Literature Analysis of the Story of an Hour
The book The Story of An Hour primarily discusses how women feel about oppression and freedom in society. It is through this book that the audience sees how the author was vibrant in the delivery of information to detail through the use of literary devices, convention of form, and the use of figurative language. The setting and plot play a significant role in describing the thoughts and emotions of Louise. She is both saddened and unexpectedly happy about the death of her husband (Philpott & Carey 10). The author voices out her views to the society about the oppression of women and the freedom they yearn for, which was not an issue people talked about freely at the time. This analysis shows how the author used different conventions of forms, critical devices, and literary devices to pass across messages and themes at hand.
Feminism is well-portrayed in the book where the females in the society feel deeply oppressed by men in the community even though Brently was a ‘caring and loving husband.’ After the death of her mother and husband, Kate channeled her depression into writing stories, which was recommended to be therapeutic. Writing is one’s way of letting someone’s thoughts known, and Kate narrated the story using irony through Louise to show how deeply the women felt in marriages (Tahameed & El Sadig 54). Kate gave a taste of how freedom tasted with men out of the question, which was short-lived as Louise collapsed with a reported disease-of the joy that kills. Women feel oppressed by marriages as Louise felt that “There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature.”
Kate has been deemed as the pioneer of feminism in literature, where she pointed out the various practices of society. Kate claims of how women were oppressed by men both mentally and physically, and it was not right to go against the norms of society. The story shares the knowledge of the community on what is expected of women when the husband passes away. The lady is expected to grieve even during the burial ceremony, and the audience gets to see different aspects of marriages where there are conflict and love. The battles never cease to exist and are caused by either the lady or the man. The unions keep on moving even though the couple may face different challenges along the way (de Deus Rocha & Vanessa 62). There are six children in question, and it is evident to see that it is the man who has to go out and earn income for the sustainability of the family as the woman stays at home to take care of the children. The marriage is full of turbulence as Louise claims, “And yet she had loved him–sometimes. Often she had not.” This claim shows that the woman felt like she was locked in a cage in that even though she loved her husband, she often hated him more.
The author’s life shows a certain level of relatability to what she mainly focuses on “the story of an hour.” Through the author’s experience, it is evident to note that the author lived in a generation of widowed women, her grandmother, and great grandmother, where she got passionate about advocating for women’s rights. After her husband’s death, Kate had sexual relationships with other men freely, which showed how the thought of freedom is too good to be a real scenario that a lady should desire to achieve (Hu & Aihua 6). Louise already wished for long life despite thinking previously of how long her life would have been in a marriage, and after learning of her husband’s death, she was ready to accept it as the key to her freedom. Everything was finally getting better inside her mind and soul though she seemed to be scarred from the outside. Louise sank into an armchair and eased physical exhaustion that haunted her body up to her soul. This tiredness showed how she was unhappy and exhausted of the roles expected of her as a wife. She now has the power in her hands to do as she pleases without a master in command. Louise breathes new life into her soul through the delicious breath of rain and the top of trees that were all aquiver with new spring life. Even though Louise felt free, reality still kept hitting her on what was to come next after the freedom was granted.
In the book, Josephine, who understood her sister’s health condition, passed information about her husband’s death very carefully. The audience sees that Louise was an intelligent woman, and Josephine was very caring. Louise clearly understands the roles she has to play as a wife and is smart enough to know that she would cry during her husband’s funeral. When the news of her husband’s death is passed, she bursts out crying, which is expected of her, but her internal thought and feelings think otherwise. Josephine, on the other hand, cares so much about her sister Louise and knows the right approach to break the news of her husband’s death to her without causing harm to her health condition. She is worried about her sister harming herself after knowing of her husbands’ demise and keeps checking on her not to hurt herself. Louise cares for her husband too, but it is through the pain of grief of seeing him lying there gray and dead that will make her sad (Proust & Marcel 62). The site of her husband shocks her to the reality that he is still alive, and she is genuinely not ready to accept that reality after already adjusting to her newly found freedom.
Conventions of literature give meaning to every aspect of a story through the plot, setting, theme, conflict, and the characters (Karami & Negin 430). The joy that kills is used ironically to mean that Louise died out of happiness by realizing that her husband was not dead. In the story, it is evident that Louise died out of shock after realizing how short-lived her dream of freedom was. By stating Louise’s heart condition of reacting to shock, the author foreshadows a tragedy that is likely to occur of the same. Louise later dies from heart disease when she sees that her husband is safe and sound. Over the years, marriages are known to favor men who are deemed the superior head of the family, thus subordinating women as assistants. From the book “the story of an hour,” it is evident to see how much Louise yearns for the freedom that is to come after her husband’s supposed death.
Louise yearns for freedom even though she cannot speak so loudly about it. Her husband, who is loving and caring, is the master of the marriage, and there is a silent conflict in the union where the lady silently celebrated her husband’s death. Louise feels a feverish triumph in her eyes as she slowly overcomes the struggle she had in the marriage. The setting of the story plays a vital role in passing information where the author uses the landscape and scenery to explain the feelings that Louise had and how freedom felt (Kacha & Sabrina 34). Louise stares at the patches of the blue sky, appearing through the clouds as the author explains how the thoughts in her mind were intelligent and kept creeping uncontrollably into her.
The plot in the book reflects on the main character, Mrs. Mallard, who suffers from a heart condition and is in the company of her sister, who was to break the news to her of Brently’s death. Richard was the bearer of the report and had made sure that it was her husband’s name he had seen on the list of those whose lives were claimed by the railroad accident. The news hit Louise hard, and she wails with “wild abandonment” as she headed to her room and sat on an armchair, still shocked. One would expect her to be hysterical, but instead, she starts breathing in life as she celebrates freedom silently in her heart, and the story suddenly takes a shift (Dewi & Ni Nyoman 153). Mrs. mallard, at this moment, “saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her. And she opened and spread her arms out to them in welcome” and felt that no will should be bent in another person’s favor. The story gives room for Josephine to appear and check up on Louise, and when they go down the stairs, they meet Brently, who was already ‘dead.’ The disbelief shocks Louise, who collapses and dies on the spot of a heart attack.
Figurative language is prominent in this story when the author uses metaphors to give broader meanings to the feeling of Mrs. Mallard (Kusuma & Panji 33). The author says Louisa was drinking from an elixir of life, which means during that period, she was tasting the eternal life that was going to be a part of her every day after her husband’s demise. Her sister, on the other hand, was thinking about how her sister may be feeling pretty bad after her husband’s death, whereas it was the complete opposite. Louisa pitied her sister, who never had the opportunity to experience such a life-changing event, and she felt like the goddess of victory.
Conclusively, the theme of freedom is depicted in the book and the issues arising addressed figuratively. Louise ends up dying of her heart condition, which shows that even though she has the freedom of thought, it is not right to expect to reap benefits from one’s supposed demise. The author talks of liberty as a feeling yearned for by women in the society but not earned. Is it right to think positively of an occurrence such as death, even if it is to the expense of a loved one?
Work Cited
de Deus Rocha, Vanessa. “A Comparative Study Between The Female Characters In The Storm And The Story Of An Hour By Kate Chopin.” Grau Zero 6.1 (2018): 59-73.
DEWI, Ni Nyoman Claudia Agustina. “The Analysis of Psychological Aspect in Chopin’s “The story of An Hour.” ENGLISH PROSE ANALYSIS: 153.
Hu, Aihua. “The Story of an Hour: Mrs. Mallard’s Ethically Tragic Song.” Q: A Quarterly Journal of Short Articles, Notes, and Reviews (2020): 1-7.
Karami, Negin, and Esmaeil Zohdi. “KATE CHOPIN’S “THE STORY OF AN HOUR”: A FEMINIST INTERPRETATION.” Research Journal of English Language and Literature (RJELAL): 430-435.
Kusuma, Panji Ari. Liberal Feminism Values in Kate Chopin’s Story of an Hour. Diss. DIAN NUSWANTORO UNIVERSITY, 2015.
Philpott, Carey. The story of an hour: a sociocultural understanding of student-teacher narratives of experience. Diss. Lancaster University, 2015.
Proust, Marcel. “Redefining Local Color through Regionalism: An analysis of Kate Chopin’s Regional Writing.” Place in Literature (2018): 62.
TAHAMEED, El SADIG HAMDI BUSHRA. MARRIED LIFE AS PORTRAYED IN KATE CHOPIN’S “THE STORY OF AN HOUR” AND SUSAN GLASPELL’S “TRIFLES” PLAY. Diss. Sudan University of Science and Technology, 2015.