A Story Of An Hour

In this short story, “A Story of an Hour”, Kate Chopin uses irony and symbolism in order to describe Mrs. Mallard’s state of being for an hour in her life. We learn of Mrs. Mallard, a woman who cried out for freedom and independency from a marriage that she did not have the desire to no longer be in. In a marriage, one can lose their identity, especially in the times of Mrs. Mallard where women did not have a voice.

The setting of this story justifies why Mrs. Mallard’s feels the way that she does. One would assume that the thought of losing a husband or wife would have been tragic, however for Mrs. Mallard it was liberating. The story was set in the late 1800’s in which women’s reason for existence was to solely take care of their home, husband, and children. Kate Chopin was raised by her mother and grandmother since her father died when she was four years old. I thought that since she did not have a father in the home that her stories would reflect the opposite of what she felt in “The Story of an Hour”. She did not seek the security of a male figure; in her case she became a feminist writer that fought for women to be able to be their own person. This story simply demonstrates that women have what it takes in order to make it and have a right to be free. In this story, Chopin states, “there would be no powerful will bending her in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow creature.” (Chopin 654.)

The plot of this story begun when her friend Josephine had to break the bad news to her that her husband was killed in a train accident with precaution due to the heart condition she developed. Just like women, she was afraid to tell her this bad news, she thought. Chopin describes it as “being told in broken sentences. (Chopin 653).” However, we find out that she “quickly moved to grief through a sense of a newfound freedom”. (123helpme.com.) She was sad in the beginning but when alone she began to daydream of how her life would be the way she desired without her husband’s existence. She wanted to be able to live life to the fullest by being her own person. The fact that she had a heart disease hinted of some stress-related issues.

In building upon the setting of “Story of an Hour”, irony was portrayed because a woman would usually be devastated just at the thought of losing their husband. Mrs. Mallard was excited since during these times, divorce was not an option. The only way that the institution of marriage could be broken was by the death of a spouse. Her internal struggle and bondage of not being happy to someone that she had to face everyday began to cause problems in her physical body. Like some couples, she probably had to pretend to be happy around friends and family, but knew deep down inside that she cried out for freedom; the freedom to be herself again. The story does not hint that Mr. Mallard was a bad person. I believe that she was once in love with him, however somewhere down the road, the love was lost. She forgot who she was, and wanted to redefine her likes, dislikes, and wants.

When she heard of her husband’s death, she immediately wanted to be alone. She sought refuge in a familiar room in her house. The “open window” represented the new opportunities that would be available to her since she was alone and did not have to subject to the opinion of society. (Chopin 654). She now would have the freedom to express herself and really find out who she was. She had mixed emotions in regards to her husband’s death but was overall excited. She spoke of how she would have wept at her husband’s funeral, but her feeling of being independent again overshadowed her emotions at this time. “Free!