A Woman's Revelation in "The Story of an Hour"
"The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin, is a tale of enlightenment. In this story, death leads to an awakening sense of freedom within Louise Mallard. I feel this story is not a coming-of-age story, since the main character is well past that biological time, but is a story of coming-of-character...or sense of self. For the first time, Louise feels free...her womanhood feels free. Life is no longer burdened by love and attachment. Death has set her free. "The Story of an Hour" expresses a revelation that occurs within Louise Mallard and gives her a sense of who she is, and the ability to live freely. Death usually entails grief and misery, and on the surface of the story, that is what we see. Louise Mallard cries and grieves when she hears of her husband's death, but after diving deeper into the story, I find that this grief is only superficial. I see a message that grieving [from death] is a normal human characteristic, so much so, that it seems almost "mainstream". For example, when someone dies, you grieve...and that's the way it is. This story goes beyond that, and shows a different way to look at death.
This story clearly demonstrates an enlightenment of character. In this story, I feel an awakening of womanhood inside Louise that has been dormant her whole life. The accident allows her to go beyond the normality of mourning, and reach deeper inside herself. She awakens with a new sense of self. I also think that the fact this story was written about a woman, and written in 1891, shows an early example of literary womanly liberation. This story reveals a change that Louise has. Ironically, this change occurs because of death, but it was this death that frees her, gives her hope, and a wonderful sense of independence. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ f who she really is and becomes exhilarated and excited. I also feel that the author includes her death at the end of the story to show how horrific it would've been for her to go back to the way things were, after this wonderful awakening. th serves as an awakening or enlightenment in this story. That sounds almost sadistic, but I feel it is an important element in the story. Superficially, as stated above, death brings
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 760
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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