Story Of An Hour By Kate Chopin

With a limited omniscient point of view, Kate Chopin reveals the emotional development of, mainly, Mrs. Mallard, connecting well a fine story line. Though the Chopin clearly sees all the thoughts of the protagonist, Mallard, she leaves the thoughts of Joesephine and Richard to readers, even a bit obscure.

To begin with, the limited omniscient point of view is a third-person narrative voice, in which objectively describe the line of the story but subjectively grants Mrs. Mallard certain feelings and thoughts. The third-person narration is easily determined by the fact that the author does not interact with any characters in the story. As an observer, Chopin dispassionately tells innermost transformation of an hour after Mrs. Mallard hears the

Mallard’s thoughts after she heard the news. For example, “there was something coming to her and she was waiting for it, fearfully. What was it? … She was beginning to recognize this thing that was approaching to possess her, and she was striving to beat it back with her will. … she did not stop to ask if it were or were not a monstrous joy that held her. A clear and exalted perception anabled her to dismiss the suggestion as trivial. She knew…” Obviously, these all are Mrs. Mallard’s thoughts, in which she “waits for” independence “but fearfully.” Nevertheless, eventually she accepts this idea and becomes jocund. Without the “aid” of the author, the thoughts could not be revealed so detailed. However, the point of view is not totally omniscient because the author does not “see” or “control” the feeling of all the characters. The thoughts of Josephine and Richards are not detailed. As a matter of fact, they don’t show up in the story much. However, they are not unimportant. It is Josephine that tells Mallard the fake news as the triggering of the story. It is Richard who breaks the fake news in the end of the story. They are characters incorportaed in the story line from the perspective of a objectively