Story Of An Hour Diction Analysis

1020 Words5 Pages

Today, most people would assume that the reaction to a loved one’s death would be immediate grief; however, that would not be the case in the late 1800s. In Kate Chopin’s “The Story of An Hour” women were expected to grieve differently than men. The story conveys the main character Mrs. Mallard’s distress and joy after she discovered the supposed death of her husband. The story does not demonstrate Mrs. Mallard following the stages of grief that would be expected when grieving over her husband. In spite of the fact that Mrs. Mallard was grieving she was likewise encountering joy and satisfaction since she then realizes that she is currently free. While reading the story, it was clear that Mrs. Mallard was happy for the beginning of her new life and the start of freedom. Chopin uses descriptive diction throughout the story, such as irony, symbol, …show more content…

The first paragraph states “Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble, great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband’s death.” This is an example of passive voice because Chopin only wants the reader to focus on Mrs. Mallard and doesn’t introduce other characters until the second paragraph. The use of passive voice has the effect of leaving our focus solely on Mrs. Mallard and her heart trouble, rather than other people. The use of passive voice changes the tone of story and leaves the reader wanting to who is taking great care to deliver the new about her husband’s death. If Chopin would have introduced Mrs. Mallard’s sister Josephine and her husband’s friend Richards in the first sentence of the story instead of just saying the blunt statement “great care was taken" our focus wouldn’t solely be on Mrs. Mallard, but instead on the other characters also. This wouldn’t demonstrate the use of passive voice and wouldn’t have the same effect on the tone of the