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Story Of The Hour Figurative Language Essay

470 Words2 Pages

Stefani Helm
Mrs. Barker
P8
Story of the Hour

Story of the Hour tells us about Mrs. Mallard, also known as Louise who suffers from a heart condition. Her sister and her husband’s friend Richard came to tell her that he died in a trainwreck. Throughout the Story Kate Chopin illustrates to the reader Mrs. Mallard’s transformation during bleak and blurred hour by using imagery, diction, and figurative language. “Into this she sank, pressed down by a physical exhaustion that haunted her body and seemed to reach into her soul.” Basically, Kate Chopin, is saying is that Mrs. Mallard’s mental exhaustion is pressing down on her restricting her to only think about the present moments that are currently going on. With the news about her husband dying and mentally disallows her to think about the future and what she is going to do for herself. Women in the 1800’s were known to be “housewives” and “bow down and grovel” to their husbands expectations. So it shows that she isn’t used to thinking for herself and how things will play out in the next few years or so without her husband. …show more content…

Mallard is sad about her husband dying, there is a small indication that Mrs. Mallard feels freed from her “seemingly” oppressive marriage.Yes it is obvious that Mrs. Mallard loves her husband deeply and that she loves him sincerely, by her reaction to the announcement of her husband being dead, it shows that women didn’t have that many freedoms in the 1800’s. “It was not a glance of reflection, but rather indicated a suspension of intelligent thought.” In other words, Mrs Mallard believes that Brently’s death will free and give herself her own sense of individuality. In the story it stated that she hadn’t stopped to look at things like the blue sky before with the patches of clouds in them. And gives herself time to evaluate her own life’s

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She is over whelmed with joy and we can see just how forbidden her happiness is and how she abandons herself to be free from her bonds of oppression in her marriage. The belief for marriage is that it joins two people who love one another in a holy union. Many people believe marriage should only occur when two people are in love; although this wasn’t the case with Mr. and Mrs. Mallard. Mrs. Mallard could also be used as a symbol because she represents women of that time who didn’t get any joy out of being married or having a

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It states that there were sounds, scents and color that filled the air, this tells the reader that her environment is positive. Usually death is represented by dark shades, not colors and is also represented by being quiet, her environment is practically the opposite of that which lets the reader know that she is not suffering from her husband's death. Secondly, Mrs. Mallard is sitting next to an open window, collecting her thoughts on how she will react to her husband dying. The author writes, “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.

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At the opening of Chopin’s story, the reader is presented with an unremarkable protagonist, whose characteristics — outside of her heart trouble — are left unclear. Instead, the passage focuses on the event surrounding her, her husband’s death. While atypical, this choice is highly symbolic, demonstrating how Mrs. Mallard’s life revolves around her husband — even in death. Correspondingly, it draws attention to the lack of identity of 19th century women, who serve moreso as extensions of their husbands than people in their own right. The protagonist’s bland personality is further highlighted by her stereotypical reaction to her husband’s death, as she devolves into a “storm of grief” (Chopin 3).

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This is shown multiple times throughout the story as Mrs. Mallard’s reaction to her husband’s death is different than that of what society would consider normal. This is first shown in the second paragraph which reads, “She did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance. She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister’s arms” (Chopin 644). This instance of irony is the first hint towards the idea that Mrs. Mallard doesn’t react in a way that people normally do in society. Later in the story, it’s shown that previously Mrs. Mallard wished for death to set her free from her husband.

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The reader soon discovers, this feeling that comes to Mrs. Mallard is joy and relief, she feels this because she can now finally be her own person. Mrs. Mallard comes to the realization that her husband had been oppressing her for years, “There would be no powerful will bending..”, and she was finally free of that. Before the passing of her husband, Mrs. Mallard was scared of living a long life because of the treatment she received from him. After his passing she had a much different outlook, “There would be no one to live for her during those coming years; she would live for herself.” This shows that Mrs. Mallard was excited to now live her own life without being told what she was to do.

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Mrs. Mallard is first introduced to the reader as a repressed character. She is married to a controlling husband who significantly influences her life. As the narrator states, "There would be no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself" (Chopin 1). This line shows how Mrs. Mallard has been living for others, not herself. Her husband's presence has restricted her freedom and prevented her from living her life to the fullest.

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Even though the two situations are completely different, they are also completely alike in a sense. To feel independent and free is the overbearing theme of the two short stories Kate Chopin embraces throughout each story. It is evident that she uses specific wording to describe the emotion both women are having while going through their difficult journey. Mrs. Mallard is utilized to embody a woman who is finally strong enough to be happy on her own, and not feel like happiness is because of her husband. After she believes her husband is dead she is referred as ‘Louise,’ which exemplifies that she is her own.

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Mallard. The two true themes of this story are loss and irony and Mrs. Mallard embodies both of these. The theme of loss is littered throughout this story; first Mrs. Mallard thinks that she has lost her husband; second she finds out that she has lost her new freedom, and finally Mr. Mallard loses his husband. While many readers may see Mrs. Mallard’s death as the greatest loss, Chopin’s writing suggests that it is instead the loss of new life that Mrs. Mallard has so quickly discovered. She had her entire new life planned out, and it all came crashing down within an hour.

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Mrs. Mallard’s actions cause the readers to contemplate a hidden meaning woven into the story line. Mr. Mallard is assumed to die in a railroad accident, leaving Mrs. Mallard devastated. Instead of feeling sadness or grief, Mrs. Mallard actually feels free. "There would be no one to live for her during those coming years; she would live for herself. There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature" (Page 499).

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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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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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In the short story by Kate Chopin, The Story of the Hour it is a true thriller and helps evoke the feeling of love, desperation and companionship throughout the short story. The Author Kate Chopin does a fabulous job at incorporating sensory imagery throughout her short story. This creates the audience who is reading her story to feel the pain that main character Louise Mallor feels when she hears that the train her husband is on had a catastrophic accident that left all people on board dead. Louise Mallor throughout the story describes her sadness and soreness with her expression on how she continues to cry and cry and cry for a chance to be with her husband Brently Mallard one more time. At the end of the short story Louise is revealed that

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Mrs. Mallard scene in the story would be implicit because although she expressed her sadness in front of her sister it wasn’t clear to the rest of the people why she would be happy when she went to her room. While in her room she kept whispering “Free! Body and soul free!” (Chopin). She was glad she would no longer be in control by a husband; although she would be sad at his funeral now that he has died she can finally be herself.

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This is to describe Mrs. Mallard’s emotions as she swings back and forth from being miserable to extreme joy at her newfound freedom. Now this can foster imagination and imply as if Mrs. Mallard had a deep inner life that is not connected to the outside world of her husband or friends. This is the fact that she confines herself in her room just to discover her feelings and interests are important. Unlike the reality of her outside world which was minimally described the narrator but inside Mrs. Mallard’s mind offers something that is lively and well

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Women in the 19th ‘s century seldom have freedom and independence. Reason of they should rely on the money that men brings back to survive. Kate Chopin, the author of “The Story of an Hour” lives in a family which only has her mother left, that her father and brother has passed away when she was young. This has turns her into a different woman that she reflects her own personality into the story on the protagonist Louise Mallard as an intelligent, independent, and emotional woman.

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