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Story Of An Hour Literary Analysis

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Recommended: Literary criticism of the story of an hour

Although Kate Chopin's piece entitled “The Story of an Hour” may be short, the variety of the plot points runs deep and long in substance. Despite Louise’s instantaneous grief upon hearing about her husband's alleged death and the realization of the magnitude of change to her life-- her future-- dawns on her. She soon realizes that she is no longer held back by the bonds of marriage, and can now find her personal identity.The possibility of her new life excited her. Although dead, she speaks fondly of her husband, and of the way he showed his love to her. Nonetheless, she experiences an epiphany to lead her to an awakening of her newfound potential. Where does her empowerment come from? Why is she so ready to take on the world alone? A married woman in the 1800’s had various limitations, and her eyes are now opened to what her life can be like without being defined and held back by her husband any longer. I do not believe she feels any guilt about her change of heart, but solely excitement about this new life she can begin. …show more content…

Often she had not. What did it matter! She knew that she would weep again when she saw the kind, tender hands folded in death; the face that had never looked save with love upon her, fixed and gray and dead. But she saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely. And she opened and spread her arms out to them in welcome.” (pg 550) During that passage, we can see how her mind shifts after hearing word about her husband's death. These words speak to the reader, because you feel the immense pain that Louise must be feeling in these moments. She mourned, for he was kind, and tender. However- she was aflame at the idea of being able to have a new start in this

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She Breathed… that life might be long. It was only yesterday she had thought with a shudder that life might be long……. There was a feverish triumph in her eyes, and she carried herself unwittingly like a goddess of

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Louise’s victory in accepting her husband’s death is a feeling that she now cannot live without. The ultimate death of Louise Mallard is one that represents physical and emotional defeat. In this dramatic short story, Chopin uses imagery to sew together a tapestry of emotions all encompassed in an ill-stricken widow. Works Cited Chopin, Kate. “The Story of an Hour.”

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