Kate Chopin's 'Story Of An Hour'

If your significant other died today, how would you react? Would you be filled with extreme devastation or would you be able to carry on with the rest of your life? American author Kate Chopin was best known for writing hundreds of short stories during the 1890s. In her short fiction story, “The Story of an Hour,” Chopin writes about a woman with heart trouble, who receives dreadful news from her peers that her husband was killed in a train accident. She responds in a rather peculiar way which ultimately ends in her own death. Chopin’s “Story of the Hour” is ultimately about the discovery of finding yourself once again after the loss of a loved one based on the irony, characters and symbols used throughout the short story. The Story of the Hour begins in a very vivid setting where protagonist, Mrs. Mallard who has heart complications is told that her husband, Brently Mallard, has died in a train accident while in the comfort of her home. Although she is stricken with sudden anguish and desertion, she quickly becomes filled with an exhilarating but terrifying feeling of independence. She whispers under her breathe, “free, free, free!” (par. 11) in which throughout the remaining of

Mallard comes to terms with her sorrow, She begins to speak figuratively. Her change in speech gives symbolism of freedom. Mrs. Mallard begins to imagine herself at her husband’s untimely funeral all while claiming a prosperous future. She states, “beyond the bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely” (par. 13).Which is her way of welcoming her future happiness and freedom. She also talked about how she “had loved him---sometimes” (par. 15) but now that she no longer has a partner she doesn’t have to worry about showing love for anyone but herself. Mrs. Mallard goes on to continue this same pattern of the things she doesn’t have to do anymore now that her husband is dead and how her independence is good for her “well-being” (par.