Comparing the Tones of “The Story of an Hour”
In Kate Chopin’s short story, “The Story of an Hour,” the main character is conflicted by news that her husband has died in a railroad accident. Chopin’s detail and diction portrays not only the tone of weakness but also the tone of overjoyment. The reader feels a sense of understanding towards the main character’s sense of freedom and her frightfulness of people realizing that she is happy that her husband has passed.
The author’s detail in the beginning of the story conveys Mrs. Mallard’s weakness and inability to handle the terrible news that her sister, Josephine, is about to present to her. For example, Chopin states that “Mrs. Mallard is afflicted [with heart trouble]” (Chopin 554), so “great
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Mallard’s weakness by conveying a feeling of fright and hysteria. For example, she cries “with sudden, wild abandonment” (555) in her sister’s arms, and then feels something “creeping out of the sky” (555); she waits for it “fearfully” (555). She is afraid because she feels happiness approaching her and that is not the socially correct feeling she should be having about the report of her husband’s passing. She does not want people to realize that she feels freedom because they will criticize her for not being destroyed by the news. She is ecstatic that she will not have a “powerful will bending her” (556) actions anymore and “her fancy [is] running riot along [the] days ahead of her” (556). Freedom is overcoming her thoughts and feelings. She cannot stop thinking about her future opportunities now that she does not have to seduce to her husband’s rules. Until, her husband entered into their home “a little travel-stained” (566) and stood “amazed at Josephine’s piercing cry” (556) while Richards’ “quick motion” (556) to block the couples view of each other was too late. It is true that her husband had been working, but he had not been anywhere near the accident. Mrs. Mallard’s sudden loss of hope provoked her heart to completely stop, and she died. The reader understands the woman’s sense of freedom because it is tough having to coexist with