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Examples Of Figurative Language In The Story Of An Hour

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Kate Chopin’s short story The Story of an Hour demonstrates the challenges married people face. The author believes that marriage is a burden that ensues people when they fall in love. Through the marriage of Louise Mallard and Brently Mallard, the author shows the oppression the married women faced. During that time, married women’s freedom was limited. The husband was the head of the family and was also the key decision maker. Although the marriage of Louise and Brently was calm, there was an aspect of oppression. Louise just pretends that she is happy but in real sense she is bored by the marriage. After the news of the passing of her husband, she pretends that she is mourning but in an actual sense, she was celebrating because she knew …show more content…
From the construction of short sentences and paragraphs, the readers of the short story can figure out the figurative language in the story. First Chopin uses symbolism as a form of figurative language. At the start of the story, the author indicates that Louise has a heart problem (Chopin 57). The ‘heart trouble’ symbolizes the troubled marriage. It shows the trouble her heart undergoes due to a dull marriage. Also, nature of the story changes according to the emotions, for example, Louise claims that her heart is raining after learning about the death of the husband. The words demonstrate the problems that her heart has gone through in the …show more content…
The word ‘open’ is repeated throughout the short story. The word shows the freedom that Louise will get after the death of her husband. Louise also repeats the phrase, “free, free, free!” over and over again as well. The word symbolizes how Louise views her life will be after the death of the boring husband. The repetition of phrases and sentences is also a predominant in the short story. The author repeats the phrase, “she breathed a quick prayer that life might be long.” The phrase symbolizes that the life of Louise will never be the same again after the death of the husband (Chopin 59).
Detachment from the points of view of the story is one of the figurative languages the author uses. The use of the word, “the joy that kills,” makes the reader of the short story understand differently from what the author meant. The author makes the main character know the set pieces that she wishes (Chopin 62). The use of detachment enables the readers to have suspense regarding the principal

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