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Story Of An Hour Analysis

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The “Story of an Hour” is a story that represents the negative ideals and impact that marriages had upon women back then as it’s seen when Mrs. Mallard is overjoyed by her newfound freedom even if it meant her husband’s death. Of course the author doesn’t quickly give this away and throughout the story uses various literary devices such as symbolism and irony from portraying the conflicting emotions within Mrs. Mallard to the end of her happiness from her husband’s return. When Louise starts to question what her life was like with her husband, the words that are used to describe Ms. Mallard’s life with her husband are simplistic and dull giving little insight into what their marriage or love was like. This can be because Louise was not led …show more content…

As Mrs. Mallard looks out the window she describes things in such detail such as the “delicious breath of air” and “countless sparrows twittering in the eaves….patches of blue sky”. It is in this moment that Mrs. Mallard has an epiphany and realizes that all her dreams that were once just desires of the heart can become true. When she states “free! Body and Soul free”, this is when she realizes that her thoughts and emotions can finally be a part of who she is and the new life that she is going to make for herself. Another symbolism in this story is her heart problems. The heart attack that is caused by heart disease serves as symbolism for the “disease” that is her marriage and just like any disease the person cannot be truly free of it if the cause is present or in this case her husband. Also it was heart that affected which can be interpreted as an internal problem as the heart is associated with love and emotion. In the story it is stated that the husband loves Mrs. Mallard and she reciprocated by stating “she had loved him sometimes-often not” which the reader can conclude she didn’t return the same

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