Happiness Vs. Unhappiness In Kate Chopin's The Story Of An Hour

Happiness vs Unhappiness

In Kate Chopin’s short story, “The Story of An Hour,” there are contrasting images of light and dark representing happiness and unhappiness. It isn’t until Louise Mallard thinks that her husband, Brentley Mallard, is dead that she really begins to realize just how unhappy she has been. Chopin shows through the characters light and dark imagery that speaks to this essay.

Louise Mallard has not yet heard the news of her husband’s death. As the news is revealed to her she went into a state of unhappiness, and she had a hard time “accepting the significance” (463). She “wept at once” with “wild abandonment” and the “storm of grief” (463), passed over and she went alone to her bedroom with no one to follow her. The author describes in the previous sentence that the storm of grief has passed over her,

but she is still in that state of unhappiness and she disappears to her bedroom.

Her bedroom was closed but with an “open window” (463), with a roomy armchair she sank into. As she is looking out the window she sees “the tops of trees,” “new spring life,” “breath of rain was in the air,” and she could hear a peddler below in the street, calling to customers, and “patches of blue sky showing” (463). The author depicts in the previous sentence that when she uses “breath of rain was in the air,” rain is more like a cleansing so she could be feeling a sign of relief but can’t recognize it. She sat with her head on the cushion “quite motionless,” except when a sob came in her throat and “shook her,” like a child “continuously sobbing” (463) in its dreams. The author uses imagery in the previous

sentence to show that even though she might be motionless, when she gets a sob her whole body seems to tremble and so that could be a sign of weakness. Mrs. Mallard has a calm face that “bespoke repression” and a “certain strength” (463). In the previous sentence the author conveys that Louise Mallard is calm and that she shows signs of strength, which could mean that she is starting to realize happiness. She has a dull stare on her face that was fixed away on one of the “blue patches” (463) in the sky. In the previous sentence when Chopin uses the key phrase “blue patches,” it could mean that she is finding happiness in the littlest things now. It wasn’t a glance of reflection but more indicating a suspension of “intelligent thought” (463). Chopin conveys that even though she was staring out the window, Mrs. Mallard is thinking and it’s very wise thinking, in her case.
Mrs. Mallard suddenly got this feeling that was “fearful” (463) to her. She didn’t know what the feeling was, it was to “subtle” and “elusive” (463). It was creeping out of the sky through “scents,” “sounds,” and “color” (463) that filled the air. She started to recognize the “thing” (463), that was going to possess her but was “striving” (464), to push it back with her will. In the previous short paragraph, Chopin uses a lot of key phrases to start describing what Louise is feeling and the “thing” which she can’t recognize, its happiness, she doesn’t know how to react so like she has one before she doesn’t want to let it in to her life. She “abandoned” herself for just a moment, and a whisper had escaped her lips that said “free, free, free.” In this previous paragraph you can see that when she let herself go just for that one second, feeling came out of her through words and now must be recognized. She went from a vacant stare that had the look of “terror,” in her eyes which stayed “keen” and “bright.” In the previous sentence the author clearly describes that what she is feeling now she is terrified of it, but Mrs. Mallard is very shocked from this. “Pulse beating fast,” with course blood relaxing every inch of her body. Beyond that moment she seen a “long procession,” “of years to come” that would belong to her, opening and spreading her arms out to welcome them. She now had “no one” (464), to live for but herself. In the previous short paragraph Mrs. Mallard has now recognized that feeling she has encountered and has realized it is happiness. She now realizes she can be free, with many years to come ahead of her.
“Free! Body and soul free!” she whispers. Her sister Josephine lies next to the door, telling Louise to open ‘the door because she is “making herself ill.” Mrs. Mallard yells back that she isn’t “making herself ill,” she’s only “drinking that elixir of life” through that “open window.” In the previous short paragraph Mrs. Mallard’s sister Josephine thinks that she has made herself ill, when really it’s more of her realization coming to her. She started fancying about those days ahead where “spring days,” “summer days,” and “all sorts of days” would be her own. Mrs. Mallard arises with “strength” that carries herself like a “goddess of victory,” walking out the door, then Josephine and her walk down the stairs to where Richard was waiting for them. In the previous short paragraph Chopin depicts that now Louise feels triumph and victory from her husband’s death, happy as she has ever been. “Someone” (464) is opening the front door with a latchkey. The door opens, it is Brentley Mallard, carrying his grips and umbrella. He was far from the accident and didn’t know it had even happened. Louise Mallard, seeing her husband alive, dies from the shock (465).
In conclusion, Louise’s happiness only lasted a short amount of time that once again, her life was plunged into darkness, literally, as she died upon realizing her husband was alive after all.

Work Cited
Chopin, Kate. “The Story of an Hour.” Steps to Writing Well. 12th ed. Ed. Jean Wyrick. 462. Print.