Chopin opens her short story by demonstrating the irony of the Mrs. Mallard’s situation by using imagery. Chopin showed the irony through imagery, as Mrs. Mallard hit a sensory overload while she wept: she could see “trees...aquiver with the new spring life. The delicious breath of rain….[hear] the notes of a distant song...and countless sparrows were twittering,” all while the “physical exhaustion haunted her body” (Chopin). Chopin uses this strong imagery of happiness and possibility in order to emphasize the conflict in Louise’s reaction. The contrast of the immediate weeping and the …show more content…
Mallard’s feelings, she uncovers the societal repression of the late nineteenth century. The husbands lived “in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature” (Chopin). Her husband is listed first on the death list, impling power and position. It also implies that Louise couldn’t do better status wise; yet there is still the missing, deep-rooted need Louise can’t help but crave. This point-blank statement about the misogynist views directs the audience to the purpose, the oppression of women by men. Chopin uses this information to emphasize just how powerful and critical freedom is to a human being, and just how much men have destroyed it.
Chopin continually emphasizes the reality of marriage and the struggle beneath the surface. In Chopin’s short story “The Story of an Hour,” she establishes the significance of freedom through imagery, irony, and the timetable of her story. Such choices form an ironic tone that emphasizes the potential desire of wives confined by the restricting rules of