Mrs. Mallard In Kate Chopin's The Story Of An Hour

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The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin, published in the late eighteen hundred describes the marriage of the early nineteenth century. It shows the life of Mrs. Louise Mallard, a woman who experiences pain, joy and freedom for “a short time”. Chopin’s uses the interplay of the symbols, Mrs. Mallard’s heart trouble, the comfortable chair in her room and the front door of the house to represent all that happens to Mrs. Mallard. This story begins with the narrator telling the reader that Mrs. Mallard has “heart trouble” (Chopin 1). Hearts are mostly used as a symbol of love Mrs. Mallard’s heart trouble is viewed deeper than its surface meaning as her being love sick and depressed, this is shown when the narrator explains that Mrs. Mallard, for the most part, did not love her husband (Chopin 13). Although, Mr. Mallard loved her as it is said of him that his face never looked save with love upon her (Chopin 11), he loved her in the way he knew how to, but Mrs. Mallard wanted more. She seeks something. …show more content…

Mallard after receiving the news of Mr. Mallard’s death goes to her room to put herself together. There stood, facing the widow, a comfortable chair (Chopin 4). As she sinks into the chair, she begins to reflect on herself. She sees things from a different view than she did before, she sees spring. The comfortable chair symbolizes change, from it she can see a lot of changes, a lot of possibilities; She could see freedom. The adjective “comfortable” used to describe the chair represented the warmth she felt from her room, her chair, her world. She did not want anyone in there and so she locks herself in (Chopin 2). Although, change was all new to her and she is scared of what is to come (Chopin 9), the narrator explains that she sees past her fear as she whispers “free, free, free” (Chopin

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