The Story of an Hour

"The Story of an Hour" provokes a suprising amount of thought within it's short life or length. The fifth paragraph seems quite unrelated in its fresh liveliness after the tragic news of
Josephine's husband. It seems to foreshadow the joy Josephine will feel when she discovers the new life ahead of her without her husband. The new spring day outside of Josephine's
window is a symbol of her new life. In paragraph seven, it appears Josephine has not yet realized the impact of her husband's death. She appears to be in shock, as would be expected
when life has changed in an irreversible, majorly impactful way as death always changes life. In paragraph eleven, we find that the shock of death has left her and in its place "The vacant
stare and look of terror that had followed it [the realization of her newfound freedom] 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.". The preceding paragraphs go into greater detail of her thought process as she contemplates the loss of her husband and what the gain of a life of
widowhood means for the days ahead of her. The passage that I felt summarized the story's meaning preceded Josephine's triumphant exit from her bedroom. "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. 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." The feel of the story is extreme irony, which shows in this passage once you have read the story in its entirety. "Only yesterday" she
was dreading a long life in the bonds of matrimony. In the today of the story, she has lost her husband, freeing her from those matrimonial bonds, and is know looking ahead to a long life.
The ironic conclusion leaves readers with the "piercing cry" and sudden death of Josephine when she discovers that her husband remains alive. Josephine is indeed freed from her
marriage, but has lost the long life she shuddered over and then prayed for.