Symbolic and Ironic References in The Story of an Hour

She sits on her armchair, looks out her window, and fantasizes about what her life will be like without her husband, Mr. Mallard. Shortly after, Josephine comes for her, thinking Louise will get ill about the news and they both walk down the stairs. To Mrs. Mallard’s dismay, the door flings open: Mr. Mallard was alive! Mrs. Mallard was in shock but mostly disappointed, for the future she dreamed of without her husband was ruined, and dies. According to the doctor she had died of the joy that kills.

A little after, Mrs. Mallard finally sees an opportunity of freedom from her husbands death. She is crying in her bedroom, but then she starts to think of the freedom that she now has in her hands. “When she abandoned herse... ... middle of paper ... ...dition, so the doctor thought that this weakness was the reason she died.What really killed her was being put back into the role that was forced and expected of her. When her husband walked in, all of her feminine freedom vanished. Women weren’t given the same rights as men.

Soon her sister along with a family friend discover that Mr. Mallard had been killed in an accident. With caution they gently confronted Mrs. Mallard and told her the heart breaking truth of her husband’s death. After crying her eyes out she locked herself in her room to be alone. Though she seemed terrified she also realizes that she has freedom she is truly saddened by his death, but she feels liberated and free for the first time. As Mrs. Mallard is having this epiphany her sister keeps trying to check up on her.

17 Mar 2014. Chopin, Kate.”The Story of an Hour.” Heritage of American Literature. Ed. James E. Miller. Vol.

The author describes her joy over her husband’s death as monstrous to give the reader the idea that she feels extreme joy over an event that would normally elicit the opposite reaction in a person. The descriptions in the story foreshadow the tragedy that ends the story. The author believed unexpected things happen often. In the case of this story, Louise Mallard believed her husband to be dead, having been told this by her sister, Josephine. However, when it is revealed that her husband had been alive the whole time, she is unhappy to see him and suffers a fatal heart attack.

After coming to terms with the news and actually being happy about having her freedom, her husband walks through the door, the shock causes her to drop dead. In Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” she uses a disturbing scenario to shed light on the way women were trapped in their lives during the turn of the century. In “The Story of an Hour” “The Story of an Hour” is a tragic tale of loss, the loss of a loved one and the loss of freedom which is a key point in this story. Kate Chopin weaves an intricate tale and uses a view point that most people do not when their husband is perceived dead. The thoughts of the freedom that our main character Mrs. Mallard feels as she learns the tragic news is definitely not the emotion that would be expected but for her it truly is release.

She begins to think about his death and then she finds all the opportunities that are ahead of her. She wants... ... middle of paper ... ...ally wasn’t, and seeing him literally killed her. The doctors said it was the “ joy that kills”, but the reality of the situation is that the fact that her freedom was ripped away without even getting to live it broke her heart to the point of a death. Spring was the hope of a new life and the happiness that she found after the “death” of her husband. The armchair was where she got to rest her exhausted soul and where she was comforted.

She made everyone think she was so depressed about her husband passing while going down stairs but deep inside she held a secret which was that she was actually glad for this tragedy. Then a turn of events occur where everyone including Mrs. Mallard see her husband standing at the front door, she was so shocked she had Rodriguez5 a heart attack. The doctors said she was so excited that she died of the “joy that kills.” A manifold of examples... ... middle of paper ... ... All these were examples of the Ironic and Symbolic references I identified in Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour.” Kate Chopin uses all this Symbolism and Irony to add more effect to infancies the things she wanted te reader and audience to know. Works Cited 123 helpme Editors. “Symbolism in ‘The Story of an Hour’.” 123 helpme.

When the storm of grief had spent itself she went away... ... middle of paper ... ...egaining her husband and all of the loss of freedom her marriage entails. The line establishes that Louise's heart condition is more of a metaphor for her emotional state than a medical reality.” (Koloski) It is ironic that she accepts the death of her husband and is joyous and free, and then he ends up being alive after she walks out of the room with a sense of power. The ending of The Story of an hour by Kate Chopin implies that maybe the only true resolution of conflict is in death. Works Cited Chopin, Kate. ""The Story of an Hour"" VCU.edu.

Louis Mallard had a heart disease that was taken very serious by her family members, when the news came out about her husband's death her family made sure to break the news to her very sincerely. Her family and friends had no clue on how to break the news to her. Once she was made aware of what had happened to her husband, Louis went up stairs to let what had occurred process through her mind. She was astounded when she heard that Mr. Mallard was in a fatal railroad accident, she could only think of what would come of her future without him. She began to think of all the positive things that followed Mr. Mallard's passing.