What Does The Open Window Symbolize In The Story Of An Hour

The short story The Story of an Hour, by Kate Chopin, describes a woman conflicted with the death of her husband and her outlook on life after his assumed passing. Through the story, Chopin shows the transformation of Mrs. Mallard from that of an ordinary wife to that of a woman cherishing her newfound freedom. Although Mrs. Mallard is deeply saddened at the news of her husband’s passing, she finally begins to feel a sense of relief and witnesses what it means for her as a woman. Just as she begins to fully cherish her life, she is horrified at the sight of her “dead” husband’s return and proceeds to perish. Through the use of imagery and syntax, Chopin illustrates the interchanging psychoanalytic perspective of an individual following a personal loss.

“The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin is a wonderful short story bursting with many peculiar twists and turns. Written in 1894, the author tells a tale of a woman who learns of her husband’s death, but comes to find pleasure in it. Many of the elements Kate Chopin writes about in this story symbolize something more than just the surface meaning. Through this short story, told in less than one thousand one hundred words, Kate Chopin illustrates a deeper meaning of Mrs. Mallard’s marriage with her husband through many different forms of symbolism such as the open window in the bedroom, Mrs. Louise Mallard’s heart trouble, and Chopin’s physical description of Mrs. Mallard.

"The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin is a short story from the late nineteenth century centering upon a young woman as she processes newly received information that has reported her husband dead from a horrible train accident. Due to this sudden turn of events, she has been gifted a new outlook towards her potential future. Throughout the development of the story, many literary devices have been used in order to help facilitate a certain set of thoughts and themes by Kate Chopin. All of which have come together to make an extraordinary literary experience that helps

Immediately after Mrs. Mallard receives the news about her husband she races to her room where she sits in “ a comfortable, armchair”. The chair symbolizes her oppressive life she had and freedom from society’s expectations. Since it was a tradition to be married by a certain age their marriage was probably planned. So she may have been obligated to marry Bentley. Sitting in the chair and looking out the window Mrs. Mallard starts to indulge in her thoughts. An open window is also a form of her freedom. Her paying attention to the blue sky, and describing it as a blue sky, big clouds, tree tops and the smell of fresh rain. By describing all the senses imagery was also being used the image representing on how she imagined her new life without her husband. The open window is a symbol for her bright future and her husband that won 't be there anymore to change her decisions. Imagery is shown throughout the story by showing how

Anyone who receives notice of a loved ones death is never expected to take it lightly. In Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour,” Mrs. Mallard is informed of her husbands “death” as gently as possible, and immediately she understands the enormous significance this loss will have on her life. Unlike many widow’s, her feelings of utter devastation do not last. Mrs. Mallard’s sobs of loss turn to cries of joy after she reflects upon her own character and discovers truths about her marriage.

In the short story, “The Story of an Hour,” author Kate Chopin presents the character of Mrs. Louis Mallard. She is an unhappy woman trapped in her discontented marriage. Unable to assert herself or extricate herself from the relationship, she endures it. The news of the presumed death of her husband comes as a great relief to her, and for a brief moment she experiences the joys of a liberated life from the repressed relationship with her husband. The relief, however, is short lived. The shock of seeing him alive is too much for her bear and she dies. The meaning of life and death take on opposite meaning for Mrs. Mallard in her marriage because she lacked the courage to stand up for herself.

Symbolism is an important element in reinforcing the meaning of a story. It is a kind of formalist strategies which helps the reader understand the images that the author is trying to say in words. Symbolism is widely used in “The Story of An Hour” and “The Cranes”, which use conventional symbols, literary symbols, and even allegory. “The Story of An Hour” is written by Kate Chopin. Mrs. Mallard hears of her husband’s death from her husband’s friend Richards. At first, she feels depressed, but then she feels free and can have her own new life after thinking things through. Sadly, her “new” life is cut short by the abrupt return of Mr. Mallard. Mrs. Mallard, who has a bad heart, was so

Kate Chopin’s, “The Story of an Hour”, uses the death of Mrs. Mallard’s husband to reveal the female oppression that took place in their marriage. Chopin uses a great deal of symbolism, particularly in the open window, to reveal the theme of the oppression of women in this story. Chopin chose to begin the story with “Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was conflicted with heart trouble, great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband’s death” (Chopin 555). While the reader assumes that Mrs. Mallard has a medical heart condition, anyone who has done a close read of this story can assume that Chopin chose “heart trouble” to symbolize the conflicting feelings Mrs. Mallard

Kate Chopin’s The Story of an Hour is a brilliant short story of irony and emotion. The story demonstrates conflicts that take us through the character’s emotions as she finds out about the death of her husband. Without the well written series of conflicts and events this story, the reader would not understand the depth of Mrs. Mallard’s inner conflict and the resolution at the end of the story. The conflict allows us to follow the emotions and unfold the irony of the situation in “The Story of an Hour.”

Within, “The Story of an hour”, Kate Chopin portrays the reaction of Mrs. Mallard to her husband’s deaths a disconsolate then eventual mercurial tone. At the beginning of the story, the mood and tone were despair and disconsolate. Not only was Mrs. Mallard feeling grief over her lost, but Chopin uses pathos to effect and relate the audience to a grief feeling as well.

In "The story of an Hour," Kate Chopin reveals the complex character, Mrs. Mallard, In a most unusual manner. THe reader is led to believe that her husband has been killed in a railway accident. The other characters in the story are worried about how to break the news to her; they know whe suffers from a heart condition, and they fear for her health. On the surface, the story appears to be about how Mrs. Mallard deals with the news of the death of her husband. On a deeper level, however, the story is about the feeling of intense joy that Mrs. Mallard experiences when she realizes that she is free from the influences of her husband and the consequences of

In Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” allows one to explore many ironic instances throughout the story, the main one in which a woman unpredictably feels free after her husband’s assumed death. Chopin uses Mrs. Mallard’s bizarre story to illustrate the struggles of reaching personal freedom and trying to be true to yourself to reach self-assertion while being a part of something else, like a marriage. In “The Story of an Hour” the main character, Mrs. Mallard, celebrates the death of her husband, yet Chopin uses several ironic situations and certain symbols to criticize the behavior of Mrs. Mallard during the time of her “loving” husband’s assumed death.

On the other hand, the open window that Mrs. Mallard looked out of was the representation of her freedom to starting a new life. She is was excited to see her freedom out the window she could smell,” the delicious breath of rain”(720). Which symbolic to the calming sensation knowing soon the sunshine will come. She officially had control of what she wanted in life so she felt as if, “Spring days, and summer days, and all sorts of days that would be her own”(721). The spring is a representation of how beautiful change is and how warm weather brings happiness. Also, is a representation of new life that also comes out during the spring time. The window is providing Mrs. Mallard with a dream of her own her road to official independence.”There would be no one to live for her during those

Although true to its name regarding length, “The Story of an Hour,” written by Kate Chopin published in the eighteen-hundreds, is a profound story with a deeply tragic implication. At first glance, one may assume that this story is a short and not very complex read, and while that is partially true, “The Story of an Hour” has so much more to offer upon further analysis. The main character, Louise Mallard, is a woman who feels confined by her “love”, Brently Mallard, who acts as the opposing force in this story; and throughout the plot it divulges a tale of freedom, which inevitably gets torn from her very grasp. This alone is evidence enough that among the devices Chopin uses, irony and foreshadowing being two examples; irony is the most important.

Kate Chopin’s impressive literary piece, The Story of an Hour, encompasses the story of an hour of life, an hour of freedom. We must seize the day and live our lives to the fullest without any constraints. This very rich and complete short story carries a lot of meaning and touches a readers feelings as well as mind. Throughout this piece much symbolism is brought about, which only helps us to understand the meaning and success of Kate Chopin’s work. Kate allows her reader to think and allows us to understand the meaning of her story with the different uses of symbols such as heart troubles, the armchair, the open window, springtime, and the calm face and goddess of victory. We eventually realize little by little that Mrs. Mallard