Story of an Hour -An Analysis. Please give your comments

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Please give your comments on the short story The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin

The story of an hour by Kate Chopin is about a woman who is afflicted by heart trouble,feels a subtle sense of freedom after a brief period of grief when she hears of her husband’s death. Kate Chopin has expressed the desire for freedom, which every human being longs for. Chopin's effective use of diction and symbolism makes the narration absorbing.

Mrs Mallard breaks down but does not fall into hopelessness when she hears the death of Mr. Mallard--“She does not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance.”

Chopin says Mrs Mallard has however has not moved into the state of disillusionment characterized by numbness of body and mind. She sobs bitterly at the loss-- "She weeps at once, with sudden, wild abandonment…” Her grief is akin to the loss one suffers at the death of a dearest person with whom one has spent some of life's most memorable moments.

As the grief of her husband’s passing away has eases, Mrs. Mallard experiences a gradual inflow of positive spirit and desire for life . She seems to sense something pleasant is waiting to happen in her life. “She could see in the open window……all aquiver with new spring life.” The use of word ‘aquiver’ is indicative of the excitement building in her. The phrases “delicious breath of air” and “sparrow s were twittering ” reinforce the sense of peace and relief she was experiencing then.

Chopin describes Mrs. Mallard’s face. “She was young, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain strength.” This tells us that though Mrs Mallard appears calm and youthful, she has had her share of hard days in her life; she probably might have suffered under a dominating husband, which we learn in the middle of the story, and now feels a sense of relief and looks forward to the life without her husband.

Mrs. Mallard sees the notion of freedom which has been longing for coming from above. “But she felt it, creeping out of the sky,…." And, later in line 35 it is given “She said it over and over under her breath: free, free, free!” This makes the reader feel that Mallard is probably thinking that the freedom which is to come to her is godsend and the exclamation mark is indicative of her excitement at the beginning of a new phase in her life. Chopin personifies the freedom as it is “creeping out of the sky” probably to tell us that freedom which had long been kept away from her life was sneaking out to see if it could embrace her.

Chopin says Mrs. Mallard did not enjoy her martial life. “….she had loved him (Mr. Mallard)-sometimes. Often she had not” justifies the idea why she is looking forward to a new lease of life after his passing away.

In the end, when Mrs. Mallard dies, the doctors says she dies of heart attack resulting out of the joy of seeing her husband alive, but, for the woman who had dreamed of life of absolute freedom, it would have been a terrible shock seeing her husband coming home alive after having been declared dead.

The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin describes how valuable freedom especially for one whose life is deprived of even basic freedom in name of marriage.