Exploring Themes and Characters in Kate Chopin's The Story of an Hour

This assignment provides an analysis of Kate Chopin's short story, 'The Story of an Hour.' The analysis identifies two key moments in the story and explains their significance, focusing on Mrs. Mallard's emotional journey and her realization of freedom. It describes the main characters, including Mrs. Mallard, Josephine, and Richards, and their roles in the narrative. The assignment explores the central theme of the story, which revolves around the impact of the husband's death on Mrs. Mallard and her internal struggle. It also examines the use of various literary devices, such as figurative language, symbolism, and metaphors, illustrating how these elements contribute to the story's depth and meaning, with references to the text and related critical sources.

What you thought the two most important moments of the story were and
why? Tell me about each of the main characters.
One of the main character is Mrs. Mallard. One of the most important moment of this
story is the time when Mrs. Mallard
Attempted abandon herself and gently murmured “free, free, free”. She kept on saying this,
while staring emotionlessly to the blue patches of the sky that peeped from within the white
clouds and Another significant character is Josephine, who was the sister of Mrs. Mallard.
Probably she was praying to God to set her free from the collapsed situation (Berkove). Perhaps
she felt captivated by the heart –rending pain and terror of living a lonely life, which are
associated with her husband’s death, from which she wanted to be freed (Chopin).
Further this story also introduces the readers with Richards who was Mrs. Mallard’s husband’s
friend. The theme of this story revolves round the tragic death of Brently Mallard in the railroad
disaster (Chopin).
What is the theme of the overall story in your opinion, and what does the story mean to
you?
The theme of the overall story involved the impact of the tragic death of Mrs. Mallard’s
husband on her. How she bore the storm of agony and anxiety silently inside her heart. The
overall theme of the story reflected Mrs. Mallard’s reactions and internal struggle to cope with
the adverse situation (Chopin).

Are there any symbols, metaphors, analogies, idioms, or figurative language pieces
involved? If yes, what and how were they used?
Several symbols, metaphors, figurative languages are used in this story (Chopin).
One of the sentences is “broken sentences and veiled hints that revealed in a half
concealing way”. Here, half-concealing way is a figurative speech which indicated to the fact
that the speaker is intending to hide something, which is shocking to the listener. “comfortable,
roomy armchair” (Chopin) is another figurative speech which is a type of exaggeration. This
indicates to the comfort provided by the arm chair. Two of the adjective used before ‘arm chair’
indicated to the excessive stress on the ‘comfort’ provided by (Berkove).
‘Vacant stare’ , delicious breath of rain are the other figurative speech used in this story
(Chopin).

References:
Chopin, Kate. The story of an hour. Joe Books Ltd, 2018.
Berkove, Lawrence I. "Fatal Self-Assertion in Kate Chopin's" The Story of an Hour"." American
Literary Realism 32.2 (2000): 152-158.