Short Story Analysis: The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 490.

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Summary Analysis of: The Story of An Hour by Kate Chopin

Kate Chopin's "The Story of An Hour" is told in the third person narration. When a story is told in the third person, you will have more description of the setting and plot but the emotions of the characters are limited.

In the opening of the story, there is a short description of Josephine's reaction when she first hears the news of Mr. Mallard's alleged death. The description only tells us that she uses broken sentences. If this was written in the first person, we would only see phrases separated by ellipses . We see that Mrs. Mallard collapses in her sister's arms as she learns of the news of her husband's death. When she looks out her window, the reader is given a description of the outside world. We know that it is spring, the green top trees are visible, and there are patches of blue sky. Also we learn that a peddler is on the street and someone is singing. Again, if this story was told in the first person, she wouldn't have described the scenery outside.

A description of Mrs. Mallard is given and how she reacts to the news while alone in her room. If Mrs. Mallard was telling the story, the reader would not have a full description of what she looked like. They would have to imagine how she looks, the expression on her face, and the emotions that she experiences.

When Mrs. Mallard says, "Free! Body and soul free!", (Chopin 553), we experience the full effect of her reaction. We find out that she is also ready to experience life without a husband. If this story was written in first person, we might have known what Mrs. Mallard's thoughts were on the subject of her husband and her true feelings were toward him. It would have been nice if Mrs. Mallard have told us why she thought of freedom in her grief.

The narrator tells us the events of Mrs. Mallard's sudden death at the sight of her husband at the door. We do not if she died of a heart attack or a broken heart due to the lost of her new found freedom. If this story was written in the first person, we might have found that out.

There seems to more of a description of the place and the events of the story when told in the third person. Readers do not get a full insight of the characters insight or feelings when the story is written in third person. I would have liked to know more of Mrs. Mallard's thoughts and feelings of why she wanted to be free.