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