The Story of An Hour - Literary Analysis
Marriage in the 1800’s was essentially an idea of a woman being the man’s property. In “The Story of An Hour,” Chopin represents a negative view of marriage by portraying a woman’s relief and joy upon her husband’s death, resulting in the examination of a female’s self-discovery of identity that was lost while fulfilling the role of a good wife. Chopin presents this through the setting of the text as Mrs.Mallard’s emotions transition from numbness to newfound joy. “The Story of An Hour” communicates the transition of a soul moving from being trapped in a cage of domesticity, like a small bird, to of the free, spring world, showing that nature and the soul are connected, as shown through the different …show more content…
Mallard’s cage - her room - is indicative of how nature and the soul are connected through means of identity. The spring scene that is presented outside is the newfound window to her rebirth as a woman, who now did not have a “suspension of intelligent thought” (P.8). The new spring life was “aquiver...in the open square” (P.5). Mrs.Mallard’s happiness was trembling with joy, as Chopin uses the word “aquiver” in the beginning of the imagery. As Chopin illustrates, this is a very sensual experience for Mrs. Mallard. Kate Chopin uses the instance of a peddler “crying his wares” to announce the recognition of “this thing” that Mrs.Mallard was striving the push away. She finally began to notice the world outside since before all she saw was domesticity confined in the four walls of her house. Freedom came a knocking outside her world inside, and the world outside showed that life went on, regardless of what happened inside. Chopin, then, begins her positive description of how something as simple as rain became delicious. The newfound freedom overwhelmed, though still young, Chopin only describes this in isolation, characterizing Mrs. Mallard’s ideological rebirth. Mrs.Mallard had up to this point “bespoke repression and even a certain strength” (P.8). Chopin distinctively highlights that freedom was a subtle thing (P. 9), despite her personification of freedom as something creeping out of the sky fearfully. This kind of simple and …show more content…
They go from calm and passive to wild and uninhibited and these paragraphs describing this joy that is monstrous is not only because it overwhelms her, but because she knows that she shouldn’t feel the way she does about her husband’s death—that the world of the dull reality would consider her reaction “monstrous” in itself., but her perception was able to “dismiss the suggestion as trivial” (P.11). The pressure of society is often too heavy to bear, and women and wives, in this time period, resulted in submission because their strength ran thin easily by the constant pressure. Changes in the mindset only occurred when the husband, for example, was muted, and a new bright outlook on life came in the place of conflict, dependence,
Marriage in the 1800’s was essentially an idea of a woman being the man’s property. In “The Story of An Hour,” Chopin represents a negative view of marriage by portraying a woman’s relief and joy upon her husband’s death, resulting in the examination of a female’s self-discovery of identity that was lost while fulfilling the role of a good wife. Chopin presents this through the setting of the text as Mrs.Mallard’s emotions transition from numbness to newfound joy. “The Story of An Hour” communicates the transition of a soul moving from being trapped in a cage of domesticity, like a small bird, to of the free, spring world, showing that nature and the soul are connected, as shown through the different …show more content…
Mallard’s cage - her room - is indicative of how nature and the soul are connected through means of identity. The spring scene that is presented outside is the newfound window to her rebirth as a woman, who now did not have a “suspension of intelligent thought” (P.8). The new spring life was “aquiver...in the open square” (P.5). Mrs.Mallard’s happiness was trembling with joy, as Chopin uses the word “aquiver” in the beginning of the imagery. As Chopin illustrates, this is a very sensual experience for Mrs. Mallard. Kate Chopin uses the instance of a peddler “crying his wares” to announce the recognition of “this thing” that Mrs.Mallard was striving the push away. She finally began to notice the world outside since before all she saw was domesticity confined in the four walls of her house. Freedom came a knocking outside her world inside, and the world outside showed that life went on, regardless of what happened inside. Chopin, then, begins her positive description of how something as simple as rain became delicious. The newfound freedom overwhelmed, though still young, Chopin only describes this in isolation, characterizing Mrs. Mallard’s ideological rebirth. Mrs.Mallard had up to this point “bespoke repression and even a certain strength” (P.8). Chopin distinctively highlights that freedom was a subtle thing (P. 9), despite her personification of freedom as something creeping out of the sky fearfully. This kind of simple and …show more content…
They go from calm and passive to wild and uninhibited and these paragraphs describing this joy that is monstrous is not only because it overwhelms her, but because she knows that she shouldn’t feel the way she does about her husband’s death—that the world of the dull reality would consider her reaction “monstrous” in itself., but her perception was able to “dismiss the suggestion as trivial” (P.11). The pressure of society is often too heavy to bear, and women and wives, in this time period, resulted in submission because their strength ran thin easily by the constant pressure. Changes in the mindset only occurred when the husband, for example, was muted, and a new bright outlook on life came in the place of conflict, dependence,