This is a critical essay that evaluates the different literary elements in Kate Chopin’s short story, Story of an hour. The study mainly focuses on the author’s usage of imagery and symbolism. The essay concludes with the viewpoint that the use of symbolism and imagery with a natural background enhances the intensity and aptness of the scenes and core story.
Kate Chopin has often been regarded as a feminist writer who wrote many stories centered on female characters. Her story, Story of an hour is apt to be included in such a category that it moves through the viewpoint of the main character, Louise Mallard. Many critics have identified Louise as a character who is ‘afflicted with heart trouble’ (Kate Chopin: A Re Awakening: The Story of an Hour). It is this affliction that makes readers viewing Louise with a different perception.
Reading through the story, one can cite many symbols smacked with Louise. The story opens with Josephine’s difficulty in confirming Louise of her husband’s death. As she was well aware of the affliction of Louise, Josephine took great care to reveal this tragedy as gently as possible. Though the reaction of Louise to the news of her husband’s death is natural in others’ view, Chopin lets us travel through the layers of Louise’s inner conflict. It is this perturbed state of Louise that makes some comment that Louise is the symbol of female nonconformity.
Kate Chopin uses various literary devices, such as symbolism, irony, imagery, and dialog in her stories. Regarding the elements of fiction, the popular American writer Allen Poe has commented thus, “Plot, character development, point of view, imagery, symbolism, irony—they’re all working to bring out the shock of this character’s revelation” (Poe and the Art of “The Story of an Hour”, 2) This is very apt with Chopin’s Story of an hour that it has been filled with lot of imagery and symbolism. Chopin’s use of symbolism, with nature imagery enables readers to explore the new realms of literature by attempting to teach emotional lessons.
To focus on the social, emotional and sexual suppression of women in patriarchal society, Chopin often resorts to an entirely different way that makes her female characters select their own way. Foreshadowing is one of the quite common literary devices which writers adopt in predicting the goodness and evilness of the future. After a detailed analysis of Kate Chopin’s short story “The Story of an Hour”, one can see an effective use of symbols to foreshadow the future. Reading through the works of Chopin, it is visible that she often uses different symbols to portray the future life of a woman who lost her husband in an accident. The story begins with the scene where Mrs. Mallard, the heroine, is looking through the window. Author gives the figure of a lady who stares through her window after receiving the news of her husband’s death. Her stature reveals the beginning of her new life as a widow. Through the picture of a woman, the reader can get a chance to understand the social status of women in the 1890s when the women led a submissive life to their husbands. The whole story describes the events in the life of a woman whose husband was killed in an accident. Kate Chopin uses the death of Mr. Mallard as a symbol of freedom and the death of Mrs. Mallard is a symbol of the end of her liberty. Mrs. Mallard’s movements were highly symbolic. Her watching through the window is not only a look but also a serious observation about her new chances and opportunities in a male dominating society. If a reader analyzes the words of Natalia Dagenhart he/she can easily understand the successive use of symbolism in Chopin’s short story “The Story of an Hour”. Natalia Dagenhart remarks; “Here we see two things, which make us to feel that way “a comfortable, roomy armchair” as a symbol of security and comfort in spite of her husband’s death, and “the open window”, which here symbolizes connection to the world, to life” (Dagenhart, para.3).
Through the window Mrs. Mallard sees the tops of trees that were trembling with the new spring life, natural reactions of a typical 18th century woman revealed through the expressions. Kate Chopin uses the figure of blue sky as an effective symbol of freedom and a carefree life in future. Author portrays the transformation of Mrs. Mallard’s mind with the help of various scenes such as flowered trees, the blue sky and the sweet songs of birds. Chopin uses various images to reveal the tragedy of the heroine, Mrs. Mallard. The open window, flowered trees and the doctor’s reaction are different images which reveal symbolism. Character of Mrs. Mallard itself is an image of the 18th and 19th century women who led a submissive life in a male dominating society. Other characters of the story, like Mrs. Mallard’s sister Josephine and her husband’s friend Richards are the representatives of 18th century society. Chopin encourages the reader to believe the fact that Mrs. Mallard is not immoral. In other words, a reader can see the author succeeded to portray the submissive life of the heroine. The phrase”countless sparrows” reveals the thirst of the protagonist to be free. Images of open and closed windows are powerful images which reveal the social status of women. To conclude, one can identify the use of a lot of imagery and symbolisms in the short story which makes the story really attractive to the readers.
Works Cited
Dagenhart, Natalia. Literary Analysis: The Story of an Hour, by Kate Chopin. Helium. 2009. Web.
Kate Chopin: A Re Awakening: The Story of an Hour. Electronic Library. 2009. Web.
Poe and the Art of “The Story of an Hour”: The Story of an Hour. 2009. Web.