Kate Chopin’s The Story of an Hour: Analysis of Style and Tone

STYLE 

Paragraph

The Story of an Hour has short paragraphs. Each paragraph only contains not more than five sentences. The longest paragraph is paragraph eleven which has five sentences: When she abandoned herself a little whispered word escaped her slightly parted lips. She said it over and over under her breath: “free, free, free!” The vacant stare and the look of terror that had followed it went from her eyes. They stayed keen and bright. Her pulses beat fast, and the coursing blood warmed and relaxed every inch of her body.

Dictions

· Chopin chose formal words: It was he who had been in newspaper office when intelligence of the railroad disaster was received, with Brently Mallard’s name leading the list of “killed”. (paragraph 2)

· The words mainly denotative or containing exact meanings and concrete (specific): There stood, facing the open window, a comfortable, roomy armchair. (paragraph 4)

· The words are euphonious (pleasant sounding): The delicious breath of rain was in the air. (paragraph 5)

Sentences Structure

Most of the sentences are complex sentences: When the storm of grief had spent itself she went away to her room alone. (paragraph 3)

However, there are simple and compound sentences as well, but not many: They stayed keen and bright. (simple sentence, paragraph 11); Her pulses beat fast, and the coursing blood warmed and relaxed every inch of her body. (compound sentence, paragraph 11)

Symbolisms

· It is said that Mrs. Mallard has a heart trouble: Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble, great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband’s death. (paragraph 1). Heart can be the real heart, but heart also symbolizes love. Mrs. Mallard may have no heart disease, but she may have love problem which is problem in her marriage life. On the last paragraph: When the doctor came they said she had died of heart disease­—of joy that kills. It means that she is not killed by heart attack, but her love kills her.

· She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life. (paragraph 5) The new spring life does not always mean that the setting of the story is on the spring season. The new spring life may symbolize Mrs. Mallard’s new happier life after her husband’s death.

Treatment of Subject Matter

Chopin has been objective. He makes the main character (Mrs. Mallard) die at the end of the story. His conclusion is based on fact that Mrs. Mallard has trouble with her heart. It is something impersonal: But Richard was too late. (paragraph 22)

Figures of Speech

· Alliteration: repetition of an initial consonant sound.

She wept at once, with sudden, wild abandonment, in her sister’s arms. (paragraph 3)

She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life. (paragraph 5)

The notes of a distant song which some one was singing reached her faintly, and countless sparrows were twittering in the eaves. (paragraph 5)

But she felt it, creeping out of the sky, reaching toward her through the sounds, the scents, the color that filled the air. (paragraph 9)

She was beginning to recognize this thing that was approaching to possess her, and she was striving to beat it back with her will—as powerless as her two white slender hands would have been. (paragraph 10)

Spring days, and summer days, and all sorts days that would be her own. (paragraph 19)

· Irony: saying the opposite of what is meant, or verbal irony.

Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble, great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband’s death.

· Metaphor: An implied comparison between two unlike things that actually have something important in common.

When the storm of grief had spent itself she went away to her room alone. (paragraph 3)

The delicious breath of rain was in the air. (paragraph 5)

· Oxymoron: Combining contradictory words to reveal a truth.

She did not stop to ask if it were or were not a monstrous joy that held her. (paragraph 12)

· Paradox: A statement that appears to contradict itself.
It was her sister Josephine who told her, in broken sentences; veiled hints that revealed in half concealing. (paragraph 2)

When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease—of joy that kills. (paragraph 23)

· Personification: Giving humanlike qualities or human form to objects and abstractions.

Into this she sank, pressed down by a physical exhaustion that haunted her body and seemed to reach into her soul. (paragraph 4)

She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life. (paragraph 5)

The notes of a distant song which some one was singing reached her faintly, and countless sparrows were twittering in the eaves. (paragraph 5)

There were patches of blue sky showing here and there through the clouds that had met and piled one above the other in the west facing her window. (paragraph 6)

She was beginning to recognize this thing that was approaching to possess her, and she was striving to beat it back with her will—as powerless as her two white slender hands would have been. (paragraph 10)

· Simile: Comparing one thing to an unlike thing by using like, as, or than.

She sat with her head thrown back upon the cushion of the chair, quite motionless, except when a sob came up into her throat and shook her, as a child who has cried itself to sleep continues to sob in its dreams. (paragraph 7)

There was a feverish triumph in her eyes, and she carried herself unwittingly like a goddess of Victory. (paragraph 20)

TONE

The tone of The Story of an Hour is ironic. People around Mrs. Mallard think that she is very sad of her husband’s death. After her sister, Josephine, tells her about her husband’s death, she locks herself alone in her room staring out the window. Josephine thinks that her sister’s crying out because of the deep grief of losing her husband. However, the fact is that she cries out for being relieved. She feels free. She is happy for her freedom. At the end of the story, her husband who supposed to be dead comes home safe, not dead. And the one who is dead is Mrs. Mallard, killed by the joy.

The Story of an hour is also dramatic. The moment when Mrs. Mallard lock herself alone in her room is described dramatically. The situation when she is staring out the window, feeling the atmosphere of freedom, and crying for new life are described in brilliant way. Chopin wanted the readers to feel what Mrs. Mallard is experiencing when she is alone in her room. Chopin chose beautiful words to touch the reader to feel the drama of the irony of love. When Mrs. Mallard says, “free, free, free!” (paragraph 11) and “free! Body and soul free!” (paragraph 16), she throws away all of her sadness, burdens, and the tortures of her marriage life. She releases all of her pains.

It is quite hard to understand the story on the first reading. If it is only read once, sadness and shocked are the only things readers can get. Chopin wrote this story with mysteries which are not easy to be analyzed. The first name of the main character, Mrs. Mallard, is not mentioned on early paragraphs but on paragraph 17: Josephine was kneeling before the closed door with her lips to the keyhole, imploring for admission. “Louise, open the door! I beg, open the door—you will make yourself ill. What are you doing Louise? For heaven’s sake open the door.” So the name of Mrs. Mallard is Louise. Chopin kept the name mystery until paragraph 17 to make readers emphasize her characteristic as a weak housewife and the exciting moment when she is alone in her room. And the biggest mystery of this story is what exactly kills Mrs. Mallard. It is still cannot be solved what kills Mrs. Mallard, whether she gets heart attack after seeing Mr. Mallard alive or her relief of all of her feelings and love.

Chopin had his great job in writing The Story of an Hour. It has a good unexpected plot which needs deep understanding. Chopin has been able to make the readers keep questioning. It means that The Story of an Hour is not only a great short story, but Chopin is also a smart author.