The Story Of An Hour

2 Pages 611 Words

The Story of an Hour

In Kate Chopin’s short story “ The Story of an Hour,” there is much irony. The first irony detected is in the way that Louise reacts to the news of the death of her husband, Brently Mallard. She is immediately overcome with sadness. However, once she is alone she allows herself to experience her feelings of joy at the prospect of being free from “repression.” She is no more able to staff off the feeling that was approaching her than trying to stop the waves from hitting the shore. Basically stated we are powerless over our feelings.
First, one can state that no matter how hard we try we cannot keep a feeling from coming over us. Louise’s’ feelings come from deep within her soul. Physical exhaustion followed her first storm of grief. At first she did not know what was coming to her. She could not even give it a name. When she started to recognize it, she was trying to beat it back with sheer will power. Only to find that will power is no match for the total encompassing of feelings. Once she had abandoned herself the word “free” had escaped from her lips. She did not deliberately want if but it had come anyway. Unmistakably, a joy over took her. Not that she would not be sad again, but for now she was like a bird let out of the cage.
Mrs. Mallard was a good example of Shakespeare’s line “To Thine own self be true.” She did not allow guilt to rear its ugly head but instead just felt her feelings. She allowed no one to witness her self-assertion. But, it was the strongest impulse of her being.
As she was projecting spring and summer days to come, a feeling that her life would be her own gave her a contentment that she had not felt in a long time. She grows excited and begins to fantasize about living her life for herself. The term “new spring life,’ breath of rain and countless sparrows were twittering in the eaves” put an impression as if she longed for tha...