Tone In The Story Of An Hour By Kate Chopin

Throughout the story Kate Chopin used great diction to describe what was happening to Louise in the story. Chopin writes “..a physical exhaustion that haunted her body and

Chopin's use of language effectively conveys the intensity of the emotions that overcome Louise. Repetition of the word "free" reveals the exaltation Louise experiences in being released from possession by her husband's will. The diction aptly portrays the significance, emotionally and physically, of Louise's transformation. Tumultuously, Louise's bosom, the seat of passion, rose and fell as the "monstrous joy" possessed her. As the elixir of life "courses" through her once weak heart, Louise's "pulses beat fast." When Louise's fancy runs "riot along those days ahead of her", the reader feels the excitement Louise feels. Through the image of Louise as a winged "goddess of Victory", her inner strength from triumph over repression becomes palpable. That strength is reaffirmed in Chopin's use of words that connote potency. Louise has a "clear and exalted perception" of herself.

Chopin employs the use of symbolism to further her theme by using Louise’s heart and its disease as key symbols. In the beginning of the short story, the author informs the audience that Louise “was afflicted with a heart trouble,” which caused her husband’s friend and her sister to try to tell her about the mining accident gently. Shockingly, after her worrying phase of initial grief, Louise becomes joyful and “her pulses beat fast, and the coursing blood warmed and relaxed every inch of her body.” Her sister was worried that she was stressing her

This stereotype is negative, as if having emotions is a bad thing. However, it is the women’s emotions that alters the course of their stories. According to Jamil, Louise has been repressing her emotions for many years to avoid this stereotype and to please her husband. When she looks out the window and sees the spring weather, it causes her to feel joy for the first time in a long time. All of a sudden, a rush of emotion crashes over her, and she discovers her true self (Chopin 15). Jamil contends that emotions are an enormous part of who one is, and without them, life is far harder to endure. This is exactly what happens to Louise. When she thinks that her husband is dead, these emotions return, and she can be her true self (Chopin 15-16). However, Jamil explains that psychological health can affect physical health, and the effect of repressing herself for so long might be a direct cause of Louise’s heart troubles. When she allows herself to feel, her heart pounds strongly and surely, but when she sees her husband again, her heart troubles return. In that moment, she allows herself to succumb to her failing heart. It is a lack of emotion that kills her, not a

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.

An intelligent woman, Louise knows that she must conform to societal expectations and act distraught at her husband’s death. This does not mean Louise is cruel; in fact Chopin writes that “she would weep again (Chopin 57)” when she saw her husband “fixed and gray and dead (Chopin 57).” She feels emotions deeply, and while she had not always loved him, she sometimes did, and knows she would mourn him later. But now, Louise mostly feels free to live her life the way she wants to. Upon the realization that her husband lives, Louise’s shock and despair is so intense, she dies of sorrow.

In the story, a woman thought her husband was killed in a railroad disaster. After she learns of her husband's death, Chopin describes Louise's reaction, "She said it over and over under her breath: 'Free, free, free!'" (65). This reaction caused by Louise losing her husband, shows that she felt as if her husband's presence caused her to be trapped or oppressed in some way. Chopin writes further, "But she saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely" (66). This sentence implies that with her husband living, her life belonged to him.

Louise is informed that her husband has been killed in accident, and due to a heart disorder, the news is broken to her very carefully. The reader acknowledges that Brently was oppressive by her reaction to the news of his death. Instead of reacting with melancholy feelings, she expresses her joy for her fallen husband. Chopin writes, ?She did not stop to ask if it were not a monstrous joy that held her. A clear and exalted perception enabled her to dismiss the suggestion as trivial? (par 12). Louise knows that she should feel upset about her ?dead? husband; however she cannot help to feel relieved that the oppression has ended and that she can finally behave in the manner in which she chooses. It is soon discovered that Brently did not actually die in an accident, which causes the Louise to die.

She is a woman that knows she should be sad about her husband’s death but instead is overwhelmed with a feeling of independence she has never felt before despite the fact that “she had loved him” (Chopin 487). This story was almost entirely surrounding one character with little involvement of other characters but one person that’s name comes to mind as a supporting character is her husband, Brently. Brently represents oppression in the story. Louise dies from a heart attack ironically as “the joy that kills” because the sight of him reminds her of the oppression and lack of independence she will have now that he is alive (Chopin

Chopin makes it clear that the intention of a person who inhibits another is irrelevant, because the outcome is still the same. So while Louise does not have animosity towards her husband, she is just overjoyed to be finally free of oppression. She is not celebrating his death; she is just embracing her newfound liberation. ** Also, it should be noted that at the end of the story Chopin referred to her as “Louise.”

As Louise is starting to process and accept the fact that her husband is dead she started to question. One of the things that went through her mind was if they’ve been together for a long time what shall she do because he would be telling her what to do. Just like when it said, “What could love, the unsolved mystery, count for in face of this possession of self-assertion which she suddenly recognized as the strongest impulse of her being”. This meaning that she asked herself if she should be feeling happy for husband's death or sad because she don’t know what to do anymore.

With what seems to be irony on top of irony, Chopin concludes the story with Louise’s weak heart, not only not being put in harm's way with the news of Louise’s husband’s death, but Louise actually dying from a heart attack when she learns her husband is alive. This ironic conclusion to the story does not give the reader a simple cognitive fix, by way of a simplistic closure, but instead, causes the reader to reprocess the story in their mind from the beginning, in order to appreciate and understand the

Berkove argues that Louise is usually depicted as a victim of oppression but in reality Louise is egotistical and is only aware of her own freedom. According to Berkove, Louise seeks a freedom that cannot be obtained. Berkove states that Louise is “corrupt” because she feels relief once her husband dies. Berkove believes that Louise is physically and most importantly mentally ill and that she is delusional; Louise is also characterized as selfish because she strives to be isolated. According to Berkove, Chopin uses irony to depict Louise as unhealthy and

Without getting too much in to the story it suggests some of the main point in which the story conveys. The story has a soft tone that gives the reader a sense of empathy with Louise. She handles the situation so delicately taking time to sort out range of emotions she was experiencing. The story states, “She did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance”(Chopins 86). They even took great care in telling Louise the news in the most modest way.

The narrator shows that Louise does feel some grief when she first hears the news of her husband. However, there is a shift in how the narrator presents Louise and her role. When she begins to think about Brently in a coffin or grave, the narrator states that “She knew she would weep again when she saw the kind, tender hands folded in death...But she beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely” (Chopin 1). This section that the narrator displays, reveals that Louise acknowledges that Brently’s death is upsetting but she is is willing to attain her independence from her him and shape her own identity without him. Furthermore, the narrator illuminates Louise’s want for liberty, when they make Louise compare love to freedom. The narrator show Louise contemplating this idea by saying “What could love, the unsolved mystery, count for in face of this possession of self-assertion which she suddenly recognized as the strongest impulse of her being” (Chopin 2). This illustrates that Louise would prefer to be completely free, rather than have love, because to her love means very little in comparison to not having any ties to someone or something. Louise, according to the narrator, is looking forward to being completely alone, and no longer have to live for her husband, as women had to