Story Of The Hour Literary Analysis Essay

Brittany Slater
Professor Normansell
Lit 107
22 September 2012
The Story of the Hour: Louise Mallard
In Kate Chopin’s, The Story of the Hour, “joy that kills”(pg. 525) is the last line of the story. This describes Mrs. Mallard’s gift of joy that was taken from her as quickly as it was given. Mrs. Mallard dies of a broken heart, which is ironic because it was not a heart made of love for her husband but, a heart full of joyful independence. Mrs. Mallard’s emotions and private thoughts are just as complex and confusing as the last words in the story “joy that kills”(pg. 525). It all starts with the news of her husband’s death. From there Mrs. Mallard experiences the feelings of sorrow, confusion, and the ability to be free.
First, Mrs. Mallard experiences sorrow. When her sister, Josephine, reveals that
Mr. Mallard had died; Mrs. Mallard begins to weep immediately in her sister’s arms.
Chopin describes this scene as “the storm of grief” (pg. 523). The storm refers to the intense and immediate weeping response to the news. After Mrs. Mallard decides to sit in her room alone, Chopin states, “when a sob came up to her throat” (pg.524). This is describing Mrs. Mallard feeling numb but the unconscious feeling of sadness is
still evident. It’s not until later when some of these tears start to sound more like tears of joy, instead of tears of sadness. Chopin goes onto say “she knew she would weep again when she saw the kind, tender hands folded in death”(pg. 524) This is the part of Mrs. Mallard that tells the reader that she loved her husband but, her independence is now on her mind. The emotion of independence was out weighing the mourning of Mr. Mallard’s death.
Next, Mrs. Mallard starts to feel confused. As she gazes out her window she sees the tops of the trees, the new spring life, and breathes the delicious rain in the air. In this moment, she starts to contemplate her independence and new free life. At first, Mrs. Mallard embraces these thoughts as forbidden pleasures trying to take over her body and mind, like something trying to possessing her. “She was striving to beat it back with her will”(pg. 524), tells the reader that she was battling the thought of freedom. Chopin describes her eyes full of terror, which reveals Mrs. Mallard’s feelings of remorse for the thought of independence had crossed her mind. The longer this forbidden thought lingered the longer she began to except and eventually thirst for it. When she finally accepts this thought of freedom, she whispers, “Free,” under her breath and feels her pulse race and warmth throughout her body. “She opened and spread her arms out to welcome them in”(pg. 524), embracing the feeling of freedom and her new life ahead of her.
Finally, the ability to be free and independent consumes her with joy.
Freedom had won the battle in her mind. She goes on to say that she loved her husband, showing that there was no hard feeling between them but, the feeling of living for herself triumphed. Mrs. Mallard realizes her husband was gone and she was able to start her new life, not having anyone weigh her down. Chopin describes the scene of her and Josephine walking down the stairs after she has let her into the room as Mrs. Mallard “carrying herself unwittingly like a goddess of victory”(pg.525). This sounds like she had made the decision to start her new life and felt the joy that it brought to her; until her husband, who was supposed to be dead, came walking through the
door.
It has become apparent that she embraced her new life with such a big welcome that all her new dreams of life had come crashing down the moment she saw him. In the end of the story Chopin writes, Mrs. Mallard died of a broken heart. The reader can understand that the loss of joy and her lust for a free life was flushed away upon seeing her husband. This incident caused her heart to break. It really was the joy that killed her.