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How Does Kate Chopin Use Symbols In The Story Of An Hour

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Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour" demonstrates how an unhappy wife rejoices internally over a forbidden independence. Chopin uses a variety of symbols and imagery throughout the story to explain Mrs. Mallard's emotional and physical state. The continuous theme of oppression represents the thoughts of a young woman yearning for an escape from a society where her true thoughts are not acceptable. As a feminist writer, she aims to give women the strength to reject what society constructs as behaving like a lady but, see herself as an individual worth significance. The symbols in Chopin's "Story of an Hour" create a feeling of comfort, Chopin describes this as "There stood, facing the open window, a comfortable, roomy armchair, Into this she sank, pressed down by a physical exhaustion that haunted her body and seemed to reach into her soul" (195). The comfortable chair Mrs. Mallard sinks into upon hearing the news of her husband's death symbolizes the feeling of being embraced, a feeling of love and warmth. The …show more content…

Mallard of her husbands death, Chopin writes "It was her sister Josephine who told her, in broken sentences; veiled hints that revealed in half concealing" (194). Chopin conceals the verbiage Josephine uses to announce the death of Mr. Mallard to protect not only Mrs. Mallard's heart from the trauma of delivering the difficult news, but to protect the reader as well. Mrs. Mallard suffers not only from a physical heart condition, but an emotional heart condition also. Chopin uses Mrs. Mallard's "heart trouble" (194) symbolically. Her heart condition represents the unhappiness and mixed feelings of her marriage and the lack of freedom she experiences throughout her marriage. According to the doctor, Mrs. Mallard dies from "of the joy that kills" (196) but, her death is symbolic of the ultimate freedom from the strains of patriarchy. She dies from the loss of joy freedom offers her while looking out the

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