Mrs Mallard Diction

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Throughout “Story of an Hour” readers are engaged by means of the narrator’s use of storytelling and can better understand what Mrs. Mallard is experiencing. The narration is in third person omniscient perspective which constructs feelings of sympathy towards Mrs. Mallard when telling the story. In her short story, author Kate Chopin uses particular diction to describe the emotions and complex characteristics of Mrs. Louise Mallard which gives a clear and reliable perspective of the character. After learning about the death of her husband, Mrs. Mallard initially started to weep, she was genuinely in mourning. But not long after, she then imagines her new found freedom. Chopin narrates her reaction: “ But now there was a dull stare in her eyes, whose gaze was fixed away off yonder on one of those patches of blue sky. It was not a glance of reflection, but rather indicated a suspension of intelligent thought”(115) Mrs. Mallard starts to recognize her opportunity for a fresh start, to become her own person and live without the restraint of her husband. The narrator shows through diction how she is different from other women because of her response towards …show more content…

Mallard feels alleviated as she now envisions her independence and this is shown when Chopin states: “There would be no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself. And yet she had loved him--sometimes. Often she had not. What did it matter!”(116). This quotation expresses how her husband was not a bad person, she just didn’t love him all the time. Since divorce back in the 1800s was not an option, his death was the only escape from her marriage. The readers sympathize with Mrs. Mallard because of how Chopin describes her situation in pity. Readers feel sorry for Mrs. Mallard because she has been trapped all her life and when she finally gets a taste of freedom, she inevitably perishes to her death. If Mrs. Mallard were to narrate this story, readers might have thought

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