The story of an hour structure

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