Setting in "Story of an Hour
Kelsey Wooten
ENG 2000
Setting in “The Story of an Hour”
The setting and the imagery of the setting is used to communicate "The Story of an Hour's" theme of freedom, independence, and a new life. The story begins in a place that we are aware is public. It is in that room that Josephine tells her sister about the accident that killed her husband. Mrs. Mallard reaction is as expected. In her bedroom, a more private setting we see her internal thoughts about her husband’s death. The closed room represents the dull, trapping marriage Mrs. Mallard was in. Once she opens the windows it’s like her mind is open to the opportunities that are possible. What she sees out the window symbolizes her desire to start living her new life. Sunshine, people living; she’s ready to start what she’s been missing. The front of her house is described as “open square”. Multiple motifs of spring giving give us the impression of freedom and new life. She smells the rain, sees the commerce and hears a song and the birds. Instead of grieving the loss of her husband, she was “drinking the very elixir of life through that open window.” Even here we have three different settings representing three different emotions. The house represents her old life, what’s outside the window is what this new life can bring and her looking out the window is her new longing for this life.
It is also important to remember that the time period the story is set in is incredibly crucial to the story as well. If this would have taken place in today’s society we would have been utterly confused on why she just didn’t get divorced. Women didn’t receive basic rights until the 1920’s; therefore it was impossible for a woman to support herself without a man. Even then, divorce was frowned upon and unpopular. Death, was the only way out. Her own death, was Mrs. Mallard’s way
ENG 2000
Setting in “The Story of an Hour”
The setting and the imagery of the setting is used to communicate "The Story of an Hour's" theme of freedom, independence, and a new life. The story begins in a place that we are aware is public. It is in that room that Josephine tells her sister about the accident that killed her husband. Mrs. Mallard reaction is as expected. In her bedroom, a more private setting we see her internal thoughts about her husband’s death. The closed room represents the dull, trapping marriage Mrs. Mallard was in. Once she opens the windows it’s like her mind is open to the opportunities that are possible. What she sees out the window symbolizes her desire to start living her new life. Sunshine, people living; she’s ready to start what she’s been missing. The front of her house is described as “open square”. Multiple motifs of spring giving give us the impression of freedom and new life. She smells the rain, sees the commerce and hears a song and the birds. Instead of grieving the loss of her husband, she was “drinking the very elixir of life through that open window.” Even here we have three different settings representing three different emotions. The house represents her old life, what’s outside the window is what this new life can bring and her looking out the window is her new longing for this life.
It is also important to remember that the time period the story is set in is incredibly crucial to the story as well. If this would have taken place in today’s society we would have been utterly confused on why she just didn’t get divorced. Women didn’t receive basic rights until the 1920’s; therefore it was impossible for a woman to support herself without a man. Even then, divorce was frowned upon and unpopular. Death, was the only way out. Her own death, was Mrs. Mallard’s way