Story Of An Hour Literary Analysis

“The Story of an Hour” In Kate Choping’s story published in 1894, “The story of an Hour”, Mrs. Mallard a young humble wife heard about her husband’s accident, and then later realized to herself that she was “free”. The story concluded with the return of Mrs. Mallard’s husband, which caused her to die from heart disease and her freedom to be lost. To aid readers in understanding the fact that Mrs. Mallard freedom was short lived Kate Chopin uses images of weakness and happiness along with images of sickness. As expected, Mrs. Mallard portrayed at first the feeling of grief and shock that any mourning wife would. This came across as her weakness without her husband. Choping created the sense of withdrawal and enclosure by allowing the character to proceed upstairs to isolate herself in a room. While in the room, the sobs at frequent intervals made known that the character was indeed in pain as any human being would be upon learning that a loved one was loss. The isolation gave the sense of wanting to be alone to think and absorbed the devastating information that had been received. During this period of thinking, Mrs. Mallard not only thought of what she
Mallard a new life, but a chance at happiness. This is not to say that she dread the life of marriage, but for once it meant that things could be done her way. The death of her husband created a portal, similar to the open window that would allow her to experience life in a whole new way. Taking in the fresh air was as though she was breathing for the first time like a new baby being welcomed into this world. She had the feeling of being a new woman; one with much liberation than before. The essence of the trees experiencing spring which Mrs. Mallard saw was a symbol of a new beginning. Her friend told her she would kill herself over the grief, but little did her friend know Mrs. Mallard had the feeling of a prisoner being