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Story Of An Hour Rhetorical Analysis

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During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, women faced many social struggles due to the overarching patriarchal society that dominated that period. Kate Chopin, a prominent female author of this time period, wrote “The Story of an Hour” to address a few of these issues that women around the world dealt with at the time the work was written. Chopin reveals the idea that dramatic circumstances can spur actions and thoughts that challenge social norms through her usage of symbolism, repetition, simile, and metaphor. Firstly, Chopin utilizes symbolism to reveal the atypical feelings the narrator holds. After the protagonist of the story, Mrs. Mallard, is told of the presumed death of her husband, she reflects on the situation in the light of …show more content…

Chopin uses a comparable simile to further describe this triumph of the narrator: “...she carried herself unwittingly like a goddess of Victory” (290). Her very step changed with this dramatic change in her life. Mrs. Mallard felt victoriously free from the weight of her husband’s rule and free to live the life made possible by this change in situation. Chopin leans heavily on the use of simile and metaphor to reveal the theme of the story. Lastly, Chopin draws upon repetition to further exemplify the idea that dramatic situations draw out thoughts that contradict social norms. Soon after the news of the tragic death of her husband, Mrs. Mallard continually repeats phrases describing her perception of her new position in life: she whispers to herself, “free, free, free!” and later again, “Free! Body and soul free!” (Chopin 289). Mrs. Mallard lets this dramatic situation affect the way she views her life. Her husband’s death afforded her the thought of freedom from the will of a man—an idea, as stated previously, nearly unheard of by women of this time period. This repetition of the word free amplifies the theme Chopin portrays in this

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In the short story The Story of an Hour written by Kate, Chopin uses diction to portray the newfound freedom of the heroine. The moment she overcomes her grief over her husband's death, she notices something too subtle and elusive to name. She feels freedom and realizes that her husband's passing opens up her own life. During her grief, she recognized something possessed her. As she abandoned herself she whispered, "Free, Free, Free! (10).

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The use of repetition emphasizes the view that Mrs. Mallard sees her life as starting to begin, as the whispering of the word “free” signals the new journey. In addition to the devices of imagery and repetition being present in the story, irony plays a role as situational irony. In the last two paragraphs, Chopin uses situational irony to reveal that Mr. Mallard is alive all long, “It was Brently Mallard who entered, a little travel-stained, carrying his grip-sack and umbrella. He had been far from the scene of the accident, and did not even know there had been one. He stood amazed at Josephine's piercing cry; at Richards' quick motion to screen him from the view of his wife.

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She did not know; it was too subtle and elusive to name…she was beginning to recognize this thing that was approaching her…she was striving to beat it back with her will…” (Chopin 1). The stimulus of her husband’s death is starting to create a word-presentation of the freedom she once had before she was

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There are many throughout this story but I will only be talking about three of them. In paragraph 11 it states, “She said it over and over under her breathe: ‘free, free, free!’” (Chopin “The Story”). This was situational Irony because it is something that she did that you wouldn’t expect. One of the questions I asked myself while reading this sentence in this story is, “Why would she feel free if her husband just died?”

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Body and soul free!’ she kept whispering,” Chopin(2) which shows that without her husband she could do anything she wanted free of restraint. The impact creates a feeling of self worth and empowerment among women in order to make these women that read it feel less need for dependence on men. Continuing, it also shows what a woman is truly worth in society. “There would be no one to live for her during those coming years; she would live for herself,”Chopin(3)

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Chopin’s use of irony enhances every part of the story and takes it to a new level not commonly reached by authors. It turns out that the real conflict in Mrs. Mallard’s situation wasn’t really that she had lost a loved one. It was really that her freedom and joy was taken from her once her husband. who in the time frame really just controlled her and was seen as her superior in every way, came back home and was realized to be alive. The use of Irony in this short story really brings it to a new level by, giving insight into what kind of person Mrs. Mallard is, indirectly showing when this story happened, and by bringing this story all the way to its breaking point where Mrs. Mallard unexpectedly

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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,

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In Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” demonstrates the personal growth of the dynamic protagonist Louise Mallard, after hearing news of her husband’s death. The third-person narrator telling the story uses deep insight into Mrs. Mallard’s thoughts and emotions as she sorts through her feelings after her sister informs her of her husband’s death. During a Character analysis of Louise Mallard, a reader will understand that the delicate Mrs. Mallard transforms her grief into excitement over her newly discovered freedom that leads to her death. As Mrs. Mallard sorts through her grief she realizes the importance of this freedom and the strength that she will be able to do it alone.

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Because of how excited Mrs. Mallard is, t is easy for the reader to feel the enormous weight of disappoint fall upon her upon seeing her husband. This excellent character development by Chopin creates a great ending. The second theme that is evident through the voice of the character is irony. In one section of the story, Mrs. Mallard declares that even though she loved her husband, she will only mourn his loss in public at his funeral for the sake of her image. It is this total lack of remorse for the loss of life that makes it so ironic that her husband will be the one mourning her death at the funeral

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Chopin makes her strong statement in this quote from the story. Mrs. Mallard has no one to answer to but herself, and she feels liberated that her husband can no longer control her. During the late nineteenth century, women quite frequently had to suppress themselves to the will of their husbands, or to some other man who had a significant amount of control over their lives. Chopin successfully uses vivid imagery, point of view, and irony that gives a different view of marriage that is not typical of today.

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Literary Analysis “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin introduces us to Mrs. Mallard as she reacts to the sudden death of her husband. Chopin describes Mrs. Mallard’s emotions as sad, yet happy that her husband has been killed. Kate Chopin’s “ The Story of an Hour” argues that when a person is controlled and made to live under another person their mental state of mind is affected. The story also argues that when that person is freed from the controlling person their true self can finally be achieved. Kate Chopin portrays these themes by the use of character development; plot control, and irony throughout the story.

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Mallard reaches a sense of exuberant liberation. She is overwhelmed with feelings of a newfound freedom. Chopin illustrates this burst of hope once again through nature imagery when she writes, “But she felt it, creeping out of the sky, reaching toward her through the sounds, the scents, the color that filled the air”(Chopin 237). Though Mrs. Mallard tries, she cannot fight the growing sense of freedom that overtakes her. Chopin writes this change as a powerful realization that Mrs. Mallard cannot help but accept.

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She felt free “she said it over and over… free free free.” (p241). She felt free from her marriage, free from her old life and free from the way she used to live when she was in marriage. In the 19th century, women were housewives while the man did everything and free is what Mrs.Mallard, she felt free from being trapped, free from her husband being oppressive and with this many married women today and back then can relate to what Mrs.Mallard felt and to what Chopin wrote. The feeling of having freedom is a feeling that Mrs.Mallard never had, it was a strange feeling to her

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Kate Chopin introduces her main character as “Mrs. Mallard” to signify her being married. However, within her marriage, she loses herself. Being married, she took her husband’s last name and became a wife. In a way it changed her personality. She was no longer her own self, she was someone else’s “property”.

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In the story, Chopin begins with the issue of female identity. The story, just like several other stories, begins with Mrs. Mallard being at home; two assumptions can be made, one she is married, and two, she is probably waiting for her husband to return home. What is particular about it, is how Chopin only mentions her name after she knows about her husband’s death and when is realizes that she is free. By doing this, the author criticizes the fact that women adopted her husband’s name in marriage as a signal of men’s property. This fact could mean that for a woman to recover her identity or freedom is by becoming a

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