Literary Analysis of Kate Chopin's "The Story of An Hour"

Introduction

"The Story of An Hour" is a short story written by Kate Chopin in 1984. The title describes the amount of time that passes between the time Mrs. Mallard receives the news of the death of her husband and the moment he walks into the house, safe and sound. The short story describes the emotional rollercoaster that Mrs. Mallard goes through after the news of Mr mallard's death is gently broken to her. She is inconsolable and weeps uncontrollably in the arms of her sister, Josephine. When she catches her breath, and her grief subsides, she walks to her room and settles in an armchair. A feeling of relief overwhelms her. Aware that the funeral will come with sadness, she feels relieved that henceforth, she will live a life free of her husband. Alone in the room, Mrs. Mallard whispers "Free! Body and soul free!" (Chopin, 74) While her sister was getting worried, unable to hear what Mrs. Mallard was saying. Shortly after, Mrs. Mallard walks down the stairs with her sister, and as soon as they both reach the bottom of the stairs, the front door is opened, and Mr. Mallard walks in looking healthy. Her sister and her husband's friend Richard try to prevent her from seeing him, but she has already seen him after which she lets out a cry and her heart gives away.

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The short story's point of view is that of an omniscient third-person narrator which enables the writer to tell the story from all perspectives as opposed to just a protagonist's or an antagonist's view. The narrator style is also crucial in giving details that the characters in the story cannot. The story opens with a piece of information that Mrs. Mallard and aware of, and the narration also goes on after she dies, which would be impossible with a protagonist point of view. Secondly, the setting in the short story is not very well developed. The story, however, does tell us that the events take place in the family home of the Mallards. The scarceness of the setting in the story serves to express Mrs. Mallard's yearning for freedom, the central theme in the story. All the events take place in the house with the variant being the specific room. Mrs. Mallard moves to her room at some point and then comes back to the original room which could be the living room where one enters from the front door.

Thirdly, Chopin's "The Story of an Hour" uses the imagery of death to describe Mrs. Mallard's newly found freedom. She realizes that her husband's death meant she would no longer experience oppression from her husband. Her repeated mention of 'free, free, free!' (Chopin, 74) Describes her discovery as newfound freedom from male domination. After getting her emotions under control, she descends the stairs when her husband walks in the front door. The shock from seeing her husband alive and well cause her heart to fail, resulting in her death. Mrs. Mallard lived in a time where women were expected to submit to their husbands wholly and were fully dependent on them. Women were also not allowed to give input on matters outside the house. Chopin states that "Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble" (74). The metaphor of her lousy heart represents the manner in which she would die. It also describes the emotional dissatisfaction in her marriage to Mr. Mallard and the failure of their love. Mrs. Mallard's death at the end of the story is representative of her freedom from the oppression that existed against women.

Mrs. Mallard found freedom when she died after seeing her supposedly dead husband walk through the front door. Additionally, the mention of the "open window" (74) and the "open square" (74) she could see from the window represent the possibility of freedom for Mrs. Mallard. She found joy in the idea that she could pursue her determination in the absence of her husband, which illustrates the misery she experienced in her marriage. Freedom is obtained in situations where there was oppression. Furthermore, Mrs. Mallard looked forward to future years that she would spend without her husband. It is possible that years of suppressed emotions and frustrations from her marriage weakened her heart as she was still "young" (75). Chopin stated the lines on her face "bespoke repression and even a certain strength" (75). Finally, it is ironical that the story begins with the news of the death of Mr. Mallard and ends with the death of Mrs. Mallard upon discovering that Mr. Mallard was alive. It is also ironical that she died to escape the torture of enduring her marriage rather than the joy of seeing her husband alive.

Conclusion

Fourthly, Mrs. Mallard can be described as a strong woman. She had endured a life of hardship and oppression in her marriage in silence without speaking up against her husband or leaving her marriage. She quickly dealt with her grief, even before she realized that it meant a life of ultimate freedom (Meyer, 2029). To sum up, Chopin's "Story of An Hour" uses imagery, setting, and Mrs. Mallard's character to describe how women in the nineteenth century lived oppressed by their husbands and society.

Works Cited

Chopin, Kate. The story of an hour. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1894.

Meyer, Michael. "The Bedford Introduction to Literature: Reading, T." (2004).