Structure and Style

In “The Story of an Hour,” Chopin employs specific structural and stylistic techniques to heighten the drama of the hour. The structure Chopin has chosen for “The Story of an Hour” fits the subject matter perfectly. The story is short, made up of a series of short paragraphs, many of which consist of just two or three sentences. Likewise, the story covers only one hour in Louise Mallard’s life—from the moment she learns of her husband’s death to the moment he unexpectedly returns alive. The short, dense structure mirrors the intense hour Louise spends contemplating her new independence. Just as Louise is completely immersed in her wild thoughts of the moment, we are immersed along with her in this brief period of time. This story can be read quickly, but the impact it makes is powerful. Chopin surprises us first with Louise’s elated reaction when she first murmurs “free” to herself. She shocks us again at the conclusion when she dies upon Brently’s return. The “heart disease” mentioned at the end of the story echoes the “heart trouble” discussed at the beginning, intensifying the twist ending and bringing the story to a satisfying close.

Because such a short story leaves no room for background information, flashbacks, or excessive speculation, Chopin succeeds in making every sentence important by employing an almost poetic writing style. She uses repetition to highlight important points, such as when she repeats the word open throughout the story to emphasize the freedom of Louise’s new life. She has Louise repeat the word free over and over again as well, which is one of the few words Louise actually speaks aloud in the story and indicates how much she cherishes her newfound freedom. Besides repeating words, Chopin also repeats phrases and sentence structures to highlight important points. For example, Chopin writes, “She breathed a quick prayer that life might be long. It was only yesterday that she had thought with a shudder that life might be long.” The identical phrasing of the second half of each sentence reveals how drastically Louise’s life has changed—she once shuddered at the thought of a long life, but now she prays for it. Finally, Chopin makes the prose of the story beautiful by using alliteration and internal rhymes. For example, Josephine “revealed in half concealing” when she tells Louise the news, and Brently reappears “composedly carrying” his belongings. All of Chopin’s stylistic and structural techniques combine to make this very short story powerful.

But now there was a dull stare in her eyes, whose gaze was fixed away off yonder on one of those patches of blue sky. It was not a glance of reflection, but rather indicated a suspension of intelligent thought.

Explanation for Quotation 1 >>

This quotation appears after Louise has gone alone to her room to deal with the news of Brently’s death. After an initial fit of tears, Louise looks out her window at the wide-open spaces below. This quotation is our first hint that Louise’s reaction to Brently’s death will be surprising and that Louise is very different from other women. Whereas most women would gaze reflectively at the sky and clouds, Louise’s gaze suggests something different, something shrewder or more active. What she sees as she gazes out the window is different from what other women would likely see after their husbands have died. Not long after this passage, Louise acknowledges the joyous feeling of independence that Brently’s death has given her. Here, at the window, the first breaths of these feelings are stirring, and her “intelligent thought” will quickly engage once again as she processes these feelings and allows herself to analyze what they mean.

She breathed a quick prayer that life might be long. It was only yesterday she had thought with a shudder that life might be long.

Explanation for Quotation 2 >>

This quotation appears close to the end of the story, just before Louise leaves her bedroom to go back downstairs, and illuminates the extent of Louise’s elation. Before Brently’s death, Louise viewed her life with trepidation, envisioning years of dull, unchanging dependence and oppression. The “shudder” she felt was one of dread. Now, however, she is free and independent, and her life is suddenly worth living. Whereas she once hoped life would be short, she now prays for a long, happy life. This passage, besides showing us how fully Louise feels her independence, also highlights the unexpectedness of Louise’s reaction. Rather than dread a life lived alone, this solitude is, for Louise, reason enough to anticipate the future eagerly. When Brently returns, she dies, unable to face the return of the life that she’d dreaded so much.

he story of an hour is a dramatic destiny of Mrs. Mallard. The title of the story speaks for itself. The story begins with introduction of main characters to the reader and with description of key events. Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble and her sister Josephine, her husband's friend Richard did their best to break to Mrs. Mallard as gently as possible the news of her husband's death.

The first passage appears to be exposition, 'cause it contains a short presentation of time, place and characters of the story. Besides, from the very beginning the absence of Mrs. Mallard's name draws our attention.

Further, the author describes Mrs. Mallard's state, how she accepted the news. He writes: "She didn't hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance". So this makes us think that she didn't accept her husband's death as a fact, but realized its significance for her, perhaps she imagined her further life without her husband, she started thinking of the way her life would change.

"There stood, facing the open window..." There's a slight hint in this sentence, that those changes will be closely connected with the improvement of her life and "the open window" the description of awakened nature in spring suggest it.

Here we should admit the beauty of the language the author uses. "The delicious breath of rain... There were patches of blue sky..." The epithet and metaphor are employed for the expressiveness while describing nature.

The decisive moment comes when ... whispered word escaped her slightly parted lips. She said it over and over under her breath: "Free, free, free!" It's the climax of the story. The metaphor "escape" reveals Mrs. Mallard's state. She was unconscious of her dream to be free. Every inch of her body wished that freedom and now she realized it. She was even glad that her husband died.

But the oxymoron "a monstrous joy" suggests that her reaction was abnormal. She was unhappy in her family life. Her husband "never looked save with love upon her. And she saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely...she would live for herself..."

The antithesis in the sentence "And yet she had loved him - sometimes. Often she had not." makes us arrive at a definite conclusion that all her love towards her husband was just an illusion. But still in spite of all this she shouldn't react in this way, it wasn't correct. She was too joyful. The metaphor "she was drinking in a very elixir of life through that open window", the climax "spring days and summer days and all sorts of days"; the epithet "feverish triumph in her eyes" are employed to emphasize her state and unnatural behaviour.

The denouement isn't less unexpected than Mrs. Mallard's reaction. The crucial moment came when Mr. Mallard, which was said to be dead, safe and sound opened the front door. Mrs. Mallard was shocked and died of heart disease. The doctors said that it was joy that killed her. But it wasn't joy, it was despair. All her dreams about free life were broken by her husband and she couldn't live with him any more. She hoped that she had got rid of him, that the destiny made her a present and all her dull life was very far. And when her husband ruined all this she couldn't forgive him. For just an hour she was born again, lived in the world of her dreams and died. She wanted freedom and reached it, but was dead.

A number of messages are conveyed in this story. A human being is born to be free, but he couldn't just rely on destiny and wait for freedom, he must fight for it and then he'll deserve that freedom.

It's a sin to be glad for somebody's death, and one will be punished for it. It is quite difficult to forgive a man, but one should do his best to forgive and give a man another chance.

Short Story Analysis: The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin

Latresha Byrd, Yahoo! Contributor Network
Jan 4, 2011 "Share your voice on Yahoo! websites. Start Here."

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Summary Analysis of: The Story of An Hour by Kate Chopin

Kate Chopin's "The Story of An Hour" is told in the third person narration. When a story is told in the third person, you will have more description of the setting and plot but the emotions of the characters are limited.

In the opening of the story, there is a short description of Josephine's reaction when she first hears the news of Mr. Mallard's alleged death. The description only tells us that she uses broken sentences. If this was written in the first person, we would only see phrases separated by ellipses . We see that Mrs. Mallard collapses in her sister's arms as she learns of the news of her husband's death. When she looks out her window, the reader is given a description of the outside world. We know that it is spring, the green top trees are visible, and there are patches of blue sky. Also we learn that a peddler is on the street and someone is singing. Again, if this story was told in the first person, she wouldn't have described the scenery outside.

A description of Mrs. Mallard is given and how she reacts to the news while alone in her room. If Mrs. Mallard was telling the story, the reader would not have a full description of what she looked like. They would have to imagine how she looks, the expression on her face, and the emotions that she experiences.

When Mrs. Mallard says, "Free! Body and soul free!", (Chopin 553), we experience the full effect of her reaction. We find out that she is also ready to experience life without a husband. If this story was written in first person, we might have known what Mrs. Mallard's thoughts were on the subject of her husband and her true feelings were toward him. It would have been nice if Mrs. Mallard have told us why she thought of freedom in her grief.

The narrator tells us the events of Mrs. Mallard's sudden death at the sight of her husband at the door. We do not if she died of a heart attack or a broken heart due to the lost of her new found freedom. If this story was written in the first person, we might have found that out.

There seems to more of a description of the place and the events of the story when told in the third person. Readers do not get a full insight of the characters insight or feelings when the story is written in third person. I would have liked to know more of Mrs. Mallard's thoughts and feelings of why she wanted to be free.

Date: 2015-12-24; view: 1153