Story Of An Hour Literary Analysis

Marcus Tullius Cicero stated, “What then is freedom? The power to live as one wishes.” Freedom is something many people crave, but often something that many people don’t receive. It is difficult to obtain full freedom, and that is often a roadblock to the things you want to achieve. This is demonstrated in Kate Chopin’s realistic fictional story, “The Story of an Hour.” This story introduces us to Louise Mallard, who is afflicted with heart trouble. One day she is told that her husband has been killed in a railroad accident. Shocked and distressed, Louise falls into a state of grieving and depression as she stares through her bedroom window by herself. She begins to attempt to picture her life alone, without her husband, but it is difficult

She was weak and depressed and instantly began grieving her late husband without any time to process the words that her sister had told her. The story states, “She did not hear the story as many women had heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance. She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister’s arms” (3). This scene particularly shows how her husband’s death put her in a state of distress. Rather than be frozen and shocked at hearing the news, the words hit her hard. Louise did not think of her life without her husband; all she could do in that moment was cry. She ran upstairs to her room to grieve and process her feelings and emotions, to sit in a chair and think. “Into this she sank, pressed down by a physical exhaustion that haunted her body and seemed to reach into her soul” (4). All of the terrible feelings filled her body and seemed to drain everything inside of her. At the beginning of the story, Louise felt lost without her husband; but that feeling did not last very

She becomes unsure of her true feelings toward her husband and her marriage, and her grieving quickly ends and takes a turn. “And yet she had loved him- sometimes. Often she had not” (14). This shows that Louise is questioning her relationship with her husband. She is trying to decide if she really needs him to survive. Her feelings were changing; “There was something coming for her and she was waiting for it, fearfully” (9). This depiction gives the impression that something inside of her was changing, but she was not yet sure what. After staring out the window of her bedroom, she thought about her new life and how she would be living. Louise was uncertain about her future, but realized that she would survive on her own. “The vacant stare and the look of terror that had followed it went from her eyes” (10). This particularly shows that Louise’s sadness and dread is leaving her and her feelings are changing. As the story goes on, Louise feels uncertain about both her feelings and her