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Symbolism In Kate Chopin's Story Of An Hour

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1. I think the setting of the story is so limited to symbolize that Louise is in her own prison. After her husband died, she exclaimed that she was free (1). This means that while she was with her husband, she must have felt trapped, most likely because he oppressed her. The door to the house might also symbolize prison. Once her husband died, Louise was free from her prison, but once her husband returned through the door (2), she was thrown back into her prison because she had to live a life of being oppressed by him. The limitation of the setting conveys to the broader them of being trapped and having no way out. Since the house represented prison, Louise was essentially trapped in her own home. This relates to how Louise felt about her own sense of power. While she was …show more content…

I think Josephine represents compassion in “Story of an Hour.” Josephine spoke in half-truths when telling Louise about the death of her husband to prevent her from having a heart attack from the emotional impact (1). Josephine could also be considered to be a protector, since she was trying to protect her sister from illness. Richard, on the other hand, represents facts. When Richard discovered that Brently had died, he waited until he had more evidence before deciding to tell Josephine. This means that Richard was an analytical person who checked their facts and made sure that they were correct before sharing their results. The two also represent the stereotypical roles of males and females. Females are stereotypically more emotional and compassionate, just like Josephine was, while men are stereotypically more cold-hearted and not as emotional, just like Richard was. 7. I think Chopin stated that Louise descended the stairs “like a goddess of victory” (2), because she had finally been victorious. She is victorious because she was finally a free woman. She no longer had to deal with the oppression from her husband, meaning that she was free to make her own decisions and live her own

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She wanted to be as nice as she could since she was afraid of what was to follow. Louise, on the other hand, displayed a range of emotions that perplexed us. For example, once she had received the news, she grieved till she believed it was enough and then went to her room. It was at this time in the story that things shifted and the initial impression of Louise's character changed. Furthermore, once Louise was the in her room the shock of her husband death consumed her in many ways.

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Upon hearing the news, the woman wept deciding it be best to retreat to her room alone. The readers believe that Louise is upset over her husband’s death but irony is seen, “When she abandoned herself, a little whispered word escaped her slightly parted lips. She said it over and over under her breath; ‘free, free, free!’ The vacant stare and the look of terror that had followed it went from her eyes. They stayed

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In The Story of an Hour, Kate Chopin uses foreshadowing of Mrs. Mallards death when it was stated at the beginning that she had heart problems. The Story of an Hour has two kinds of irony situational and dramatic irony. The situational irony is that her supposedly dead husband shows up and the dramatic irony is that the doctors state that she died of “the joy that kills” even though we know that it wasn’t joy that killed her but rather sadness because she lost her freedom she just thought she had obtained. The point of view used in The Story of an Hour is third person limited which is effective for the telling of the story because it allows us to be aware of Louise’s response to her husband’s death after she locked herself in her room.

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(3). Louise rapidly started to show signs of depression. She was overwhelmed with this disastrous news. So she had to go somewhere else on her own to process it. “When the storm of grief had spent itself she went away to her room alone.”

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Therefore, Louise grew up unguided and was thought upon as inadequate due to her home situation, which made her reluctant and rebellious of guardianship. In addition, Louise’s behaviors were unlike many other young women of this time. As Cora begins the adventure of chaperoning Louise, she realizes this on the train to New York when she finds Louise accompanied by an older, adult male who was “at least middle-aged…” (61). For instance, due to her lack of parental advice, Louise has a low tolerance for Cora when she tries to steer her in the right direction: “She didn’t wish to be stern. But apparently, she needed to be stern to get the girl to listen” (108).

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When she finds out about his passing, she gets a moment of freedom and feels a sense of freedom she has never had. Chopin presents Louise as having a complex personality, exhibiting both her vulnerability and her independence. Although she feels stuck in her marriage and is oppressed by her husband's power, she is a strong-willed individual who defies social norms regarding sorrow. Instead, she chooses to celebrate her newfound freedom. Her relief is short-lived, though, as she passes away from shock when her husband reappears in the story alive and well.

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The story also exposes the damaging effects of racism and how it can limit an individual’s freedom and happiness. Louise’s husband is not explicitly racist, but his dominance over her and their marriage represents the patriarchal and oppressive society of the time. Racism and sexism are intertwined, and Chopin’s story shows how they can lead to the suppression of women’s desires and

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While working with the Heptads, she learns their language which leads her to revealing her future of her daughter. She goes on to go through the memories that she can have with her daughter from her being a child all the way to being an adult. This conflicting decision on whether or not to have her daughter leads to her having an apocalypse, her own personal one. It is a difficult choice to make, even going through the difficulty of learning the language of the Heptads was a challenge. The story can be seen through a social and personal apocalypse, but more on the apocalypse side for Louise.

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She exists in a time when women are classified as objects of beauty and property, and her heart trouble suggests that she is fragile. Louise’s initial reaction to the news of her husband’s death suggests that she is deeply saddened and grief stricken when she escapes to her bedroom. However, the reader is caught off-guard with Louise’s secret reaction to the news of her husband’s death because she contradicts the gender norm of the 19th century woman. Her contradiction to the stereotype / gender norm is displayed when she slowly reveals her inward

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Instantly Louise feels the grief of her husband’s death but soon come realise she is now free. Nobody understand that she is free and is a grown woman who can deal with death on her own. Knowing her husband is gone, Louise views death through an epiphany that changes how she sees her husband’s death and because of this Josephine, Louise’s, sister goes to her aid in an age inappropriate manor. Because of Louise’s heart condition, Josephine begins to comfort her to the point that Louise locks herself in a room to cope with the loss of her husband, “Josephine was knocking before the closed door…imploring for admission. What are you doing, Louise?

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Although there is no clear statement that shows Louise to have an oppressive marriage, there are ambiguous statements about the marriage that show she feels caged. During the event of finding out about Brently’s death, Louise did not respond “as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance. She wept at once, with sudden wild abandonment” (Chopin), due to Brently’s death she is finally able to let out emotions that she has held in for so many years of being a dutiful wife. Once Louise is left alone to grieve she reflects upon her feelings and her marriage. The narrator points out that Louise knows she will cry again for him when she sees his funeral, remembering his “kind, tender hands...the face that had never looked save with love upon her” (Chopin).

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Chopin captures the complete essence of the moment in the following quote; “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” (Chopin). The fact that Louise envisions these years free of her husband in such a positive light ultimately suggests that she was oppressed by the marriage. Louise is also described as "a goddess of Victory" when she emerges from her room, illuminating this epiphany as the high point in Louise’s

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This supposedly difficult moment for Louise in the story is the news of Brently Mallard, her husband, death in a train accident. At first she sobbed as any wife would after hearing the death of their loved one. She picks

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The Short Story The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin explores the emotions of Louise Mallard a woman with a heart disease. In the hour that the story is told, it ranges from showing Mrs. Mallard different reactions to learning of her husbands death to him surprisingly showing up alive and eventually her untimely death from a heart disease. Although only a brief period of time is shown, many emotions are revealed through the third person omniscient point of view. This point of view shows more than just the protagonists thoughts and is not limited to one person. It allows the readers to know something about Mrs. Mallard that she does not as the story ends after Mrs. Mallard has already died.

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