Analysis of Kate Chopin’s “the Story of an Hour”
Fred Isaacs
Dr. Catherine Packard
ENG 122 O
September 27, 2012
Analysis of Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour”
In “The Story of an Hour” the narration presents a view of a young wife who, upon receiving news of her husband’s death, experiences a shifting conflict of emotions. The author interprets the suspension of the character’s passive stoicism, briefly illuminating a future without restraints. It is revealed immediately in the narrative that the young woman has “a heart trouble” (Chopin 542). Her sister, Josephine, and her husband’s friend, Richard, took “great care” (Chopin 542) in telling her of his demise. The character did not react in a typical fashion “with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance,” (Chopin 542) but wept violently and then fled to the solitude of her room. The reader could possibly interpret this to mean that she lived in a state of perpetual hope of freedom. Upon the unexpected knowledge of this freedom, she very quickly began to process her responses in an atypical manner in order to come to an imminent revelation.
It is in her room that the author begins to open up the story from a factual account of events into a panoramic view of the character’s emotional state. First, by use of a window, there is painted for the reader, a vivid description of the outside world. The character begins to perceive the “open square before her house the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life” (Chopin 542). The reader should note that the author uses spring as a symbol to introduce a shift in the dynamic of the character’s awareness of her freedom to begin anew. She then notes the sky had “patches of blue sky showing here and there through the clouds” (Chopin 542). The sky represents the boundless nature of freedom and the human spirit. They are a precursor to which the new reality the character is being introduced.
Upon perceiving this outside world, beyond the window, the character “sits motionless, except when a
Dr. Catherine Packard
ENG 122 O
September 27, 2012
Analysis of Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour”
In “The Story of an Hour” the narration presents a view of a young wife who, upon receiving news of her husband’s death, experiences a shifting conflict of emotions. The author interprets the suspension of the character’s passive stoicism, briefly illuminating a future without restraints. It is revealed immediately in the narrative that the young woman has “a heart trouble” (Chopin 542). Her sister, Josephine, and her husband’s friend, Richard, took “great care” (Chopin 542) in telling her of his demise. The character did not react in a typical fashion “with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance,” (Chopin 542) but wept violently and then fled to the solitude of her room. The reader could possibly interpret this to mean that she lived in a state of perpetual hope of freedom. Upon the unexpected knowledge of this freedom, she very quickly began to process her responses in an atypical manner in order to come to an imminent revelation.
It is in her room that the author begins to open up the story from a factual account of events into a panoramic view of the character’s emotional state. First, by use of a window, there is painted for the reader, a vivid description of the outside world. The character begins to perceive the “open square before her house the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life” (Chopin 542). The reader should note that the author uses spring as a symbol to introduce a shift in the dynamic of the character’s awareness of her freedom to begin anew. She then notes the sky had “patches of blue sky showing here and there through the clouds” (Chopin 542). The sky represents the boundless nature of freedom and the human spirit. They are a precursor to which the new reality the character is being introduced.
Upon perceiving this outside world, beyond the window, the character “sits motionless, except when a
Cited: Chopin, Kate. “The Story of an Hour.” Discovering Literature. Eds. Hans P. Guth and Gabriele Rico. 3rd ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2003. 542-543. Print.