Story of an Hour Thes

isHebron University Sawayfa 1
English Department
Mohammed Sawayfa
Dr. Salah Shrouf
Literature 2
May 12, 2012

“Free! Body and Soul Free!”:
Who shall prevent Mrs. Mallard not to live freely and artlessly?
Symbolism in “The Story of an Hour”

In “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, the writer uses several meaningful symbols in order to relay a feeling of joy, surprise, desire, and sympathy. Mrs. Mallard, who was an ill-hearted, decided to enter her room alone after she had heard the news of her husband’s death. “She did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance,” Chopin claims (33). Mrs. Mallard is contrasted with other women who sit paralyzed by such news and who refuse to accept at least the significances of such news. The room in which Mrs. Mallard sits symbolizes her hard, rough, but also promising life. Therefore, she entered her room and sat on her armchair which is described as “comfortable” and “roomy”, so using such adjectives has had an effect in changing Mrs. Mallard’s personality. Using symbolism by Chopin in her short fiction indicates that she wants to convey many expressive images and illustrations about the exact situation of her age. “Further, Chopin uses nature as a symbol of the powerful emotions, which creates design and harmony” Selina Jamil argues (215). Jamil wants to explain something and it is that Chopin also uses nature as a metaphor in order to personify the real feelings of Mrs. Mallard while looking outside from her “open window”. Chopin also uses some Sawayfa 2

expressions, words, and idioms as symbols. For example, Mrs. Mallard drinks in the “elixir of life,”, has a “feverish triumph in her eyes,” Robert Diyanni writes (34). As a result, using several symbols in this story has already had achieved its goals. First of all, Chopin mentions some symbols that have a great relationship with nature in order to stir the reader’s emotions and to convey a very vivid and powerful connection between nature and freedom. “There stood, facing the open window, a comfortable, roomy armchair. Into this she sank,” Chopin states (33). The open window from which Mrs. Mallard saw her future and her promising free life represents her eagerness to live freely. So, she could see things could not see- in the same way- before. “She could see in the open square the tops of tress that all were aquiver with new spring life,” Chopin adds. Mrs. Mallard is very happy now because she could live within nature alone without her husband’s repression. According to Dr. Jim Wohlpart, the “delicious breath of rain,” carries many significances (32). One of them is that the realm that Mrs. Mallard wants to put herself in. Mrs. Mallard dreams in her upcoming phase by employing nature in her thoughts, therefore she is so interested in looking outside. “Also to be heard outside the singing of birds and the notes of a distant song someone was singing,” Jamil states (217). It was so simply and nice to Mrs. Mallard to discover the beauty of nature after it was difficult to achieve this hope. Generally, the relation between nature and the feelings of Mrs. Mallard was successfully combined. Second, the way that Chopin describes Mrs. Mallard is very effective since she uses very forceful and descriptive words and idioms, Wohlpart summarizes (33). The description of Mrs. Mallard and the environment around her was absolutely symbolic and also ironic. For example, “the chair represents a relaxation period from her oppressive life,”

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Diyanni says (37). “Free! Body and soul free!, she kept whispering” Chopin claims (33). Mrs. Mallard wishes a new life without repression or dominance, so her repetition of “free” signals her excitement and perhaps convinces her of its truth. Another example of that is using “a fair, calm face” in describing Mrs. Mallard’s face and that is because the author wants to show the beauty and innocence of Mrs. Mallard’s face which is compared with the face of a child. In addition, Mrs. Mallard is compared to a child who sobs in his dreams and this comparison has many implications that the writer wants to infer because a sobbing child can affect us due to the emitted sound. In “The Story of an Hour,” the author has mentioned many symbols and ironic images to fulfill the character of Mrs. Mallard with emotional abstract feelings. Furthermore, Chopin wants to show us how it is bad to repress Mrs. Mallard, so Chopin has succeeded in doing that nicely and artlessly. Finally, “The Story of an Hour,” is one of the most important literary works of Chopin because it focuses on an important matter in the late nineteenth century and it is the repression against women. Chopin has done that by narrating her short story using several symbols that have the ability to give the reader a feeling of sympathy and happiness. “This hour in a comfortable armchair in front of the open window made her feel happy and free, made her understand the sense of her being, and it was the only real hour in her life,” Wohlpart states (36). The reader of “The Story of an Hour” may realize that Mrs. Mallard did not really feel in herself but in one hour and that is symbolic and ironic because we later know that she did not complete her joy because her husband was not dead. Last but not least, the story particularly wants to solve a real trouble which women were suffering from in Chopin’s time, and it gives us real descriptions of the setting in surroundings of Mrs. Mallard’s society.

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Works Cited

Jamil, Selina S. "Emotions in "The Story of an Hour"" Explicator 67.3 (2009): 215-220.
Diyanni, Robert. Literature: Approaches to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Vol. 215. Boston: McGraw Hill, 2008. Print. Ser. 2.
Wohlpart, Jim. "Patriarchal Society and the Erasure of the Feminine Self in Chopin’s "The Story of an Hour"" Literature 6th ser. 65.2 (1997): 30-38.

Cited: Jamil, Selina S. "Emotions in "The Story of an Hour"" Explicator 67.3 (2009): 215-220.  Diyanni, Robert. Literature: Approaches to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Vol. 215. Boston: McGraw Hill, 2008. Print. Ser. 2. Wohlpart, Jim. "Patriarchal Society and the Erasure of the Feminine Self in Chopin’s "The Story of an Hour"" Literature 6th ser. 65.2 (1997): 30-38.