Symbols In The Story Of An Hour

1848 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Themes of the play "the story of an hour" by kate chopin

The short story, The Story of an Hour, by Kate Chopin, shares many similarities with Chopin’s own life. Written in 1894, this short story includes themes such as independence, joy, and heartbreak. The story opens to a setting in which two close friends are telling the main character, Louise, of her husband's death. Louise has heart problems, so the two revealing the news know they must break it to her delicately as to not cause her too much trouble with her health. At first, after learning that her husband was on a list of men killed during a railroad, Louise is overcome with grief. Unable to contain herself, she retreats to her room to cry in isolation. However, after she locks herself in her room and positions herself in front of her window, …show more content…

Mallard, the window, and the rain falling towards the end of the story. Mrs. Mallards heart throughout the story is said to be quite fragile. Hearts, in literature as well as in general, are usually a representation of some variation of love. In the main characters case, it represents a deterioration of love, shown by the problems with her health. In saying that she was “afflicted with heart troubles,” the author foreshadows that the main character is weighed down by something or someone; that she has loved the other person in the past, but no longer loves them the way she once did (para. 1). The reader is not sure why she no longer loves the other person (likely the husband), but only that the main character’s heart is heavy due to her lover. After learning that her husband has supposedly died, Louise talks of her “pulse beat(ing) fast, and the coursing blood warmed and relaxed every inch of her body,” (para. 10). This further upholds the idea that her heart problems are a direct reflection of her love life with her husband. Furthermore, when her husband returns home completely fine, Louise collapses and dies because of her heart. This is also a further representation of her heart problems in correlation with her husband. Secondly, the window that the main character looks out of throughout the duration of the story. On the outside of this window, there are blue skies and birds singing along with …show more content…

I lacked much of the literary vocabulary that I have now, and I read through the story without thinking what was going on. However, after I read the second to last paragraph where Mr. Mallard shows up with no knowledge of a train accident, I was interested enough to back through and read the story a second time. After reading through the story that time, I found many things I enjoyed about Kate Chopin’s writing; her use of symbolism and feminism as well as her twisting plots. Since this time, I have been entranced in her writing, and love to explore her reasonings behind her writings. The Story of an Hour is a short story that I read whenever given the

Show More
Related

  • Kate Chopin And Daniel Deneau's The Story Of An Hour

    974 Words  | 2 Pages

    After reading The Story of An Hour by Kate Chopin, Daniel Deneau remarkably breaks down and analyzes the most intense aspects of the short story. Deneau acknowledges simple things such as “the significance of the open window and the spring setting” along with more complex questions including what Mrs. Mallard went through to achieve her freedom. He also throws in a few of his own ideas which may or may not be true. Almost entirely agreeing with the interpretation Deneau has on The Story of An Hour, he brings stimulating questions to the surface which makes his analysis much more intricate.

    Read More

  • Rough Draft Of The Story Of An Hour

    384 Words  | 1 Pages

    The Story of an Hour is a short story of Ms. Mallard, a woman with a heart condition who receives short term good news. Chopin uses contrast between independence, marriage, and gender to show how hidden emotions can effect a woman’s actions in the time period where women did not have much power or right to speak what came to their mind.

    Read More

  • Symbolism In Kate Chopin's A Pair Of An Hour

    1228 Words  | 3 Pages

    Though Kate Chopin recounts to Mrs. Mallard's story, she does not do so in first person. Chopin reveals the short story through a narrator's voice. The narrator is not simply an observer, however. Louise Mallard, in ‘'The Story of an Hour’', is an average lady and protagonist of the 1890s who enjoys little in her quest for individual flexibility. When she learns of her significant other Brently's passing in a railroad disaster, in any case, she rapidly starts to understand the new potential for her own self assertions.With him gone, Louise senses feelings that change her, and with her quiet repetitive chant of the word 'free,' the reader soon learns just what that thing is. She finds herself feeling independent, but feeling guilty for having such reverence for herself, after her husbands passing. She then exposes the idea of feeling guilty. She is

    Read More

  • Symbolism in “The Story of an Hour”

    662 Words  | 2 Pages

    The symbols and imagery used by Kate Chopin's in “The Story of an Hour” give the reader a sense of Mrs. Mallard’s new life appearing before her through her view of an “open window” (para. 4). Louise Mallard experiences what most individuals long for throughout their lives; freedom and happiness. By spending an hour in a “comfortable, roomy armchair” (para.4) in front of an open window, she undergoes a transformation that makes her understand the importance of her freedom. The author's use of Spring time imagery also creates a sense of renewal that captures the author's idea that Mrs. Mallard was set free after the news of her husband's death.

    Read More

  • Louise Mallard’s Demise in “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin

    581 Words  | 2 Pages

    Kate Chopin’s short story, “The Story of an Hour”, is about a woman, named Louise Mallard, in the late 1800s who is told that her husband, Brently, has died in a railroad accident. Initially, Louise is surprised, distressed, and drowned in sorrow. After mourning the loss, the woman realizes that she is finally free and independent, and that the only person she has to live for is herself. She becomes overwhelmed with joy about her new discovery of freedom, and dreams of all of the wonderful events in life that lie ahead of her. Louise’s sister finally convinces her to leave her room and come back into reality. While Louise is walking down her steps, her husband surprisingly enters through the door because he was actually not killed in the accident. At the same moment, Louise collapses and dies, supposedly from “heart disease-of joy that kills” (Chopin 706).

    Read More

  • The Story of An Hour Theme

    387 Words  | 1 Pages

    Kate Chopin wrote a short piece called “The Story of an Hour” about a woman’s dynamic emotional shift who believes she has just learned her husband has died. The theme of Chopin’s piece is essentially a longing for more freedom for women.

    Read More

  • Loss And Death In Kate Chopin's The Story Of An Hour

    1173 Words  | 3 Pages

    The story begins on a very sad note especially in the eyes of a reader. Mrs. Mallard is said to have a “heart

    Read More

  • Death After Freedom in Kate Chopin's The Story of an Hour

    684 Words  | 2 Pages

    Written by Kate Chopin, the short story “The Story of an Hour” follows Louise Mallard, a woman from the nineteenth century who has just received the news that her husband, Brently Mallard, has passed away in a horrific train accident. Immediately Mrs. Mallard is overcome with grief and sorrow, but her mood quickly shifts when she realizes the independence and free-will she will now have. At the climax of her elation for the future, her husband walks through the door. Mrs. Mallard, shocked and speechless, dies of a heart attack. In the short story, "The Story of an Hour," author Kate Chopin utilizes symbolism, diction, and irony to emphasize the effects of Mrs. Mallard's newfound sense of freedom, and how that ultimately results in her death.

    Read More

  • Symbolism in The Story of an Hour

    369 Words  | 1 Pages

    Several symbols in Kate Chopin's "Story of an Hour" create a feeling of comfort, wellness, and wonderfulness within the reader's mind. The first symbol I will speak of is the "comfortable chair" which she sinks into after the news of her husbands' death. Then, I will speak of the open window, which she sits in front of through which she sees many symbols of things that are good. Finally, I will speak of the description of Mrs. Mallard herself and her comfortable situation, which will tie together all the symbols that create the feelings of comfort and wellness in the reader.

    Read More

  • Louise Mallard in The Story Of An Hour

    1613 Words  | 4 Pages

    Written in 1894, “The Story of an Hour” is a story of a woman who, through the erroneously reported death of her husband, experienced true freedom. Both tragic and ironic, the story deals with the boundaries imposed on women by society in the nineteenth century. The author Kate Chopin, like the character in her story, had first-hand experience with the male-dominated society of that time and had experienced the death of her husband at a young age (Internet). The similarity between Kate Chopin and her heroine can only leave us to wonder how much of this story is fiction and how much is personal experience.

    Read More

  • The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin

    1248 Words  | 3 Pages

    Kate Chopin provides her reader with an enormous amount of information in just a few short pages through her short story, “The Story of an Hour.” The protagonist, Louise Mallard, realizes the many faults in romantic relationships and marriages in her epiphany. “Great care [is] taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband’s death” (Chopin 168). Little do Josephine and Richards know, the news will have a profoundly positive effect on Louise, rather than a negative one. “When she abandoned herself,” Mrs. Mallard opened her mind to a new way of life.

    Read More

  • Literary Analysis on Kate Chopin’s The Story of an Hour

    642 Words  | 2 Pages

    Kate Chopin’s “The Story of An Hour” focuses on a woman named Louise Mallard and her reaction to finding out about her husband’s death. The descriptions that the author uses in the story have significance in the plot because they foreshadow the ending.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Identity In The Story Of An Hour

    1157 Words  | 3 Pages

    Kate Chopin’s short story "The Story of an Hour," utilizes superb symbolism and elucidating points of interest with a specific end goal to differentiation Mrs. Mallard 's everyday and dreary life. Chopin utilizes symbolism and expressive subtle elements to differentiate the rich conceivable outcomes for which Mrs. Mallard longs with the dull reality of her regular life. The main theme of this story is “the quest for identity” because Louise’s sudden self-discovery shows that she had been seeking her own identity in a male-dominated world at the time. Kate Chopin wrote this in the 19th century when males were “dominate” and females were “passive.” Mr. Brently’s "death" was what initiated her “quest for Identity” without him “dying” she would have never thought about how

    Read More

  • “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin

    908 Words  | 2 Pages

    Kate Chopin’s The Story of an Hour is a brilliant short story of irony and emotion. The story demonstrates conflicts that take us through the character’s emotions as she finds out about the death of her husband. Without the well written series of conflicts and events this story, the reader would not understand the depth of Mrs. Mallard’s inner conflict and the resolution at the end of the story. The conflict allows us to follow the emotions and unfold the irony of the situation in “The Story of an Hour.”

    Read More

  • Story Of An Hour Analysis

    404 Words  | 1 Pages

    Kate Chopin's story, "The Story of an Hour", focuses on an 1890's young woman, Louise Mallard. She experienced a profound emotional change after she hears her husband's "death" and her life ends with her tragic discovery that he is actually alive. In this story, the author uses various techniques-settings, symbolism and irony- to demonstrate and develop the theme: Freedom is more important than love. Chopin uses settings to convey particular moods, character qualities and features of theme. Firstly, the author uses time setting to reveal Louise' inner desire and her restrictions.

    Read More

More about Symbols In The Story Of An Hour

Open Document