The Story of An Hour Lit. Resp.

The Story of An Hour by the author, Kate Chopin, was very interesting and had unexpected twists and turns throughout the story. Chopin used irony to get the plot of the story across and to describe the setting and characters. The first thing the audience learned about the main character, Mrs. Mallard, was that she has heart trouble. This implies to the audience that she’s weak and might not be able to handle the news of her husband’s death. Her sister, Josephine, cannot exactly tell her what has happened to her husband and gives her little hints. However, Richards didn’t have any problems breaking the news to her. This action shows you Richards’ character and how he feels about Mrs. Mallard. He didn’t consider her feelings or how she would’ve reacted to the news. Mrs. Mallard “wept” in her sister’s arms, showing the audience how she reacted and how emotional she is. This is another characteristic given about Mrs. Mallard.

Chopin used an abundance imagery to describe the setting. You can also say her imagery is ironic as well. She describes the day of the incident. “…aquiver with the new spring life. The delicious breath of rain was in the air…There were patches of blue sky showing here and there through the clouds…” This whole quote symbolizes the start of a new life. Chopin used the season spring to symbolize growth and a fresh start. I also think the patches in the clouds represented new doors opening in her life. Chopin describes Mrs. Mallard sitting in her room in a “comfortable, roomy armchair” facing the window. So what does this say about how she’s feeling? I think this is meant to show the audience her longing for her husband.

The start of suspense is in paragraph 9, where it says “But she felt it, creeping out of the sky, reaching toward her through the sounds, the scents, the color that filled the air.” Now the audience is wondering what that something was coming after her. Then, she repeats “free, free, free”. I think that freedom is the “something” coming to her. Now since her husband has passed, she feels freedom. In the next couple paragraphs, its explaining the joy she’s feeling. It is even described as “monstrous joy”. Mrs. Mallard was living for her husband and not for herself. Her husband was taking over her life and now he had no power over her since he was dead. The sentence “And yet she had loved him--sometimes.” implies that she had love for him but didn’t care for him much when he took away her freedom away. And again, she says “Free! Body and soul free!” This shows how excited she is to finally be free.

The turning point of the story is when her husband walks through the door. It turns out that her husband really wasn’t killed in the railroad incident. Irony takes place when Mrs. Mallard dies when she sees her husband. The doctors said that she died “of heart disease--of the joy that kills.” The doctors may have said this for the interest of her husband. They may think she died because she was happy to see that her husband is still alive. The heart problem was the first thing we learned about Mrs. Mallard and now it’s the reason for her death. The end of this story had a very ironic twist.