“The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin introduces the theme of a quest for identity, associating with the freedom and independence Louise desires after the apparent sudden death of her husband. Considering her terrible heart condition, her sister informs her carefully and is accompanied by one of her husband’s friends. When Louise discovered this, she was first overwhelmed with grief and suddenly becomes enlightened of the independence she will gain. As Louise sits in her bedroom and stares through the window into her new life, she overcomes her grief and becomes eager to rediscover herself as a widow. This can be described as one of the symbols that are included in this short story because of its symbolic significance to Louise’s desire to
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The theme initially begins when the main character Louise is confronted by her sister and her husband’s friend with the terrible news of her husband’s death. They explained it in the easiest way they could in regard to Louise’s heart condition. She grieves in the universal expression of sadness when such a tragedy occurs. Her visualizations through the window indicate and associate with her future of independence and freedom which reveals the theme of the story. As she looks out of her bedroom window she utters the words "free, free, free!”. Her burst of emotions causes her to come to a realization that she can form her own independent identity. When Louise realizes “there would be no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself,” (para. 12), her mindset of her husband’s tragic death transforms. When she comes downstairs to tell her sister and friend of her realization, her “dead” husband walks through the front door. He was unaware of this accident and was shocked at the terrified reactions from Louise’s sister Josephine and Richards as they were struggling to hide him from Louise. Louise’s weak heart fails and kills her as soon as she sees her …show more content…
The window can symbolize the new life that Louise has secretly been longing for throughout her entire marriage. The excitement that she feels from looking out of the window and seeing the signs of spring in the trees and the blue sky symbolizes the freedom she feels rather than the sorrow that most widows would experience after first losing their husband. The window provided her with a new outlook on her experience and created an optimism within her that quickly ended when seeing her husband walk through the front door. Every scenario in the story that takes place is afflicted and depended on Louise’s health because of her poor heart condition. While envisioning her new life as an opportunity to become independence through the window, Louise has no issues with her condition and becomes overwhelmed with eagerness. This heart condition can symbolize Louise’s desire to create her own identity without her husband being subjective to her own understanding. Everything in the story revolves around her sensitivity to her heart condition which intensifies every emotion that she
The theme initially begins when the main character Louise is confronted by her sister and her husband’s friend with the terrible news of her husband’s death. They explained it in the easiest way they could in regard to Louise’s heart condition. She grieves in the universal expression of sadness when such a tragedy occurs. Her visualizations through the window indicate and associate with her future of independence and freedom which reveals the theme of the story. As she looks out of her bedroom window she utters the words "free, free, free!”. Her burst of emotions causes her to come to a realization that she can form her own independent identity. When Louise realizes “there would be no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself,” (para. 12), her mindset of her husband’s tragic death transforms. When she comes downstairs to tell her sister and friend of her realization, her “dead” husband walks through the front door. He was unaware of this accident and was shocked at the terrified reactions from Louise’s sister Josephine and Richards as they were struggling to hide him from Louise. Louise’s weak heart fails and kills her as soon as she sees her …show more content…
The window can symbolize the new life that Louise has secretly been longing for throughout her entire marriage. The excitement that she feels from looking out of the window and seeing the signs of spring in the trees and the blue sky symbolizes the freedom she feels rather than the sorrow that most widows would experience after first losing their husband. The window provided her with a new outlook on her experience and created an optimism within her that quickly ended when seeing her husband walk through the front door. Every scenario in the story that takes place is afflicted and depended on Louise’s health because of her poor heart condition. While envisioning her new life as an opportunity to become independence through the window, Louise has no issues with her condition and becomes overwhelmed with eagerness. This heart condition can symbolize Louise’s desire to create her own identity without her husband being subjective to her own understanding. Everything in the story revolves around her sensitivity to her heart condition which intensifies every emotion that she