"The Story of an Hour" Analysis

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Kate Chopin has said to be ahead of her time through her writings (Rosenblum). She wrote most of her works towards the late 1800s. However, because her way of thing was more advanced in the way she believed very much in feministic values and the way she depicted the unnecessary repressive lifestyles of marriage, her works were not generally accepted until the end of the twentieth century. She summarizes the lifestyle of the roles of the wife during the nineteenth century in “The Story of an Hour” in progressive and radical themes that predicted the later views of the twentieth century. Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” has many different uses of symbolism, imagery, and ironic aspects that help introduce the female protagonist to her era (Skaggs) (“The Story of an Hour”). Throughout “The Story of an Hour”, Kate Chopin uses a great deal of symbolism. When the heroine, Louise Mallard, learns of her husband’s death, she goes into her room and looks out an open window. This symbolizes her looking out onto a clear path that lays ahead, a new life, and the fact that it is open shows that nothing is standing in her way (“Critical Analysis of ‘The Story of an Hour’”). Through the window Louise notes the nature “aquiver with the new spring life” (Chopin). The “new spring life” is referring to the rebirth of her own life that her husband’s supposed death has brought and her new found freedom from the suppressed marriage (“Critical Analysis of ‘The Story of an Hour’”). The fact that it is spring shows the reawakening of her soul and the winter is in the past and so is her marriage. Also, at the window, she notices the patches of clear blue sky that is shining through gray clouds. The sky represents her new life without the dependency of a man and the clouds are her marriage (Rosenblum). When Chopin describes Louise’s appearance, she also shows symbolism towards her fresh new
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