Kate Chopin- the Story of an Hour

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The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin tells of a young woman, Louise Mallard, who is told of her husband’s death by her sister, Josephine. Upon hearing this news, Louise breaks down in tears and escapes to her bedroom to be alone. Her true emotions arise when she is by herself, staring out of an open window into her yard, letting out cries of joy. Louise repeats over and over “free, free, free” and continues with “Free! Body and soul free” (169-170). Louise’s celebration of her husband’s death ends when she leaves her bedroom to be with her sister again. Suddenly they hear someone turning a key in the front door and they turn to see Brently Mallard, Louise’s husband. Louise was so shocked of her husband’s arrival that she, having prior heart trouble, has a heart attack brought on by “joy that kills”, or so the doctors said (170). Chopin uses quite a bit of figurative language in her story; two of the best examples are Louise’s heart trouble and the open window in her bedroom. Both examples give insight to something untold in the story. Upon learning about Mrs. Mallard’s heart disease, a sense of worry and nervousness for her future arise. The open window in her bedroom seems like an irrelevant and odd thing to add into the story, but it portrays a sense of irony and even cheerfulness in such an unfortunate writing. We are left to see that the window is a representation of Louise’s life to come after the death of Mr. Mallard. Louise’s heart trouble is both a physical and symbolic disorder that represents her uncertainty within her marriage and her unhappiness with the lack of freedom in it. Her heart condition is one of the first things we learn about in the story. “Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble, great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband’s death” (168). That is why Josephine became so worried

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