"The Story of an Hour"

In "The Story of an Hour," by Kate Chopin, many things are going on in such a short amount of time. In paragraph five, there are a lot of descriptive scenery views. I think this is helpful to put the reader in the setting, which is appropriate to better understand what's going on in the story. Chopin proclaims, "The delicious breath of rain was in the air." This really made me think of the smell after a beautiful rainfall; this describes the setting nicely.

Once Mrs. Mallard found out about her husband's death, she had very mixed emotions and became in a distant state of mind. At the end of paragraph seven, I believe that is what "suspensions of intelligent thought" means. She was not having any intelligent thoughts going on at all, but in a daze, not knowing what to do next. "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." This quote is evidence to me that she was sort of spaced out of reality; not thinking of just one thing in particular but in utter shock and disbelief of her recent loss.

Later on in the story, in paragraph sixteen, Chopin exerts, "Free! Body and soul free!" I chose this passage to signify the difference in how she is now feeling. Mrs. Mallard went from being in a complete daze to realizing that she is now a free woman to do as she pleases. There is no longer a man telling her what to do, but she, now ready to carve her very own paths in life. Though this passage is short, it made my mind turn in ways to wonder what Mr. Mallard was really like, which is a huge part of this story's significance.

"The Story of an Hour"

"The notes of a distant song which someone was singing reached her faintly, and countless sparrows were twittering in the eaves."1 This paragraph is the realization that life is going to go on. Mrs. Mallard starts to lift her spirits from this point on in the story.

When the author, Mary Chopin describes Mrs. Mallard's appearance and feelings in paragraph seven, she says, "suspension of intelligent thought".1 Chopin is showing how Mrs. Mallard is just spacing out. She is not thinking of anything intelligent at the moment, she is just lost in her own train of thought. Later in the story there is a passage opposite of this. "She knew that she would weep again when she saw the kind, tender hands folded in death."1 Mrs. Mallard knows she will grieve when she sees her husband again, but for the time being she is excited that she can live the rest of her life as she pleases.

"Free, free, free! The vacant stare and the look of terror that had followed it went from her eyes. They stayed keen and bright. Her pulses beat fast, and the coursing blood warmed and relaxed every inch in her body."1 I picked this passage to show the story's significance. Even though Mrs. Mallard thinks at this moment that her husband is dead, she couldn't be happier about it. This proves to be true in the very end of the story when her husband turns up alive and she drops dead out of disappointment.