The story of an hour
Uploaded by Mystique2021 on Nov 28, 2001
At first glance Kate Choplin’s “The story of an hour” does not seem particularly interesting. A closer look must be taken in order to see the true meaning of the story. There is more symbolism in this four-page story than in most of the four hundred page books I have read throughout my life. It is probably impossible to find every sybolistic word in the story, but some things definitely stick out.
The first sentence of the story is “knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with heart trouble, great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband’s death.” The first thing we are told about the main character is that she has a bad heart. It seems that this is what people see when they look at Mrs. Mallard, someone weak and fragile. I personally got an image of an old lady, which I later learned she is not. Her heart condition shows that she has had a hard life, is wise beyond her years, or has an old soul.
In response to hearing the ‘bad’ news, “she wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment..” Her reaction shows that she is a passionate person, a lot more soulful than I would have thought. While other wives could not accept the fact that their husbands were dead, she took to it immediately and began the grieving process all at once.
As she sits alone mourning her now late husband, she sat in the armchair facing the window and had a feeling that “haunted her body and seemed to reach into her soul.” This seems like she is feeling the hold her husband had on her that she couldn’t seem to escape even after he’s gone. The haunting her body can be thought of as physical abuse. Since this story was written in a time where the man solely ran the household and women were docile and submissive, it isn’t unfathomable for a husband to hit his wife.
“The new spring life” could represent the new life that she could have now that she was a widow. The peddler crying symbolizes her old life and how she felt during the years of her marriage. “There were patches of blue sky showing here and there through the clouds… facing her window.” The patches though the clouds represent more of a silver lining. Though she did love her husband,...