literary analysis essay

In today’s society, marriage could be defined as “the legally recognized union of two

people as partners in a personal relationship” and is a union often shared between people of all races and sexualities. However, this has not always been this case. Ideas about marriage have evolved over time, and society’s views over what is acceptable in marriages has changed tremendously. In the past, marriages were a cornerstone of societal structure, with the bond between a single man and woman serving as a means for the establishment of wealth and status. These marriages often shared common traits, including similar racial and socioeconomic backgrounds between spouses, the presence of the woman as a homemaker, and the belief that marriage was a bond meant to last for life. However, these situations often led to marriages that were byproducts of a rigid societal structure as opposed to a gesture of love. As a result, parties frequently became dissatisfied with their partners, and issues of divorce became a central debate. When present day marriages go awry, divorce is more frequently considered than in the past, as views of divorce have shifted from those that viewed it in a very harsh light. In “The Story of an Hour,” the author reveals her feelings concerning society’s pressure to marry, even in forced situations when there is no love between the pair. I argue that “The Story of an Hour,” by Kate Chopin, makes a commentary on society that marriage is oppressive because of its use of simile, diction, imagery, and juxtaposition.

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In “The Story of an Hour,” Chopin uses similes to give the reader a deeper understanding of her overarching idea that marriage itself can be oppressive. When Mrs. Mallard is simply going through the motions of grieving, Chopin compares her cries to a baby when she says that a sob “shook her, as a child who has cried itself to sleep [and] continues to sob in its dreams.” The comparison drawn between Mrs. Mallard’s cries and the cries of a child was intended to show that Mrs. Mallard’s sobs are similar to a child who continues to weep, even after the situation has resolved itself. A child that has thrown a screaming, crying tantrum will continue to gasp for air and shed tears, even if they have been given what they want. Mrs. Mallard’s cries resemble a child gasping for air after a resolved situation because society has led her to believe that she should cry and be sad to lose her husband; however, she is internally very happy about her newfound opportunity to experience freedom and independence. Mrs. Mallard realizes that these feelings are abnormal, but also recognizes they are caused by feeling oppressed by her marriage.

Chopin also uses the literary element, diction, as she strengthens her main idea on the oppression of marriage, expanding her unorthodox views. For example, in the ninth paragraph, Chopin wrote, “There was something coming to her... What was it? She did not know...But she felt it, creeping out of the sky, reaching toward her...” The strong diction in this sentence serves to portray that her views were so antithetical to society’s that they seemed to come from afar. Her word choice builds anticipation and makes the reader want to keep reading as fast as possible, due to the suspense of something unknown creeping towards her. The specific use of the word “creeping” is to demonstrate the uncertainty of the feelings she is experiencing, as they are something that society has told her she is not allowed to feel. In this situation, Mrs. Mallard’s emotions are rushing towards her, yet she isn’t exactly sure what they are because she hasn’t felt joy or freedom since before her marriage. The diction used here is to describe Mrs. Mallard’s joy

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because the idea of freedom slowly crept its way in as she finally felt free of the bondage that was her marriage.

In addition to diction, Chopin uses well-crafted lines in her short story to show imagery, which she uses in order to reveal her feelings towards her husband’s death. Chopin says that Mrs. Mallard felt the joy coming towards her as it crept “out of the sky, reaching toward her through the sounds, the scents, [and] the color that filled the air.” Here, the imagery paints a picture in the minds of the readers that contains skies, sounds, scents, and colors: all of which are commonly viewed as being synonymous with happiness. Mrs. Mallard suddenly can now hear the sounds, the scents, and can see color filling the air, which is something she was not able to see before her husband passed away. His death provides her with a new view on life, and her marriage no longer limits her. This “new view” is intended to be viewed on both a literal and symbolic sense, as her senses in the story are actually enhanced as the result of her husband’s death, and are also intended to stand for the greater new view of her independence. By comparing this vivid imagery from her new life to the dull life she previously lived with her husband, readers are able to understand how oppressed Mrs. Mallard felt by marriage.

One of the most predominate ways Chopin reveals her deeper meaning in the story is through the use of juxtaposition. Right after receiving the news of her husband, Mrs. Mallard goes to her room and stares out of the window. She looks out and sees “trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life” and “the delicious breath of rain in the air.” The death of her husband is thus juxtaposed with the birth of spring life. This profoundly connects the reader to the idea that marriage is oppressive, because the end of that oppressive marriage was immediately followed by a beautiful outburst of spring life and a fresh rain.

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In addition, the author harnessed the power of juxtaposition later in the essay to demonstrate another increase in happiness for Mrs. Mallard after the oppression of her marriage disappeared. Chopin states, “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." In this excerpt, the author stated Mrs. Mallard’s current desire to live a long life, and juxtaposed it with her previous desire to die soon, in order to demonstrate the change that occurred in her outlook on life after her husband’s death. Previously, the bondage of marriage had Mrs. Ballard hoping that life would pass by quickly since it was undesirable. However, once she was free from marriage, she started to want the opposite: she prayed that life would pass by very slowly because she now had the opportunity to purse all that life had to offer as a result of her new independence. The contrast between these two desires displays the oppression Mrs. Mallard felt during her marriage.

In “The Story of an Hour,” Kate Chopin manages to effectively demonstrate to the reader that marriage itself can be in fact quite oppressive. In order to do so, she juxtaposed Mrs. Mallard’s emotions both before and after the incident, used imagery and simile to paint scenes in the reader’s minds, and utilized highly selective word choice. The woman in the story was in a marriage that she didn’t like with a man she didn’t love, and it was largely due to the fact that society at that time pressured women to marry, even when the man in question was not the best fit for them. This leads readers to understand how marriages in today’s society differ greatly from marriages during the time period of this poem. The audience grasps the idea that marriages were oppressive due to the standards society had set back then.

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Works Cited

“Marriage.” 1. Oxforddictionaries.com. Oxford Dictionaries. Web. 06. Mar. 2017. ""The Story of an Hour.”" "The Story of an Hour.” N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Mar. 2017.