The Story of an Hour
 By Kate Chopin
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I think this is probably one of the more thought provoking short stories for me. She uses so much imagery that I was lost in it. I’m not sure if that’s a good or bad thing, because sometimes I find myself not know what the heck it was that I just read, but then some lines are so beautiful that I found myself reading it twice to soak it in. “When the storm of grief had spent itselfâ€, one of my favorite lines, and I don’t know why, it’s simple and complex at the same time. After my first read, I was a bit confused because I forgot the lady’s last name, and when Brently walked in the door, I had no idea what his relation to the woman was. I also thought that she didn’t pass away, that she walked down the stairs with her sister. It wasn’t until the very last line, that I realized that the woman was dead.Â
Needless to say I went back for a second run. The pieces started to make more sense. It’s the story of an hour in which this lady, consumed by the news of her husband’s death, has no more reason to live, so her heart gave up and she died. In that hour of death, she sees herself leaving her own body, so it’s like an out of body experience. The irony to this story is that her husband didn’t die, that he was far from the scene of the accident, he made it home only to discover his dead wife. I don’t know why, but for some reason, while reading this, I keep thinking the story is alluding to the subject of suicide. I think because she’s telling her spirit to go free, to be free. Then there’s the discussion she has with herself about not having no one to live for, and that no one has a right to force you to live (at least that is what I interpret the following sentence to mean). To me it didn’t seem like she fought at all to stay alive, but rather she embraced the possession. Thats just my take on it.     Â
I agree that The Story of an Hour was one of the more thought provoking stories I have read all semester. I think that it is an ironic story with a twisted ending that could be a more modern day reenactment of Romeo and Juliet, only Romeo lives. The characters switch roles at the end of the story. At the beginning of the story we discover that Mrs. Mallard’s husband has just died in a railroad accident and her sister Josephine, and Mr. Mallard’s friend Robert are there to comfort Mrs. Mallard. Josephine, as the story mentions, tells Mrs. Mallard the news of her husband’s death in a gentle manner, keeping in mind that Mrs. Mallard has a heart condition. Mrs. Mallard cries at first, but then goes off alone to mourn her husband’s death in the privacy of her bedroom. Once there she goes into a deep state of contemplation and reflection on her own life. It is at this point in the story where Mrs. Mallard comes to a realization that she is free at last, a free women, with “no one to live for.†(450) Chopin is trying to make a point here about woman’s role as “wife,†and how the husband in a sense has some possession over his wife. Now that Mr. Mallard is dead, his wife finally feels free from his possession. The ironic twist however comes when her husband walks in the door, bringing about her death, proving that even in his death he has control over her.
yeah for some when I first read this short story, I set myself up by creating a totally diff scenario for the characters. After the class discussion I finally saw what I couldn’t see, and it makes so much more sense now. Ahhhh the agravation of interpreting great works!!!!