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Kate chopin the storm literary devices
The story of an hour kate chopin literary devices
Kate chopin the storm literary devices
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The development of characters through diction and imagery
In the short story “Chopin describes the troubles of a woman named Louise Mallard when she finds out that her husband, Brantley Mallard, has died in a train accident. She describes the changes in the mood of each character through literary devices. Chopin matures Louise Mallard and other major characters through her use of diction and imagery.
One literary devices that Chopin uses is diction. She uses diction throughout the story to describe the characters emotions. In the beginning of “The Story of an Hour” she starts off with talking about Louise Mallard’s heart condition to foreshadow events that happen in the story. She includes “paralyzed inability to accept its significance” to
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really show the emotion in this story (Chopin). She includes these words in the story to identify conflict in the story. A lot of characterization is elucidated through her use of diction in the story. Diction is used by Chopin in parts of the story to further explain major characters. Chopin uses diction to indirectly characterize Louise Mallard.
As Louise is understanding that her husband has just been pronounced dead, the words that Chopin uses indicate a sense of happiness that has overcome her. In paragraph 10 Chopin says, “The vacant stare and the look of terror that had followed it went from her eyes. They stayed keen and bright. Her pulses beat fast, and the coursing blood warmed and relaxed every inch of her body” (Chopin).
This evidence indirectly shows how her emotions changed from tense from her husband’s death to free of the hold he had on her life. This piece of diction does not directly tell that Louise’s emotions have changed from sad to free.
Kate Chopin also develops Louise directly in “The Story of an Hour”. Chopin includes certain words to show the reader that main characters emotions and views have changed during the story. When Chopin says, “She said it over and over under her breath: "free, free, free!"”(Chopin). This sentence shows how Louise Mallard’s emotional state has changed following her husband’s death. From this statement a conclusion can be made that she now feels a sense of freedom now that her husband has died. Chopin’s use of diction directly helps the reader understand the movement in emotion within
characters. Chopin develops each character in the story by using certain writing techniques. One of the ways she develops characters is through her uses of literary devices. From the time that Louise finds out that her husband has died till the time that she dies, she is overcome with a huge sense of freedom and independence. She continuously whispers, "Free! Body and soul free!" (Chopin). This repetitive statement shows that Louise has changed from a worried wife, after she heard about her husband’s death, to a free and spiritually happy person, once she realizes that he can no longer contain her sense of independence. Chopin’s use of literary devices help characterize Louise in the short story. Chopin uses imagery to explain the change in emotion that Louise Mallard endured. She includes hidden messages in the view that Louise has from her bedroom window. When Chopin includes: “There were patches of blue sky showing here and there through the clouds that had met and piled one above the other in the west facing her window”(Chopin), she wants the reader to understand that her husband was the clouds that held back her blue sky. This piece of imagery really shows the emotion that Chopin uses to pull the reader in. Imagery is a big part of this story to show how emotional the story becomes. Imagery is used in this story indirectly to show the emotional change each character. When Louise goes up in to her room to ponder the events that have just occurred in her life. “She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life… The notes of a distant song which someone was singing… and countless sparrows were twittering in the eaves”(Chopin). Kate Chopin includes this piece of imagery to indirectly explain how Louise Mallard’s view of life has changed from restrained by her husband, to free with nothing holding her back anymore. Imagery is used in this story to indirectly tell about how each character’s emotions and tone changes. The imagery that Chopin uses when Louise goes into her bedroom completely changes the mood of the story. At the beginning of the story an inference can be made that Louise is troubled with the news of her husband’s death. Then when she goes into her room Chopin uses the imagery to show how her emotional standpoint is changing in the story. Without the imagery it may be hard to follow Louise’s emotional movement in the short story. Through Chopin’s use of diction and imagery, a lot of information about each character can be understood (Rosenblum). She uses diction and imagery both directly and indirectly. Both ways she uses it shows that each character is not the same from the start to the end of the story. Imagery is used by Chopin to show the mood of Louise changing into a free person. Diction is used to show the true feelings and drama that is involved in this story. It also shows the conflict between each character. Imagery and diction are the best literary devices that Chopin uses to explain each character.
A Roller Coaster of Emotions in A Story of An Hour In the short story “A Story of An Hour” by Kate Chopin, the whole range. of emotions are felt by the main charter, Louise Mallard. Upon learning of her husband's death, she is immediately overcome by sadness. However, once she is.
She whispers, “Free! Body and soul free!” (Chopin). Though her situation is sad, she does not have a remorseful response. She locks herself in her room and reflects upon her new reality. She instead comes to find a form of liberation for herself from her husband’s death. As she looks out the window, Chopin writes, “…she was drinking in a very elixir of life through that open window,” (Chopin). Chopin is stating Louie’s newly found greatness for her life. She is now able to live for herself and not behind her husband as society has told her. She can be different and gain more from her life now because she does not have to follow or live for a man, as many woman did in society. She feels exonerated from her bondage, which is marriage, and she now feels she can have a life for herself. In the end, her husband is actually found to be alive as he walks into the room. Chopin writes, “When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease--of the joy that kills,” (Chopin). From seeing her husband, Louise dies. It was joy that had killed her. Readers can easily believe that she died because of the shock that her husband was still alive, but in reality she died from the loss of her new found greatness. The joy that killed her was her own
Both positive and negative diction suggest a transition to her initial reaction from sudden sadness to wavering joy upon hearing the news of her husband’s death
(Chopin 338). Unexpectedly, joy and happiness consume her with the epiphany she is “free, free, free!” (Chopin 338). Louise becomes more alive with the realization she will no longer be oppressed by the marriage as many women of her day were, and hopes for a long life when only the day prior, “.she had thought with a shudder that life may be long” (Chopin 338).... ...
Cunningham, Mark. "The Autonomous Female Self And The Death Of Louise Mallard In Kate Chopin's "Story Of An Hour.." English Language Notes 42.1 (2004): 48-55. Academic Search Complete. Web. 11 Feb. 2014.
Berkove claims that Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” is about “heroine”, Louise Mallard, who’s not a hero. The view of her as a heroine is based on the interpretation of feminist. He argues there is no evidence to support the fact that Mrs. Mallard is repressed, nor that she had to sacrifice anything for her husband. Berkove analyzes the quote of Mrs. Mallard’s freedom and noted that when it came to love, Mrs. Mallard did not a significant amount of love towards her husband, but instead loved herself more. The wild abandonment that she experienced when realizing that she is “free” and will live “absolutely” for herself were indications that she is losing her mind because
Situational irony is used in "The Story of an Hour" through Mrs. Mallard's reaction to her husband's death and the description of the settings around her at this time. Upon hearing the news of her husband's death, Mrs. Mallard "wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment" (Chopin 213). It appeared to everyone that as a result of her husband's death, Mrs. Mallard was incredibly sad. She insisted upon being alone and retreated to her room. The sort of reaction she had seems like one typical to someone who had just lost a loved one. She experienced grief and shock. However, once she is alone in her room, the reader discovers another side of her emotions. Once she calms down, she whispers "Free, free, free" (Chopin 214), and the reader realizes that she is not having a typical reaction. Instead of being saddened by the loss of her husband, Mrs. Mallard is relieved. "She saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely. And she opened and spread her arms out to them in welcome" (Chopin 214). Mrs. Mallard, instead of wondering who will support her in years to come, realizes that she will have no one binding her a...
When Louise Mallard first hears that her husband was killed in a railroad accident, "she wept at once," and "went away to her room alone" (12). As she mourns, looking out of her window on the second floor of her home, a sudden change of heart begins to come over her. She notices "the delicious breath of rain," " a peddler . . . crying his wares," "notes of a distant song," "countless sparrows . . . twittering," and "patches of blue sky," "all aquiver with the new spring life" (13). As she stares at the sky, she begins to think about her newfound independence from her husband, uttering the words "free, free, free!" (13). What makes her develop such a sudden change in attitude? Could it be that she sees rebirth in the world through her wind...
... This woman suffers a tremendous amount from the commitment of her marriage, and the death of her husband does not affect her for long. A marriage such as this seems so unbelievable, yet a reader can see the realistic elements incorporated into the story. This begs the question of how undesirable marriage was during Chopin’s life. The unhappiness felt by Mrs. Mallard seems to be very extreme, but Chopin creates a beautiful story that reflects upon the idea of marriage as an undesired relationship and bond to some women in the nineteenth century.
In "The Story of an Hour" Kate Chopin tells the story of a woman, Mrs. Mallard, whose husband is thought to be dead. Throughout the story, Chopin describes the emotions Mrs. Mallard felt about the news of her husband's death. However, the strong emotions she felt were not despair or sadness, they were something else. In a way, she was relieved more than she was upset, and almost rejoiced in the thought of her husband no longer living. In using different literary elements throughout the story, Chopin conveys this to us on more than one occasion.
Analysis of “The Story of an Hour”. In her story “The Story of an Hour,” Kate Chopin (1894) uses imagery and descriptive detail to contrast the rich possibilities for which Mrs. Mallard yearns, given the drab reality of her everyday life. Chopin utilizes explicit words to provide the reader with a background on Mrs. Mallard’s position. Chopin uses “She wept at once,” to describe Mrs. Mallard’s emotional reaction once she was told her husband had been “Killed.”
The story ends with doctors pronouncing Louise Mallard dead of “heart disease”, Chopin leaving us with one final line “of the joy that kills”. Which really shows how intensely Louise felt towards her new found freedom, and certainly illustrates how much she had agonized throughout the marriage to Mr. Mallard. The theme of repression in “The Story of An Hour” is intertwined all the way through from start to finish, certainly demonstrating how pervasive it was, not only in the characters marriage, but the 19th Century, and likewise in Kate Chopin’s
...that Chopin describes her eyes in this story shows elation. The author describes her joy over her husband’s death as monstrous to give the reader the idea that she feels extreme joy over an event that would normally elicit the opposite reaction in a person.
...egaining her husband and all of the loss of freedom her marriage entails. The line establishes that Louise's heart condition is more of a metaphor for her emotional state than a medical reality.” (Koloski) It is ironic that she accepts the death of her husband and is joyous and free, and then he ends up being alive after she walks out of the room with a sense of power. The ending of The Story of an hour by Kate Chopin implies that maybe the only true resolution of conflict is in death.
Chopin uses settings to convey particular moods, character qualities and features of theme. Firstly, the author uses time setting to reveal Louise' inner desire and her restrictions. The entire action happens in the "spring" (Chopin 69) of a year in the 1890's. Spring means hope. But woman are restricted by the society in 1890's. The two time settings create a conflict between Louise's expectation and reality. Secondly, the author uses a lot of place setting. The story happens in the house that belongs to Louise Mallard. Most of the time, the author focus on the upstairs of the house- Louise's bed room and the room is closed. We can see Louise is trapped in her house. Her bed room is the only place that belongs to her. So when she heard about the"death" of her husband, she goes to her upstairs bed room, and close the door. "free, free, free" (69), that her true feeling." "She would have no one follow her." (69) that is her desire.