A Womans Right To Freedom In Kate Chopin's The Story Of An Hour

A Woman’s Right to Freedom

In the short piece of writing, “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, we observe a woman’s distraught and unstable manner after the death of her husband. As the story progresses, Louise drastically changes from crying out in agony to finding a glimmer of hope and realizing that the death of her husband will give her a newfound freedom which she was never able to realize had existed. The conclusion made by the doctors in the story is that Louise dies from being overjoyed of her husband’s unexpected return, but in fact she actually dies of her prospect of a new life being shattered. At the beginning of the story, Josephine, Louise’s sister, attempts to break the news of her husband’s death to her “as gently as possible” so as to not cause heart failure (477). The main concern is that Louise will be so devastated over the loss of her husband, that it will cause a premature death, but a factor that many overlook or don’t expect is Louise’s sudden change of heart and her realization of all the freedom she will gain after Brently’s death.

Once she overcomes the initial shock and sadness, she takes refuge alone in an upstairs room. At first she sits in silence, waiting fearfully for something she can’t quite accept. The “open window” and “the open square” which she overlooks symbolize freedom and trigger a

I believe that the “clouds” casting shadows outside her window, represent her marriage and the “patches of blue sky” symbolize uncharted freedom. The clouds are clearing away to reveal a promising life of happiness. Her house and the room she is in represent confinement and the fact that she is basically imprisoned and the only portal to freedom is the window. The scene portrayed looking out of the window fills Louise with a new hope and joy and brings back some of her youthfulness. The world all around her is presenting “veiled hints” which help her to see a much bigger