Story Of An Hour Literary Analysis

“The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin is a story about Mrs. Mallard who has been told about the news her husband’s death. Surprisingly, instead of being weak or mournful about the news, she decides to lock herself alone in a room and responds to the news as a sign of her independent life. As a result, Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” Mrs. Mallard’s secret excitement about the news of her husband’s death suggests that under the marriage institution, women are forced to be obedient and can gain their absolute freedom only through death. First of all, at the beginning of the story, the absence of Mrs. Mallard’s first name suggests the loss of her subjectivity since Mrs. Mallard self-defined identity is not fully shown. Consequently, it can
These reasons are implied by the protagonist’s reference whose has been called as Mrs. Mallard almost the whole story. What is more, Mrs. Mallard’s first name is revealed only after she can accept her genuine feelings that she is excited and released because the death of her husband means she is free from her husband and the marriage. Similarly, the story also suggests that marriage has prevented Mrs. Mallard from being her true-self. To illustrate, the phrase “lines bespoke repression” from page no. 1, paragraph, 8th seems to imply that she is probably forced to follow others' aspect as a proper wife which causes her to be stressful. This phrase talks the wrinkles on her face, though, she is described as a young womon, may be used to imply that those lines are occured by stressfulness of a prolonged repression, not ages. Correspondingly, Mrs. Mallard’s confusion between sadness and joy about the news of her husband’s death indicates that under the marriage institution, being delightful over the loss of a husband is forbidden. As a result, this characteristic greatly influences Mrs. Mallard’s perspective. She realizes that her feeling is against the social norms because when wives lose their husbands,