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

1049 Words3 Pages

The Story of an Hour was written by Kate Chopin and published in a Vogue magazine in 1894. The short story is about a woman with heart disease, Louise Mallard, who is day dreaming about the death of her husband. Instead of falling into grief the way most new widows would, she is overcome with joy and new-found freedom. An hour later her husband comes home and she is over whelmed with the independence she created in her head that she dies. In this story Kate Chopin uses the literary devices of imagery, irony, and symbolism. Kate Chopin uses imagery throughout the whole story to paint perfect images in the reader’s mind. When Chopin is describing the scene of Louise Mallard being told her husband is being killed, the reader can vividly see the …show more content…

The main and most obvious one is the room Louise Mallard locks herself in when she hears of her husband’s death. In the locked room, it is only Louise and an open window. The room Louise has kicked herself in represents their marriage. In her marriage, she feels very trapped and locked in. When her husband passes, Louise finds a new freedom and independence in her husband’s death, this is represented by the open window Louise Mallard looks out of from the locked room. The only way the escape the room she is locked in is through the window and the only way for her to get out of her marriage is through her husband dying. Louise also listening to the singing birds outside and looking out all the trees and clouds outside. These things outside the window could symbolize all the new freedoms that are coming to her through her new-found independence. (Odell, 889) Kate Chopin’s The Story of an Hour uses many great literary devices including imagery, irony, and symbolism. Imagery was demonstrated through Chopin’s descriptions of the scenes of Louise’s husband’s death, the room Louise was locked in, and the view from the

Open Document