The author, Kate Chopin uses marriage to show how powerless women were compared to men during the late eighteen hundreds in her short story entitled, “ The Story Of An Hour “. At the beginning of the story the main character, Mrs. Louise Mallard has a heart condition. Due to her illness , her sister Josephine and her husband's friend Richards has the hard task to tell Louise that her husband Brently Mallard has died in a train wreck. During this first hour Mrs. Mallard experiences the sorrow of her husband's death and the loneliness she would feel, but also the conflicting and exciting feelings of being able to feel alive and the freedom she will have in the future being alone without her husband.
Today, Kate Chopin is considered in today's standard is a classic writer. She published about one hundred short stories in the 1890's.(Biography, par27). Kate Chopin wrote this short story on April 19, 1894. Vogue Magazine was the first to publish “ The Story of an Hour” on December 6, 1894 ( The Story of an Hour, par2) however, “ The Story of an Hour” was not the original title of this short story. The original title was “ The Dream of an Hour”. “ the Story of an Hour” was reprinted on January 5, 1895 by the ST. Louis Life.(The Story of an Hour, par2) This story was considered very controversial in those days, because it told the story of how the main female character's feelings of being set free from her restraining and suffocating marriage. These feelings were not tolerated or accepted by society in the 1890's. (The Story of an Hour, par7) Kate Chopin tells her story using narrative point of view. …show more content…
(Schmoops Editorial Team, par3) A narrative point of view is when the author tells the story instead of using the first person. When a story is being told using the first person, the author uses a character to tell the story. One example of the Narrator's point of view is the knowledge Louise did not really love her husband, because as the story stated, “ yet she had loved him – sometimes. Often she had not” (Chopin, par13). The author also uses metaphors, for example. “ The Storm of grief ” (Chopin, par3) to describe how much pain she must have been feeling. (The Story of an Hour, par8) Kate Chopin uses different types of literary tools. Such as, imagery, symbolism, irony and metaphors. (enotes, par1) The imagery is the lively thoughts Louise has while she is locked in her room grieving for her husband. Louise starts to dream about being free and independent. One line from the story states, “she was drinking in a very elixir of life through that open window”(Chopin, par16) which describes how she is starting to feel alive compared to the way she felt being married to her husband. Next, the symbolism which is the symbolic meaning, describing one thing to another is expressed in the Story when the author describes “the new spring life”(Chopin, par5) and the “patches of blue sky”(Chopin, par6). The irony in this short story lies with what the author tells us in the beginning of the story with the news of the death of Louise Mallard's husband. Louise experiences the beginning of a new life, unfortunately it only lasted the one hour and she dies at the upon seeing her husband walk through the door. (enotes, par6) Instead of her husband being dead, Louise is the one that dies and he lives a new life without her. At the beginning of the story, Louise was told by her sister Josephine and her husband's friend Richards about the death of her husband Brently, she start’s to cry and then goes to her room to grieve privately. There, she looks out the window and the author uses another metaphor (The Story of an Hour, par9) “ breath of rain” (Chopin, par5) to describe the breath of fresh air she was feeling, just like the rebirth at spring time and all the spring time noises such as sounds from the chirping of the birds in the outdoor. Louise sits still in her chair, thinking as she stares at the blue sky when she comes to a sudden conclusion. Her life has been changed forever.
Today, Kate Chopin is considered in today's standard is a classic writer. She published about one hundred short stories in the 1890's.(Biography, par27). Kate Chopin wrote this short story on April 19, 1894. Vogue Magazine was the first to publish “ The Story of an Hour” on December 6, 1894 ( The Story of an Hour, par2) however, “ The Story of an Hour” was not the original title of this short story. The original title was “ The Dream of an Hour”. “ the Story of an Hour” was reprinted on January 5, 1895 by the ST. Louis Life.(The Story of an Hour, par2) This story was considered very controversial in those days, because it told the story of how the main female character's feelings of being set free from her restraining and suffocating marriage. These feelings were not tolerated or accepted by society in the 1890's. (The Story of an Hour, par7) Kate Chopin tells her story using narrative point of view. …show more content…
(Schmoops Editorial Team, par3) A narrative point of view is when the author tells the story instead of using the first person. When a story is being told using the first person, the author uses a character to tell the story. One example of the Narrator's point of view is the knowledge Louise did not really love her husband, because as the story stated, “ yet she had loved him – sometimes. Often she had not” (Chopin, par13). The author also uses metaphors, for example. “ The Storm of grief ” (Chopin, par3) to describe how much pain she must have been feeling. (The Story of an Hour, par8) Kate Chopin uses different types of literary tools. Such as, imagery, symbolism, irony and metaphors. (enotes, par1) The imagery is the lively thoughts Louise has while she is locked in her room grieving for her husband. Louise starts to dream about being free and independent. One line from the story states, “she was drinking in a very elixir of life through that open window”(Chopin, par16) which describes how she is starting to feel alive compared to the way she felt being married to her husband. Next, the symbolism which is the symbolic meaning, describing one thing to another is expressed in the Story when the author describes “the new spring life”(Chopin, par5) and the “patches of blue sky”(Chopin, par6). The irony in this short story lies with what the author tells us in the beginning of the story with the news of the death of Louise Mallard's husband. Louise experiences the beginning of a new life, unfortunately it only lasted the one hour and she dies at the upon seeing her husband walk through the door. (enotes, par6) Instead of her husband being dead, Louise is the one that dies and he lives a new life without her. At the beginning of the story, Louise was told by her sister Josephine and her husband's friend Richards about the death of her husband Brently, she start’s to cry and then goes to her room to grieve privately. There, she looks out the window and the author uses another metaphor (The Story of an Hour, par9) “ breath of rain” (Chopin, par5) to describe the breath of fresh air she was feeling, just like the rebirth at spring time and all the spring time noises such as sounds from the chirping of the birds in the outdoor. Louise sits still in her chair, thinking as she stares at the blue sky when she comes to a sudden conclusion. Her life has been changed forever.