The Story of an Hour

“She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life. The delicious breath of rain was in the air. In the street below a peddler was crying his wares. The notes of a distant song which some one was singing reached her faintly, and countless sparrows were twittering in the eaves.”

Immediately following the news of Brently’s death, Chopin presents Louise with these images of renewed life. The inclusion of the “street peddler” among images of nature indicates that human life continues after tragedy, reminding Louise of the social, interpersonal opportunities now available to her.

“But now there was a dull stare in her eyes, whose gaze was fixed away off yonder on one of those patches of blue sky. It was not a glance of reflection, but rather indicated a suspension of intelligent thought.”

Louise becomes preoccupied with the patch of blue sky, symbolizing her fixation on the advantages rather than disadvantages of widowhood. By “suspension of intelligent thought,” Chopin indicates that Louise is experiencing an intuitive and subconscious realization, rather than logically or methodically deducing the benefits of widowhood. Louise’s rich emotional life drives the action of the narrative.

“There was something coming to her and she was waiting for it, fearfully. What was it? She did not know; it was too subtle and elusive to name. But she felt it, creeping out of the sky, reaching toward her through the sounds, the scents, the color that filled the air.”

Chopin personifies Louise’s realization of her independence, having it “creep” and “reach” toward her. This personification, in combination with previous images of the natural world, implies that independence is a natural state, one that has been repressed by Louise’s marriage and is now returning to her. Louise’s fear of such a realization indicates the extent to which social obligations have prevented her from acknowledging her agency.

“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!’”

As Louise previously wept “with […] abandonment” at Brently’s death, she once again “abandons” herself to emotion, this time to the joy of freedom. The echo of “abandon” indicates that her grief and joy are equally consuming, while the word “escaped” suggests that Louise’s realization was not inevitable. Instead, Louise must accept her feelings and allow herself to experience them. Once she does, she is liberated.

“She did not stop to ask if it were or were not a monstrous joy that held her.”

Louise rejects social taboo in favor of self-actualization. She refuses to limit her joy with the thought that her personal freedom is only possible through her husband’s untimely death. To Louise, the ends justify the means.

“There would be no one to live for her during those coming years; she would live for herself.”

In some editions of the story, the word “her” is omitted from the first clause of this sentence so that it reads “no one to live for during those coming years.” The version with the omission implies that Louise has been living for her husband, either to please or support him; the corrected version, including “her,” indicates that Louise’s husband has been making life-altering decisions for Louise. The corrected version maintains the story’s focus on agency, rather than on the obligations of love.

“And yet she had loved him—sometimes. Often she had not. What did it matter! What could love, the unsolved mystery, count for in this possession of self-assertion which she suddenly recognizes as the strongest impulse of her being!”

Through Louise’s ambivalent feelings for her husband, Chopin rejects the idea that love justifies or ameliorates the loss of independence women experienced in 19th-century marriages. Chopin posits that total agency and self-control are the real desires of women, rejecting stereotypical ideas of women’s desire for romance.

“‘Free! Body and soul free!’ she kept whispering.”

Louise’s specification that she is free in both “[b]ody and soul” indicts the physical and emotional aspects of male dominance in conventional 19th-century marriages, and emphasizes the dehumanizing effects of unequal power within romantic partnerships. Louise is no longer required to submit to her husband’s sexual desires nor his will. That she whispers this declaration emphasizes its radical nature in relation to 19th-century social norms.

“‘Go away. I am not making myself ill.’ No; she was drinking in a very elixir of life through that open window.”

As Louise refuses to answer the door to Josephine, Chopin sets up a dichotomy between sickness and health. Chopin aligns social repression—symbolized by Josephine’s entreaties—with illness. The cure, or “elixir of life,” is the independence symbolized by the view through the open window.

“Her fancy was running riot along those days ahead of her. Spring days, and summer days, and all sorts of days that would be her own.”

As Louise gives herself over to happiness and imagination, Chopin repeats the word “days” to emphasize the variety of experiences that are now available to Louise. The repeated word also creates rhythm in these sentences, resulting in a faster flow to the language that creates similar exhilaration for the reader.

“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.”

Chopin uses repetition, ending these two sentences with the same phrase to highlight the contrast between Louise’s life before she thought her husband died and after and the complete reversal of Louise’s outlook. As profoundly as Louise feared a life lived according to the will of others, she thrills to a life lived on her own terms. Grounding this contrast in the image of a long life emphasizes the irony of Louise’s untimely death.

“There was a feverish triumph in her eyes, and she carried herself unwittingly like a goddess of Victory.”

Chopin depicts Louise as having reached the height of her power through her new independence; it seems impossible at this point in the story that anything could prevent her from achieving her goals. The image of “Victory” makes the sudden reversal of fortune when Brently returns even more surprising and dramatic.

“It was Brently Mallard who entered, a little travel-stained, composedly carrying his grip-sack and umbrella. He had been far from the scene of the accident, and did not even know there had been one. He stood amazed at Josephine’s piercing cry; at Richards’ quick motion to screen him from the view of his wife.”

Chopin switches to a straightforward, clipped diction to narrate Brently’s unexpected return. This contrast with the emotional, poetic narration of Louise’s interior life emphasizes the abrupt and severe twist of Chopin’s ending. Brently’s bemused, matter-of-fact entry to his own home emphasizes the shock of the other characters.