Story Of An Hour Literary Analysis

In the short story “The Story of an Hour,” Kate Chopin depicts an hour of a woman life when she first found out the death of her husband. At first she was overwhelm with grief and sadness but afterwards she finds a new appreciation of being independent and free from a repressed marriage. Sadly for her, this new found feeling is short lived and is what ultimately kills her when it was revealed that her husband was still alive and she would have to continue playing the role of a submissive wife.

One of the underlining issue that was tackled in this short story is that marriage leads to repression and a loss of freedom. Although in the beginning to the story, Mrs. Mallard acted as how a woman should be when learning the news of her husband death, the setting of it seems to conflict this feeling. Usually when death has taken place the author would use descriptive words that illustrates the setting as dark and cold

Mallard tries to suppress this because she knows during this time, society will never understand or accept the fact that a woman can live an independent life while being happy. Often times, a woman identity was through the person who she marries. This was evident in this story because Mrs. Mallard, the main character of this story was never given a full name, while her husband, a minor character was. Through the lines “she was beginning to recognize this thing that was approaching to possess her” she ultimately describe the feeling of being independent and free as being a sin, something that she be avoided at all cost. Although she tries hard to suppressed this feeling, she let it consume her. Though it brought her happiness and allow her to be finally free it also lead to her death. Although she holds no ill-will towards her husband, the though of having her freedom and independence stripped away once again kill her. Ironically through death, it allow her to escape her marriage and to be free once