate Chopin, has various interpretations to it. This story has, one definite interpretation, which is the following: life has to go on no matter what is happened in the past. In this story, Chopin implies Ms. Mallard’s husband has been very cruel to her in her lifetime. However, she never lets her husband get in the way, finally he dies, and, she thinks she is free although she really is not.

In "Story of an Hour", we begin with the climatic event, the news of her husbands death. Mrs. Mallard has heart problems so when her sister Josephine attempted to break the news to her; she tried to break it as gently as possible. Mrs. Mallard first seems to be in pain by going to her room and sitting in her armchair near the window while sobbing like a child. After a few moments, she begins to repeat the word free. This is one of the turning points in the story. We now realize that she's not in sorrow, but in glee that her husband is dead. She is now free; free from her unhappy relationship. Chopin now surprises everyone with another turning point. The husband walks in through the front door. He was alive, far from dead. As soon as Mrs. Mallard sees her husband, she collapses to the floor. The doctor claims that she died of a heart disease, but ironically the truth is, she died of despair. She was so glad that she was free, and then it all seemed to be a fantasy. It turned out that she wasn't free, and her heart couldn't take the pain to keep living in a suppressed relationship. She may just be better of dead although she did want a new life. Depending on how one looks at it, one may still argue that she was free in the end...free through death.

Mrs Mallard's awkward attitude after learning of her husband's death establishes an irony- somebody who is really happy in marriage will not enjoy nature in peace and have mixed emotions; the person will feel genuine grief upon hearing of the death of her husband. Here, Mrs Mallard's reaction portrays the extent to which her thirst for freedom was strong. Kate Chopin allows us to visualise the moment that Mrs Mallard is able to shed the bondage of marriage: "free, free, free!." She feels liberated through her husband's death. Much emphasis is laid on her joy upon finding freedom- "there would be no one to live for." The author also points out that "she knew that she would weep again.....folded in death." This only highlights the fact that it is not an expression of love but seems more like a duty that

The late nineteenth century short story “Story of an Hour” written by Kate Chopin is an influential story about a young women with a heart condition, Mrs. Mallard who receives the news that her husband had just passed away in a train wreck. While receiving this news she soon becomes overwhelmed and excuses herself upstairs to her bedroom, where her attitude towards the death of her husband drastically changes. Though she is upset about her husband’s sudden death, she realizes she now has something to be joyful about. When she is “facing the open window, [in] a comfortable, roomy armchair” (Chopin, 1894, para. 4) she recognizes the importance of her freedom from the confinement of her husband and the future opportunities that await her. Kate Chopin uses symbols and imagery of springtime through the “open window” to express the feelings Mrs. Mallard known as Louise experiences.

The Values of Popular Mechanics And The Story of an Hour The Story of an Hour is a short story written by Kate Chopin on April 19, 1894, originally published in Vogue on December 6, 1894 under the name The Dream of an Hour, and later on republished on January 5, 1895 in St. Louis Life under the name The Story of an Hour. Popular Mechanics is a short story written by Raymond Carver and was published in his 1981 short story collection What we talk about when we talk about love. It was re-published in 1988 in the collection Where I’m calling from. The main character in The Story of an Hour is Louis Mallard who is a married woman. The story depicts on Louis’ reactions and actions as she is informed of the news of her husband’s demise.

In the short story "The Story of an Hour" Kate Chopin, the author, presents the reader with an obscure view of marriage. Chopin's main character, Mrs. Louise Mallard, experiences the excitement of freedom instead of the devastation of loneliness after she receives the news of her husband's death. Mrs. Mallard disturbingly finds out that Brently, her husband is still alive. She know knew that her only chance at freedom is gone. The disappointment instantly kills Mrs. Mallard. Published in the late 1800s, the overbearing nature of marriage presented in "The Story of an Hour" may very well reflect, but not restricted to, that era.