Essay on the Story of an Hour

Submitted By MitchyBrav
Words: 629
Pages: 3

The moment of epiphany in Kate Chopin's The Story of an Hour should not to come as a surprise to any reader. The author gives hints in the form of colorful language, abnormal behavior, and the psychical description of the character. It will be shown that the reader is given many hints of what is to come. The first and most obvious indication that something is going to happen is the use of colorful language. The author describes an armchair in the room where Mrs. Mallard sits as being “a comfortable, roomy armchair” (1). The words “comfortable” and “roomy” are both soft sounding words that are out of place in the story. At a time when she should be grieving the death of her husband, this kind of language is unusual. Another example of colorful language occurs when Mrs. Mallard is staring out the window at the trees that were “all aquiver with the new spring life”(1). This suggests that she is feeling a new life of her own now that her husband is gone. As she sits in the chair she focuses her gaze on patches of blue sky in the distance. This is also a powerful suggestion that she feels the clouds are lifting from her life. When Mrs. Mallard receives the news of her husbands death, she does not hear the story “as many women have heard the same”(1). Instead she weeps at once, giving no thought to the death of her husband. Most women would not react that quickly, but would rather take time to analyze the news first. She also throws herself out of her chair in a frenzy. She strives to hold back her excitement but it comes bursting forth despite her best efforts. The author also tells us that she was “pressed down by a physical exhaustion that haunted her body”(1) and that it seemed to reach into her soul. It seems that Mrs. Mallard is more concerned with herself rather than the death of her husband, which is evident in many places in the story. Another example of her unusual behaviour is when she begins to “sob like a child.”(1) The authors comparison to a child shows Mrs. Mallards innocence and vulnerability. The description of Mrs. Mallard tells us that “she was young, with a fair, calm face, whose lines bespoke repression and even a certain strength.” The use of the word repression in describing her appearance is an indicator that she felt repressed by her husband. She sat and stared with a dull…