How Does Kate Chopin Use Imagery In The Story Of An Hour

Mrs. Mallard’s New Life “The Story of an Hour”, a short story written by Kate Chopin in the late nineteenth century, is a narrative about Mrs. Louise Mallard, her husband Brently Mallard, and her heart troubles. The heart troubles make it hard to tell her of her husband’s death so Mrs. Mallard’s sister Josephine arrives to tell her the news. When Mrs. Mallard is told of her husband’s death, she immediately goes up to her room to be alone. While in her room she begins to ponder the possibility of a new life. She opens her window in her room and describes the wonderful things she observes. She is urged to come out of her room only to find that her husband, Brently, is alive. The passage that describes Mrs. Louise Mallard looking out of her window uses auditory, visual, and kinesthetic imagery to symbolize the new, free, and happy life she now has ahead of her.

Louise Mallard looking out of her window to symbolize the life Mrs. Mallard has ahead of her without her husband. For example, Chopin writes that Mrs. Mallard “could see the open square before her house” (Chopin 15) to exemplify the new open life in which Mrs. Mallard will be allowed to live for no one but herself. She will now be able to make conclusions on her own with an open mind and will no longer be known to society only as “Brently Mallard’s wife .” In addition to the open square, Mrs. Mallard also sees the “tops of the trees that are all aquiver with new spring life” (Chopin 15). Spring is the time of the year when new life begins to grow and develop. This directly correlates to Mrs. Mallard’s life with the death of her husband; she is going to experience a new life with change for the better. She is now in control of her new bright life. Through visual imagery we can see the thoughts of openness and new life Mrs. Mallard feels as she looks through her